He’s the villain of the piece
Reporter James Ireland meets a mild-mannered man who morphs into a super-bully at night.
Michel Mulipola spends his daylight hours creating and selling comic books and his nights as a brutal villain.
As a child he was drawn to the world of superheroes, both on the pages of comics and in the wrestling ring.
They were larger-than-life characters who fought the battle of good versus evil.
Comics ruled his life until the day he put pen to paper.
‘‘I created a wrestling character for myself, Kid Liger, which is pretty much a jacked-up version of me.
‘‘Impact Pro Wrestling had a try-out call. The worst that could happen was I didn’t get in but at least I tried.’’
He did get in and nearly a decade has passed since he started training in Mangere and competing in monthly pro-wrestling matches at Mt Albert War Memorial Hall.
At first he was part of a tag team but he decided to throw caution to the wind and give his character more freedom.
So he left the partnership and became a super-villain.
‘‘When I became a man I put aside childish things so I dropped the Kid from my name.
‘‘I changed the costume, changed the colours, changed my attitude. The crowds didn’t like me.
‘‘They still don’t. They weren’t happy but I couldn’t care less. It’s so much more fun being the bad guy.’’
His wrestling style is that of a brawler and his character is a bully. It’s a stark contrast to the man behind the mask – he speaks confidently and with an air of self-aware humour. He understands the theatricality and nuance required to make people believe he is a bad guy.
‘‘I kind of just use my size and my power to throw my weight around, to shove people and punch them.
‘‘I’m very old school,’’ Mulipola says.
Liger might be a bully but Mulipola’s not selfish in the ring.
‘‘The fans want to see something fancy in the ring, they want spectacle.
‘‘The way I wrestle helps tell the story. The good guy does all this cool stuff and when I offset it with my boring stuff it makes him look so much better.’’
If the crowd hates him, he’s done his job.
Each event has six to eight matches and each match tells a part of a larger, overarching storyline that culminates in the main event.
Then each of those monthly events work together to tell an even larger story that can last months.
They end in special events such as the ‘‘Nightmare Before Christmas’’ where fans can bring ‘‘weapons’’ for the wrestlers to use on each other.
Security guards screen the weapons first so nothing too dangerous gets in.
‘‘Over the years I’ve seen Gib board, a garden hose, a kitchen sink, a baguette, a Jonah Lomu cardboard cutout, a Christmas tree, a toilet seat.
‘‘It’s a lot of fun. The fans love it because they become part of it.’’
The fights aren’t choreographed beyond a few individual moves, he says.
Mulipola likes to call it ‘ on the fly’ and he and his opponent will talk as they fight, giving each other directions on what to do next.
Too much choreography can lead to problems and if something goes wrong you need to be able to improvise, he says.
It can be a dangerous sport sometimes.
‘‘Joint injuries and concussions are major issues and that’s because of the falls. After every match you’re hurting.
‘‘You just have to get used to it.’’