Two hours before the doors open, people can be seen sitting outside the Berwyn Eagles Club on a rainy, cold Saturday night.

At the same time inside, the main hall of the club, at 6309 26th St., is undergoing its monthly transformation. A video screen is added, chairs and fencing are placed around the middle of the room and the second floor of the club is turned into a locker room.

By 7:30 p.m., the hall is packed with more than 250 people to witness the “Massacre on 26th St.,” as two, three and up to six people enter the middle of the hall to battle.

The battles are for All-American Wrestling: Wrestling Redefined, an independent circuit that has made the Berwyn Eagles Club its home once a month for the past five years. The company is a mixture of local talent and some who have gotten a taste of the big leagues of professional wrestling.

“It took us a long time to get the right guys in here to pull off what we want to do,” said AAW co-owner Jim Lynam. “It’s been a slow process but now we’re in a good place where people are starting to take notice of what we do.”

Lynam, who worked as “Jim Jesus” on Q101’s “Mancow’s Morning Madhouse,” took ownership of AAW in 2004. Since then, he has turned the Eagles Club into a popular place for independent wrestling and affordable entertainment on a monthly basis. Tickets are $10 or $15 for first row seating, and beer sells for a buck.

“The fans are the most important part and if you don’t make it accessible, they’re not going to come," Lynam said. “We love running in Berwyn.”

Follower takes to backstage
For Phil Colvin, participating in AAW has been like watching his children grow up in front of him.
Colvin, who grew up in northwest Berwyn and attended Lincoln Junior High School, attended the company’s second ever show as a fan.

He came as a spectator that night, but a few months later, he was called back, not just as a spectator but as a participant.

“They wanted someone to do interviews with the wrestlers,” Colvin said.

Month after month, Colvin was called back to fill in wherever needed, from conducting backstage interviews to handling the duties of the ring announcer. Now, Colvin serves as AAW’s backstage interviewer and play-by-play man for the show’s DVDs.

“When I started doing this as a favor to my buddy, I never thought I’d get these opportunities,” Colvin said.

During the last few years, he has watched as crowds have grown nearly ten-fold and wrestlers come in as young students — leaving to higher wrestling companies including World Wrestling Entertainment.

“These guys really bust their ass during every match,” Colvin said. “You have to respect that.”

History, swimming, six-man matches
While hundreds at AAW shows may know the wrestler decked out in pink and black leather pants and a pink sequined hat as Jordan McEntyre from Laguna Beach, Calif., many Berwyn residents may know him as the St. Leonard graduate and Pav YMCA lifeguard Scott Johnson.

Like many other wrestlers, Johnson was a fan of professional wrestling growing up. He worked for a few years after graduating from Western Illinois University with a degree in history before getting his start in professional wrestling in 2006.

He made his debut in an Iowa wrestling ring in 2007, and entered the squared circle for the first time in his hometown later that year. Johnson was apart of a six-man match Saturday night, but was pinned for the loss.

“It’s always fun to come back here to my own hometown,” Johnson said. “With all the traveling we do, getting ready to drive six or seven blocks to the building is fantastic.”

Outside the ring, Johnson, a graduate of St. Leonard School in Berwyn and Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park, works as a lifeguard and swim instructor at the Pav YMCA and teaches history part-time.

“Other than people that know me personally, I don’t think that anyone in the audience knows I’m from Berwyn,” he said.

Lifelong dreamer
When the lights go down at the Eagles Club and Barry Manilow’s “Copa Cabana” starts to play, it can only mean one thing: Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana is in the house.

Cabana, a native of Deerfield, has had nothing but aspirations of becoming a professional wrestler since a child.

“My first memory is watching Andre the Giant getting his head shaved,” Cabana said. “It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Cabana played sports as a youngster, and went on to play college football at Western Michigan University. After years of dreaming, he finally began training to become a wrestler after his freshman year of college at the age of 18.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” Cabana said. “I had to start wrestling. I couldn’t hold off my dream anymore.”

Cabana continued in school while training and earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. He said he has spent the last 11 years marketing himself to various wrestling circuits around the world.

“I’ve done VFW halls, elementary schools, armories ... You know it, I’ve done it,” Cabana said.
He has also spent time in the big leagues of professional wrestling, the WWE. He spent two years and wrestled in numerous televised matches before being released by the company earlier this year.

 He returned to the AAW Saturday night to wrestle 20 minutes away from his Wicker Park home.

“AAW has built up a great following that is very passionate about their wrestling and they come every month,” Cabana said. “As long as they’re lively and they’re into it and enjoying the wrestling, I love doing it.”