The world of amateur wrestling is a strange one. With matches held in tiny venues selling cheap tickets to even smaller crowds, wannabe Hulk Hogans with day jobs develop their own characters and storylines as they seek to develop a fanbase who will follow them from match to match and cheer them on.
For Kevin Bean, a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher in Pennsylvania’s Spring-Ford district, that character is Blitzkrieg, the German Juggernaut.
Clad in red and black spandex adorned with white “SS” lightning bolts, Blitzkrieg’s grand entrance into a recent World Wide Wrestling Alliance match is something to behold.
Once the video above began making the rounds Wednesday, The Blast was the first to report that Blitzkrieg was Bean, and vice versa.
While Bean declined to comment, Dino Sanna, owner of WWWA, told The Blast that Bean is a “good guy and not a hateful person.” Sanna also insists that Bean is a devout Christian.
Sanna also claims many of the children in the crowd — who were cheering as Bean waved a flag with the German Iron Cross — were students from his school.
As far as the Nazi character, Sanna didn’t really have an explanation behind the motivation, but said that nobody has ever complained about Blitzkrieg. He says the character has become a popular villain, or heel, at shows and is adamant “Everyone has a gimmick, it’s wrestling.”
Riiiiiiiiiiight.
Bean, who has been teaching in the Philadelphia-area district since 2004, has apparently also been moonlighting as Blitzkrieg “for years” at events that Sanna himself bills as “a great great all around experience for the WHOLE family to enjoy!”
In emailed statements to Philly Voice, the Spring-Ford Area School District said an investigation was underway; further, the district insists that Bean’s actions in the video “do not represent the core values of the school district. As an educational organization, we pride ourselves in providing a safe and nurturing learning environment.”
So far, no Spring-Ford parents have spoken out about Mr. Bean’s “hobby.”
You can watch the whole match below, if you’re into such things. The noticeably white crowd really embraces his schtick.