Anthony Tonin: Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
By day, he's Anthony Tonin, mild-mannered education student and part-time elementary school teacher. Come Saturday night, however, watch out.
Off come the designer clothes this Montreal-born 21-year-old favours and on go that mean-guy bandanna, the funky sweats and T-shirt and the knee-high, lace-up wrestler's boots.
TNT is the name and nastiness is his game -- at least, when he's wrestling.
For wrestling, after all, is what this ringside event is called and with reason. While many think of this sport as pure entertainment, 50 per cent remains true wrestling, says Tonin over lunch.
Clad in a Tommy Hilfiger silky T-shirt and shorts, ready for his afternoon teaching physical education to the grade ones and twos at Royal Vale school, Tonin doesn't quite look the part of a Stone Cold Steve Austin clone. For one thing, he's only five foot eight inches and weighs 180 pounds compared to the 300-pounders he may take on in the ring. The next Hulk Hogan, he is not.
Furthermore, he's a university student where most professional wrestlers are already out in the working world. It was while studying social science at Vanier College that Tonin began wrestling and it was a fluke at that.
Having wanted to be a professional wrestler since the age of four when he saw Mr. T on TV's Wrestlemania, Tonin had never found a place to train. Then he met Maxx Fury, known by day as Max Rendilla, a fellow Vanier student. Rendilla saw Tonin fooling around in the gym and suggested they both try out the Northern Championship Wrestling club.
That was in January 1998. Since then, Tonin has been at ringside almost every Saturday night making the rounds of Montreal and numerous Quebec cities and towns, the Atlantic provinces and Vermont. Even when his shoulder was injured after the second match, he didn't miss the following Saturday's show; instead, like a born showman, he incorporated his one-arm incapacity into the match!
What keeps him going? It isn't money. Rare is the match that pays its wrestlers. The wrestlers even pay for their weekly training sessions which in Tonin's case includes two gymnastics and two wrestling practices.
No, for Tonin, it's the privilege of being able to entertain, to make people laugh, generate heckling and, ultimately, be remembered.
Novice though he still is, Tonin/TNT is beginning to get some recognition. "The other day, I was walking down Monkland when someone called out: 'Hey, TNT,'" he says with pride.
As a foulmouthed -- he insults both the audience and his opponent -- mean guy as well as a cry-baby of a loser, Tonin has developed TNT into a distinctive and popular figure, someone the fans love to hate.
Even though many of the fans are francophones and Tonin speaks French, TNT, who has been known to wear a bandanna folded from the fleur de lys and to wear the Quebec flag on his T-shirt, "never" does. Why? "Because he's from the Bronx," explains Tonin. Furthermore, it's provocative and insulting -- which is the whole point of the TNT character, adds Tonin who, in real life, has never been in a fight.
"I'm not the best wrestler, but I am the best entertainer," he says confidently.
Tonin doesn't hide the fact that he would like to make it into the big time, into the World Wrestling Federation or World Championship Wrestling. But he's also practical enough that he won't go that route without first finishing his degree in education. "What happens if I get injured?" he asks. Furthermore, he points out, a career in wrestling usually ends at 40.
He figures that at this stage, he's got the best of all worlds. "I've got a good job. I'm getting a hell of an education. And I'm doing something I've wanted to do all my life: wrestle."
Wrestling and working with young children, as it turns out aren't all that different. "At school, I'm entertaining constantly," says Tonin who has worked with children ever since he was 13 and a camp counsellor.
At Royal Vale, he's appreciated for his ability to respond to the needs and interests of children of a wide range of ages. "I find it interesting that he's so diverse," says Belinda Magee, assistant co-ordinator of the school's after-school program. "He's very focused for someone that young."
Anyone interested in watching Tonin and his fellow wrestlers, each with his distinct persona, may check the following web sites for the next Montreal fight: www.ncw.qc.ca or www.cew.8m.com. The price of entry is $6.
Bronwyn Chester
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