JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
World Wrestling Entertainment has some competition. Well, sort of - puppet wrestling entertainment is making the rounds. You won't see The Rock or Hulk Hogan fly across the ring or hit the mat. This show's star is a puppet called Dr. Kiss, and he wants the championship belt, no matter the cost. Reporter Buffy Gorrilla has the details.
BUFFY GORRILLA, BYLINE: I'm here in a rehearsal barn, where the show is about to begin.
JOSH RICE: Coming down the aisle, weighing in at a combined weight of 3 pounds, please, welcome Dr. Kiss.
GORRILLA: The lights go up. Three puppeteers in Lucha Libre wrestling masks hold a wooden puppet that is about 2' tall with arms and legs made of wood and plastic that can bend in all directions.
RICE: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting evening of puppet wrestling entertainment. Hello...
GORRILLA: The puppeteers stand behind a miniature three-sided wrestling ring with the words puppet mania splashed across the front.
RICE: We have an exciting card lined up for you tonight, as we are on the road to puppet mania.
GORRILLA: Dr. Kiss is the puppet star of Kayfabe. It's a puppet wrestling entertainment spectacular says creator Josh Rice. He says Kayfabe is not only the name of the show, but it's a concept crucial to the world of wrestling.
RICE: Kayfabe is, just like in theater, how we suspend our disbelief, just like how we watch a movie, just like how we read a good story. We allow ourselves to believe in the fiction of it to sometimes enjoy it more.
GORRILLA: For years, kayfabe has long been synonymous with the in-the-ring performances of pro wrestlers.
RICE: We know that what they're doing to one another looks really violent. And if it were true and real, they would be bleeding all the time, and they could only do maybe one move and then the match would be over. One punch, really, and then the match would be over.
GORRILLA: Rice created this world as a playful homage to the sport he watched with his dad as a kid. There's a face, the good guy, and the heel, the bad guy. There's loud music, costumes, props and over-the-top moves.
RICE: Dancing and catchphrases that are a little lame, like, you know, in wrestling, they often can be, especially from a certain era.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GORRILLA: As Dr. Kiss enters to his own theme music, his hands are clapped in time by head puppeteer Emma Wiseman, working with two others to bring Dr. Kiss to life.
EMMA WISEMAN: There's also a lot of negotiating other people's bodies. You're so close to your two other sort of puppeteer colleagues.
GORRILLA: And learning the best way to move Dr. Kiss takes practice.
WISEMAN: Just like in dance, you know, these complex ways of lifting people or flipping people, you're just, like, putting your hands around his belly and, like, jumping and, like, slamming him to the ground.
GORRILLA: During the performance, the puppeteers really seem to disappear, as Rice calls the play by play in a raucous pro-wrestling style.
RICE: Dr. Kiss now on the top rope, getting ready to deliver his patented finishing maneuver - the kiss of death.
GORRILLA: The puppeteers maneuver Dr. Kiss to the top rope, and he raises his little hand to his little ear to get the audience going. And in the next moment, he hits the mat.
RICE: And now, the referee is counting, one...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Two, three.
RICE: Dr. Kiss has got to get back to his feet - four.
GORRILLA: Dr. Kiss is taking the show on the road - this weekend, Chicago, and later, Las Vegas. It's wrestling with the same energy, surprise endings and smaller-than-life characters. It's a real wrestle minia (ph). For NPR News, I'm Buffy Gorrilla.
(SOUNDBITE OF JIM JOHNSTON SONG, "I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME (STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.