MAT-SU — A Valley man is trying to keep his sport and passion for professional wrestling alive for another generation of Mat-Su residents by opening a school to pass on his knowledge.

Michael Saunders, or “Maddness” as he is known in the ring, is a longtime professional wrestler in Alaska. Training under Nick Danger and Mr. Outrageous in the Pile Driver School to hone his skills, Saunders has wrestled across Alaska and the Lower 48.

He hopes to teach his understanding of the sport before professional wrestling fades away locally because of a lack of local exposure.    

Submitted photo Michael “Madness” Saunders, right, aims to start a professional wrestling school in the Mat-Su Valley. Saunders is looking for people interested in training to become professional wrestlers.

“I want to keep the trade alive, and if I do not push it along the sport will die on the local level,” he said. “A lot of people like independent wrestling. Granted, it’s not like the WWE, but people like it just as well.”

To achieve his dream, Saunders hopes to open a full-time, year-round training full facility in Wasilla.

“I have the place picked out and am ready to go, all I need now are the students to fill it,” he said.

His school will teach potential professional wrestlers of all levels of understanding and skill, from beginner to advanced. He will also have special workshops and bring in other professional wrestlers to help hone certain skills like aerial attacks.     

“For a beginner we would start with basics like ring positions, running the ropes, chokes, holds, escapes and fundamental wrestling skills,” he said. “But for the more advanced students we could provide aerial attacks, high spots, throws and ring persona.”

Although a professional wrestler by trade, Saunders will also teach other aspects of sports entertainment.

“I will also be able to teach students how to be a referee and manager of a wrestler as well,” he said.

Learning these skills is a process, Saunders said, which is why his school would run multiple nights a week for several hours a night. Classed would run for eight to 12 months, depending on the level of training desired.

“We would be accommodating in our schedule,” he said. “I realize that people have busy and active lives and could not always make it there every night, so we could always work something out.”

The price for the school varies on what a potential wrestler would like to become, Saunders said.

A full-time wrestling class costs $1,500. And for training as a manager or referee will set a student back $1,000.

Those are prices for the maximum amount of training.

Saunders hopes to start training students within two months, but is in need of more students to make the school viable.

“Ideally, I would like to have five to six full-time students to get the school up and running,” he said. “But I could do it with as few as three students.”

Saunders plans on attracting more potential students at the upcoming AWA (Alaska Wrestling Alliance) match at the Menard Center on Feb. 13.

“It is going to be a special event,” he said. “We are bringing some guys up from California and other states to wrestle, as well as some guys from here in Alaska too. The proceeds are going to the Special Olympics and the Boy Scouts.”

For more information about the school, contact Saunders at 529-8686.

Contact Lanier Hutcheson at lanier.hutcheson@frontiersman.com or 352-2265.