National Indian Leg Wrestling League takes to Winnipeg ring

For one night only The Blackfooter is taking on The Bannock Bruiser at the Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery in Winnipeg.

The National Indian Leg Wresting League of North American is the latest exhibit at the gallery in the Exchange District.

"When you come into the show you get to see these amazing native artists because all of the participants are native artists," said Houle. "They are all strong, so you get to see strong people and these strong warriors in a sense."

There are 10 wrestlers in the league. Each of their personas pokes fun at stereotypes of aboriginal people.

One wrestler is called Sugar and his "final move" is diabetes.

"These are things aboriginal people wrestle with: sugar, white flour and diabetes," said Houle.

Houle said most of his work focuses on stereotypes placed on aboriginal people by non-aboriginal people.

He said if aboriginal people don't talk about the stereotypes, then they become hurtful.

"If you use them, then you can dispel them and you can break them down and recreate," said Houle.

Houle said the leg wrestling league was inspired by watching wrestling when he was a kid. He said he also did a lot of leg wrestling.

"Always had to leg wrestle because I was always the only native person where ever I was, so everyone always wanted to wrestle the native kid," said Houle.

The competition starts at 9:00 p.m. The warm up matches feature four local leg wrestlers before The Blackfooter and Bannock Bruiser step into the ring.

The show is open to the public and audience participation is encouraged.