“…imagine waiting for the train, with no interest or even familiarity in wrestling, and then seeing the doors open with people fighting in costumes and people screaming and cheering it all on,” says the incredible NYC Street Photographer Willie Velazquez in an interview with the Phoblographer. “LOL, that just made me laugh thinking about it from an elderly woman’s perspective.” Similar to photographer Steven Ferdman, Willie has gained the trust of the organizers to be able to photograph some of the wildest fights we’ve seen on the NYC subway.

All images by Willie Velazquez. Used with permission. Please visit his website and his Instagram for more.

NYC’s subways have been home to some pretty insane happenings since before the 1980s, as we’ve seen from Steven Siegal. While working on our Panasonic S9 review, we photographed dancers doing moves that would mesmerize and bedazzle any tourist. Stephen Hearst and Aaron Peg have done incredible fashion portraits on the subway. At the same time, Gretchen Robinette is in-part known for her series of candid portraits on her commutes. So it was only a matter of time until an underground wrestling federation formed.

We’d never condone any photographer to risk their life for their images. In fact, we’ve even called Drift, his work, and his representation by Robert Mann Gallery out for this. It’s a matter of our existence in this city that crazy performance art happens all the time. But this time around, it’s based on the attention economy — and Willie is there to document it.

Like pretty much all other wrestling, it’s all fake. Coined Subwaymania, it’s organized and created by content creator and wrestling aficionado/fanatic Tim “HANN” Rivera.”As chaotic as it looks, they’re really well organized and conscious of everybody’s safety.” explains Willie. “Tim takes the time to let everyone in attendance know to be alert and aware of their surroundings. If there’s anybody in the car that’s not part of it, just a regular commuter, he politely lets them know what’s going on so they can make a choice to get off.” To keep things low-key, they make no noise when the subway stops at platforms. This makes the safety not much of an issue, Velazquez claims.

“Overall safety’s no more an issue than any other train ride, honestly. “Yeah, we’re all bouncing around and pushing into each other, but everybody’s respectful and … I mean, you’re watching guys wrestle on a train for fun… you kind of should know what you’re signing up for. There’s even been kids in attendance, with their parents, of course. And those kids have a ton of fun and are made to feel like champs themselves.”

Willie Velazquez

After seeing it happen online, Willie thought it was hilarious and, by pure luck, happened to be at the wrestling matches. He find it fun and nostalgic. Like so many of us, he was into the WWF, WCW, ECW, etc. There are entire generations of us who did Stone Cold Stunners and the D-Generation X symbols. “Me and my nephews had our own federation along with finest hand crafted championship belts made out of leather and cardboard,” explains Willie. “…Frankly, I find it to be just as good as the real thing, if not better. The performers are hilarious and really selling it, and they’re definitely taking the hits, too; there is absolutely no padding anywhere in a subway car.”