January 10, 2013 – They have names like Lil Rampage, Little Devil, and Tiny Terminator. Standing three-and-a-half feet tall and weighing less than 90 pounds, four midget-but-nonetheless-professional wrestlers will perform next week at Marina City’s House of Blues.

The “Extreme Midget Wrestling Federation” performs 120 shows each year, according to its website, selling an average of 500 tickets per show. The company promotes seven wrestling shows and two “midget brawls.”

Midget wrestling peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. Competition was more serious and there was a World Midget Championship. The smaller wrestlers were no match for the World Wrestling Federation and the popularity of midget wrestling started to decline in the 1970s. Despite a reversal in recent years, the shows, often performed in nightclubs in a ring 12 feet square, are generally not promoted as serious contests.

Little People of America is officially against midget wrestling, calling it “thoroughly degrading,” and does not even approve of the word “midget.” In 2009, the organization that provides support to people of short stature unsuccessfully asked the Federal Communications Commission to ban the word from broadcast television.

• What: Extreme midget wrestling
• Where: House of Blues Chicago, 329 North Dearborn Street Map
• When: January 17, 7:30 p.m.
• Cost: $15 Tickets

Photo by Chet Smith.