Pillow Pandemonium at the Salem Community Activity Center on Saturday night brought out a big crowd to watch the first-time event in Salem.
Salem Fireman Matt Eastin with the stage name of El Fuego Rojo beat Andrew Strong on points in the main event.
“It was way harder than I thought it was going to be, even though I’ve been practicing,” Eastin said. “He actually surprised me. I thought this was going to be a super easy fight, but he came in swinging, gave it his all, and it was a lot of fun.”
“Big things come in tiny packages,” Strong said. “My last name’s not Strong for no reason… It was a great time, a good and different event for the community. Hopefully they do it again, and maybe I can just be a judge next year and not an opponent.”
Other matches saw Benjamin ‘Dream Crusher’ Trinkle defeat James ‘Smokin’ Smotherer’ Fulton in the hoses and roses bout. In the Raccoon School rumble, teacher Kendra ‘Brash Panda’ Herman beat school treasurer Misty ‘Treasure Cat’ Rinehart. In the battle of two eighth grade students, Elia ‘The Pillow Padawan’ Collier defeated Logan ‘Darth Logan’ Morgan. In the ‘I Want to Speak to the Manager’ match, Karen “Excuuse Me!!!’ Michels beat Amanda ‘The Manager’ Collier. That match ended with both participants beating the referee with pillows. In the city council faceoff, Salem City Councilman Frank ‘The Pillow Tank’ Addison defeated Centralia City Councilman Izzy ‘The Postman’ Fontenez. In the Mystery Match, the ‘Slumber Taker’ defeated Colton Percez who raised the most money to get into the ring.
Andrew Collier of the Forge Boxing Club felt the Pillow Pandemonium was a success.
“We had a pretty well-packed house,” Collier said. “It was something that Salem hasn’t seen before. We wanted to do something that the community could get involved in without training for years and years. We hand-picked the fights this time and tried to pick people that the community would recognize. We had a pretty good turnout, we think the fighters did extremely well, and we’re pretty happy with it.”
And Community Center Executive Marci Auvil is ready to do it again.
“We’re doing it again, absolutely. This was fun. They’ve already got plans in the works to expand it for next year. Even before the event started tonight, we knew we were doing it again. It was great to see everybody out. I think they had a good time.
The Forge Boxing Club rented the facility and received the admissions, while the community center made the money off the food and refreshments.
Andrew Strong (red) vs. Matt Easton (blue). Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Colton Percez takes on Slumber Taker at Pillow Pandemonium. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Karen Michels and Amanda Collier go after the referee at the conclusion of their match. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
Karen “Excuuse Me!!!’ Michels (right) beat Amanda ‘The Manager’ Collier.
Benjamin ‘Dream Crusher’ Trinkle (right) defeated James ‘Smokin’ Smotherer’ Fulton.
Elia ‘The Pillow Padawan’ Collier (right) defeated Logan ‘Darth Logan’ Morgan.
