City’s prelude to Royal Rumble includes murals, beats and laughs

Indianapolis-based artist JD Bills painted “Ringmasters,” which was then printed on vinyl and installed on a set of windows of the Murphy Arts Center in Fountain Square. (IBJ photo/Dave LIndquist)

In new painting “The Circle City Enters the Rumble,” fans of professional wrestling are depicted as a major part of a scene that includes silhouettes of WWE wrestlers in action, the Indianapolis skyline and Indiana’s state flower—the peony—in the foreground.

Artist Kyng Rhodes doesn’t hold back when explaining why attendees deserve a place in his painting and describing what fans will see during WWE’s Royal Rumble, a marquee event on pro wrestling’s calendar, Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“We experience the pageantry of wrestling: the theater, the athleticism, the excitement,” said Rhodes, who was enlisted by the WWE and Indiana Sports Corp. to create the painting that’s now displayed in mural form at the Indianapolis International Airport. “These people are trained athletes who are risking their lives to perform incredible stunts and feats. There’s also an art to it, in the storytelling and characters and elaborate gear amplifying the whole experience. And you have the pyro and fireworks, the smoke and all the graphics. We’re experiencing all of that combined.”

Rhodes says he would like to moonlight from his full-time art career to be a manager of wrestlers who hypes battles of good vs. evil during on-camera interviews.

And “The Circle City Enters the Rumble” is merely one example of Indianapolis expressing its excitement for the Royal Rumble through the arts.

Stand-up comedian DJ Dangler will present a stacked lineup of 30 entertainers for tonight’s Working Class Rumble event at Fountain Square’s White Rabbit Cabaret, 1116 Prospect St.

The format is inspired by the Royal Rumble, in which 30 wrestlers compete to be the last person standing.

On the White Cabaret stage, the roster will include noted Hoosier comedians Brent Terhune and Gwen Sunkel. Dangler also promises a few silver-tongued wrestlers from the independent professional circuit.

“As with all combat sports, there’s a competitive aspect,” Dangler said of his Working Class Rumble. “But it’s also about looking cool while you’re doing it. Will there be a champion? Of course, but the real winners are the fans.”

Dangler said his fandom of pro wrestling goes back more than 40 years to a baby’s crib in Angola, Indiana. “I probably teethed on one of those big rubber Hulk Hogan toys, the ones with no points of articulation,” he said.

Admission to the Working Class Rumble is $20. For more information about the 8 p.m. event, visit whiterabbitcabaret.com.

“If anybody is a comedy fan who knows a wrestling fan, make them go to this,” Dangler said. “If anybody is a wrestling fan who knows a comedy fan, ask them to bring you to this.”

At Saturday’s Top Rope Tailgate planned at the Hangar, 501 Madison Ave., the crossover art forms will be hip-hop and wrestling.

Chreece hip-hop festival organizers Oreo Jones and Jay Brookinz worked with the Royal Rumble’s local organizing committee and Indiana Sports Corp. to bring music to the 10-1/2-hour Top Rope Tailgate that begins at 1 p.m.

Indianapolis-based rapper Mula Kkhan, one of the day’s performers, is pictured wearing a luchador wrestling mask on the cover of his latest album, “Kkhanflict.” The Top Rope Tailgate entertainment lineup also includes a showdown of the city’s Vinyl Destination DJ Battle League.

The league already awards wrestling-style championship belts to its top DJs, and Saturday’s event includes a “tag team” match pitting two DJ duos against each other.

“If folks aren’t familiar with how DJ battles work, it’s a super high energy experience,” Jones said.

Top Rope Tailgate will become a viewing party for the Royal Rumble at around 6 p.m., Jones said.

Admission to all Top Rope Tailgate festivities is $30 and includes unlimited pizza, tacos, wings, tenders and pasta as well as two drink tickets. For more information, visit hangarindy.com.

Rhodes, the artist who painted “The Circle City Enters the Rumble,” recalled being a youngster and accompanying his father to WWE events at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“It’s a full-circle moment,” said Rhodes, a 2012 graduate of Arsenal Tech High School. “Now I’m an adult getting to collaborate with this company and getting to see my work be experienced by so many people who watched these same wrestlers growing up.”

Fellow muralist JD Bills worked with the WWE on a new artwork titled “Ringmasters.” The painting by Bills was printed on vinyl and installed on a 19-feet-by-30-feet set of windows at the Murphy Arts Center in Fountain Square.

“Ringmasters” features the faces of wrestlers ranging from Dwayne Johnson and John Cena to Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley.

“This mural marks the third time in my life that wrestling has made an impact on me,” Bills said. “As a youngster, I watched Hulk Hogan thrust wrestling into the forefront of sports entertainment. Later, as a teenager, my brother and I revisited wrestling as it regained popularity through ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and the Rock. Now, with WWE’s involvement in bringing events to Indianapolis, I’m back watching every episode and following every storyline.”