Balli returns with title of 'Most Hated'

Windy City pro wrestling show set for Saturday at JT West

How is success really measured? If you're Mike Balli of Minooka, you count your belts and you show off the new trophy, the one that labels you "Most Hated."

Balli, a 1985 graduate of Joliet Township High School, has made his living as a machine operator for a Joliet firm. He's also made his mark as professional wrestler Mike Anthony.

"I've done this for 17 years," he said, noting that he will celebrate his 40th birthday next month. "I've won the championship belts in every weight class, and as part of a tag team. I've done it all, so I have nothing to prove. I'm in it now because I still enjoy what I'm doing."

What he's doing is making trips to the gym five days a week. There is time devoted to weight training and cardiovascular workouts. And then there are still lessons to be learned in the ring, where he works out at least four days a week.

Keeping up that schedule is a major accomplishment in itself, considering the injury that doctors thought would end Balli's career in 1994.

"I was told that my reckless style would cut my career short, but it seemed safe enough until that day. I was thrown into the ropes; I flipped over and then stepped in some sort of divot in the ring and my knee just snapped," he said.

"I still have screws in there, holding me together, but I was only out two months before I was back training and it was only six months before I was back in the ring. But I dropped the reckless thing. No more climbing up on the top rope to start some move. None of that any more."

In fact, in a world known for its outrageous characters, Balli now admits: "I have no gimmick."

"People seem to either love me or hate me," he said, without elaborating on how he won the "Most Hated" honor at the recent awards ceremonies hosted by the Windy City Pro Wrestling group. He does have anecdotal evidence, though.

"I had a guy come out of the crowd and come over the railing toward me as I left the ring once in Minnesota," he said. "I was wrestling a local guy and guess it was a friend of his. Well, security threw him out, but I saw him standing outside when I was leaving. I thought he might still be carrying a grudge, but a friend brought him over and we talked for quite awhile.

"Some folks just get a little too emotional, a little too involved during the matches."

That wasn't always the case. Balli's first matches drew very few fans, despite the fact that he was part of JT Central's state championship team in 1985.

"That was an amazing team," said Balli's high school coach, Eural ("Dean Mack") McLaughlin. "We were three deep at every weight group, but I remember Mike as one of our top reserves. I remember he never missed a practice and he was always ready for a challenge.

"He wrestled for us at 145 pounds. I can't believe how big he is now," McLaughlin added.

At 6 feet and 215 pounds, Balli noted that he hit a second growth spurt at 23 and is now the tallest and heaviest of his family.

He is probably the best-known member of his family, even if he does wrestle as Mike Anthony.

"I was with the WWF (the World Wrestling Federation showmen seen so often on television) between 1997 and 2001," he said. "I wrestled all over the country in those days. Steve Bozniak and I got together as the tag team 'Devastation.'

"With a wife and two kids at the time (the Ballis have three children now), the travel was too much and I came back to the Windy City group."

Windy City Pro Wrestling is a Chicago-based independent wrestling promotion group that plays the smaller venues, such as the JTHS West Campus gym this Saturday night. The big-name groups, such as Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling, are still filling the country's major arenas and grabbing the big TV ratings.

While Balli stays closer to home these days, he still has the stories of his tour through Japan, where he remembers that they took wrestling very seriously. He spends more time with his family these days and he's sure that his 7-year-old daughter "gets" what he's doing, and his 12-year-old son is a huge fan.

"Alex and I will watch wrestling on TV together. He has his favorites just like I did when I grew up watching Rick Flair and Hulk Hogan. In fact, Flair is 50 now and he's still in shape, still wrestling. I guess 40 isn't so bad."

Balli/Anthony will get a chance to renew acquaintances with his old coaches Saturday. He's hoping some of his former wrestling teammates visit, too.

"Joei Bales, Carl Barefield, Maurice Gregory and guys like that -- it would be good seeing them in a gym again."