Missouri Wrestling Revival

Posted By Justin Kendall on the Pitch

Monday night’s edition of Raw at the Sprint Center is shaping up to be a big night for WWE. Hulk Hogan is advertised to make his first appearance in Kansas City in more than a decade. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is also rumored to be walking that aisle. John Cena and Dean Ambrose are scheduled to for combat against Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and Kane in a street fight. And Triple H has promised to bring Hell in a Cell — a 20-foot, five-ton steel cage — to the Sprint Center.

But before that all goes down live on the USA Network, Kansas City-based artist Rob Schamberger will be outside the Sprint Center painting a new portrait of WCW legend Sting. He’ll be set up next to a merchandise trailer around 3 p.m.

In April 2012, The Pitch profiled Schamberger, who was on a quest to paint every world champion wrestler. Since then, Schamberger’s wrestling art has taken him across the United States. Near the end of 2013, he started officially working with WWE. He painted the mural above live from WWE Axxess, the wrestling organization’s fan festival during WrestleMania weekend, in New Orleans. And he watched the Super Bowl of professional wrestling from the private box of the Ultimate Warrior in the Super Dome.

“Getting the star treatment at WrestleMania was awesome,” Schamberger says. “Painting live at Axxess was a huge undertaking — 20-hour days for four or five days straight and more napping than sleeping — but it was tremendous exposure, so I wanted to be there from opening to close so I didn’t miss anything.”

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