By Michael Moore, PWTorch Collectibles specialist

In Brief: Kansas City native Rob Schamberger paints wrestling legends in a whole new light.




Bruiser Brody exhibited a star quality unlike any other wrestler – even if your only exposure to him was through 1980s wrestling magazines.

With his crazy eyes, wild hair, and immense size, Brody looked as tough and as dangerous as any human being on the planet. Just seeing his picture in Pro Wrestling Illustrated or The Wrestler made a young fan want to tear it out and hang it on his wall.

Longtime wrestling fan and artist Rob Schamberger has captured Brody’s mystique in an exceptional painting as a part of his Wrestling Champions artwork collection. The collection also includes fascinating abstract paintings of Harley Race, Owen Hart, Ric Flair, and many others.

In this exclusive interview with the Pro Wrestling Torch, Schamberger talks about how wrestlers have responded to his artwork, what types of artwork are available to collectors of all levels, what he has in the works and more.

Question: Wrestling as artwork is a pretty new concept; when did you start doing your pieces, and what got you started?

Schamberger: I started on this project about two months ago. A couple of years back I started work on a graphic novel about wrestling in Kansas City in the 1970s, for which I did a ton of research. I read all of the wrestling books I could come across, interviewed wrestlers, promoters and writers, and compiled a large collection of pictures. With my paintings, I had been doing subject matter based around 1950s and ‘60s girlie mags, but with a modern approach stylistically. I got as far with that collection as I wanted to go, so the obvious next thing to do after half-naked ladies was ‘rasslers.

Question: What was your first piece?

Schamberger: C.M. Punk was the first wrestler I portrayed for this collection. He's my current favorite wrestler who is active today, and a lot of my “OMG moments” with wrestling in the last few years have been based around him.

Question: What is your favorite piece you've done so far? Your Bruiser Brody piece is one of the coolest things I’ve seen.

Schamberger: You're asking me to pick my favorite kid. I know it seems like a cop-out answer, but it's always whichever painting I'm currently working on. The creative process gives me so much joy, making something from nothing, you know? The Brody piece I am especially proud of, though. I could draw that guy all day, every day.

Question: What kinds of responses have you gotten, specifically from wrestlers like Harley Race?

Schamberger: The response from the wrestlers has been 100 percent positive and supportive. I'm talking with current and former world champions just about every day now. Specifically, the first I heard from was Harley Race, who lives a couple hours out of Kansas City and has a long and storied history with the area. Before I started on this collection, I had done an illustration of him that was used on Missouri Wrestling Revival's Lifetime Achievement Award for him, and he made sure to get word back to me that he really loved it. That was one of those “holy crap” moments, you know?

Since I started on this, I've been in contact with Adam Pearce, Colt Cabana, Nigel McGuinness, the Sheik, and just the other day Kevin Steen called me out on Twitter. I've also been talking with (former WCW World Champion) David Arquette, if you can believe it. People kept asking me, since I'm doing every World champion, if I'll be doing Arquette, (Vince) Russo, or Vince McMahon. On a lark, I tweeted Arquette asking which of his outfits he wanted me to use when I did his. A day later, he tweeted out that he loved my work and wanted to buy the painting, and that he wanted the red outfit from the last pay-per-view of his storyline. My life is so surreal now! Seriously, Google that red outfit. It's ridiculous.

Question: Have you been commissioned to do any pieces?

Schamberger: A ton. I started a Kickstarter project (which was featured in the Pro Wrestling Torch last week) to pay for doing all of these, which hit its funding goal last weekend. Because of that, I've got over a hundred paintings to do. I'm also getting commissions directly, and those seem to largely be for the old school guys like Brody, Freddie Blassie, and Gorgeous George, which I'm totally cool with.

Question: What is your favorite medium to work with?

Schamberger: I like to play with everything, using whatever I think will get me the desired final product. Most of my work is anchored by acrylics, but I'll use oils and spray paint and whatever else in conjunction with it.

Question: Do you sell any of your artwork, either as prints, originals, trading cards, etc.?

Schamberger: The originals are definitely for sale. I'll have some prints available on my site soon, and hopefully some t-shirts too.

Question: Hand-drawn sketch cards have become incredibly popular in sets like Star Wars and Marvel and DC trading cards. They've been appearing in sports products for a few years now, and Topps and Tristar have even had TNA wrestlers sketch their own cards. Have you ever done anything like this, and is that something you'd consider doing upon request?

Schamberger: I'm definitely doing sketch cards, and I'll have those available on my site soon as well. I'll show my work at indy shows, and the sketch cards are easily my best sellers.

Question: Are you working on any new pieces? Which wrestlers?

Schamberger: I'm constantly working on new pieces, normally several at a time. I just finished up Hulk Hogan, and I'm working on Adam Pearce now. The Hulk Hogan piece I'm trying to get signed by him, so that we can put it up for auction and have all of the proceeds go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. That'd be cool, wouldn't it?

Question: What is the easiest way for readers to get in touch with you?

Schamberger: I make it really easy. You can go to my site at RobSchamberger.com . I'm on Facebook at www.facebook.com/robschamberger and I'm on Twitter as @robschamberger.

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Do you have a question about wrestling collectibles, or something in your collection you'd like to show off? Contact PWTorch Collectibles Specialist Michael Moore at michaelmoorewriter@gmail.com.

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