After years of being forced out to the suburbs, citizens of the District are finally getting a chance to watch an independent professional wrestling match within city limits. Longtime wrestling coach Nick “Mister Gator” Capezza is launching D.C.’s first indie pro wrestling organization next month.

“Washington D.C. has not been a place that independent wrestling [organizations] have ever been before,” says Lolo McGrath, the chief brand officer of Prime Time Pro Wrestling, as the new outfit is called. “I’m really excited to help run the first indie wrestling show. I want other promotions to wrestle in D.C., too, because we do have wrestling fans here.”

The indies have been described as the minor leagues of World Wrestling Entertainment. But it’s the same basic idea: valiant heroes, hammy villains, flashy costumes, and drama-filled matches.

The first event—dubbed Grapitol City—is taking place at DC Brau on May 26. They’ll set up a 25-foot-by-25-foot elevated wrestling ring inside the brewery, with three rows of seating. Tickets ($15-$25) go on sale this Friday.

There was a surprising amount of red tape to make it happen. D.C. has a Combat Sports Commission that licenses people involved in combat sports, but it has always focused resources on boxing and MMA, McGrath says. Now, it has licensed the area’s first indie professional wrestlers.

But while PTPW is the first indie promotion in the District itself, there are a number in the suburbs.

In fact, the new organization is popping up in the wake of the collapse of NOVA Pro Wrestling, an indie outfit based in Northern Virginia, amid accusations that its owner wasn’t paying his performers.

McGrath got her start in wrestling at NOVA Pro, where she worked as a ring announcer. Despite the drama surrounding its dissolution, she says NOVA Pro Wrestling was successful in finding a fan base in the area, and it had a bevy of shows scheduled that people had been excited to attend. So, exactly five weeks ago, McGrath and others started forming a new organization that would be based in D.C. to satisfy the area’s pro-wrestling fans.

Following in the tradition of other indie pro-wrestling companies, Prime Time Pro Wrestling will tease the talent in stages leading up to Grapitol City, so we don’t yet know who will be starring in the show.

“What I can tell you is, the main event for this show is going to be for a title match. It’s going to be for a championship belt,” says McGrath, who is also the beverage manager at DC9 (she was behind last year’s garbage pop-up bar). That means, basically, that the talent will perform an hours-long orchestrated show (where they will take real hits, McGrath is sure to mention), all leading up to a championship match for PTPW’s belt. This coveted belt is ostensibly the point of all the matches in the first place—everyone is after it, though not every show provides the opportunity.

McGrath says she’s hoping to win some converts to wrestling fandom. She knows that people often look down their noses at wrestling (she herself used to be a “snob” about it, she says) but she thinks most people would grow into avid fans if they would just give it a chance.

“I have told people before, and I truly mean this, I think being involved in wrestling and being a wrestling fan has made me a better person. As people who observe pop culture it’s really really easy to get jaded and to [exclusively] love irony and things that are high-brow,” she says. “Wrestling is gritty and it’s very earnest. If you are watching pro wrestling and you’re being judgmental of it, you’re not going to enjoy yourself.”

That’s what happened to her two years ago at her first match as a fan.

“The first time I saw wrestling I thought it was dumb, and then ten minutes later, I was sucked in,” she says. “That was it.”

Grapitol City will take place on at 3 p.m. May 26 at DC Brau (3178 Bladensburg Rd NE). Tickets ($15-$25) will go on sale on April 19.