Originator of Congolese voodoo wrestling style vows to give up mystical practice behind wrestling technique
Edingwe Moto Na Ngenge, the Congolese wrestler widely credited as being the first to incorporate the catch fetiche style, or what has become known in the West as voodoo wrestling, has renounced his use of fetishes. Edingwe wept and repented while speaking to the spiritual head of the Kimbanguist church, a branch of Christianity based in the Democratic Republic of The Congo, Papa Diangienda. Edingwe let Diangienda know that he accepts the legal representative of Kimbanguism as his God.
Edingwe has reportedly been living at the church’s home base in Nkamba, or as Kimbanguism’s followers refer to it, New Jerusalem. With the embrace of Kimbanguism, Edingwe has vowed to never return to practicing the use of fetishes or to revisit his old days as a catch fetiche wrestler. He also bemoaned his days as a wrestler, stating that he searched the world for success and it has only weakened him.
The Christian church is often a big opponent of the catch fetiche style of wrestling in the DRC, looking negatively at its use of magic and traditional voodoo practices. The originator of the catch fetiche style, and most popular catch fetiche wrestler ever, pledging his allegiance in such a dramatic way to the church and distancing himself from the practices that helped to make him so well known is surely a victory for the church in its battle against catch fetiche. It will be interesting to see if Edingwe’s vow of devotion will have an effect on any other wrestlers and their decisions to continue to practice catch fetiche in the ring.
