A battle between good and evil was brewing at the Napa County Fairgrounds in Calistoga Saturday. Just as former World Wrestling Entertainment Wrestler The Tonga Kid was about to slam a wrestling vixen to the mat, another former WWE wrestler, Jon Heidenreich, ran inside the ring and saved her.

After hitting The Tonga Kid and chasing him away, Heidenreich told the crowd that he was only doing for the girl what God had done for him many years ago — saving him from the shadier elements of the wrestling business, and also saving his marriage.

The wrestlers — from Sacramento-based wrestling outfit, Supreme Pro Wrestling, as well as Christian-based grapplers from World Impact Wrestling — were battling at the 8th Annual Rock of Ages Festival, a genre-blending concert featuring today’s hottest Christian music groups.

“We use wrestling as a bait,” said Samuelu Fatu, who wrestles under the name The Tonga Kid. “We use that ring as an altar ... to get them up here.”

Fatu, who has been in the wrestling business since the mid ’80s, is a devout Christian and uses the fame he got while wrestling in the WWE and World Championship Wrestling to help get children motivated about God. His mission is a familiar one to members of Calistoga’s Highlands Christian Fellowship, who for the past eight years have organized the Rock of Ages Festival in Calistoga as a way to reach out to young people and help them stay away from things such as drugs and pre-marital sex.

“In our church, we try to inspire a lot of kids to follow God,” said Ray Centanni, youth pastor at Highlands Christian Fellowship and event coordinator.

One of the ways the church did this, Centanni said, was to take youths to different concerts and events outside of Calistoga. But Centanni said that the trips would often be too costly for Highlands’ families and so was born the idea to put on a free concert in Calistoga.

“Five hundred kids showed up (at the first concert),” he said.

On Saturday, 5,000 or more gathered at the fairgrounds to listen to some tunes, watch the wrestling show, marvel at risk-taking skateboarders, socialize and pray. Washington-based MxPx and Tennessee-based Jars of Clay headlined the show and had antsy teenagers flowing through the fairgrounds most of the day.

“I find it really hard to get into Christian music,” said 17-year-old Jon Rio, of Ukiah.

But when Rio — who was wearing a shirt from the film “The Lost Boys,” dark shades and a rock-star bandanna — said he heard that MxPx was going to be in town, he made the trip from Ukiah to Calistoga along with his friend Christine Kendall, 17, of Rohnert Park, to enjoy the show.

Kendall, who said she likes listening to hard-core Christian bands, said that Christian music is very much like the stuff that’s played on the radio.

“It’s really not that different,” she said. “The main difference is that they don’t use profanity.”

Rappers Conflict (Jimmy Barker) and Minister RMB (Jack Nordby) know a bit about profanity as well as other harmful themes in music. But these two native Sacramento rappers use their talents to help spread the word of God and combat the negative images that rap often portrays.

“We recognize that there is such an attack on our youth, our generation,” Nordby said. “Our messages are to counterattack that.”

“I go by Conflict not because I bust caps,” Barker told the crowd who had gathered to see him. “I go by Conflict because I’m at war with the message of the world ... perverted message. I’m tired of all these rappers talking dirty or nasty.”

A wide variety of vendors were sprinkled throughout the fairgrounds. One sold shirts with slogans such as “I’m the Christian the Devil warned you about” and “Total Jesus Freak.”

Santa Rosa resident and Highlands Christian Fellowship parishioner Donna Colburn bought a shirt that read “God is dead — Nietzsche, 1883, Nietzsche is dead — God, 1900.” Colburn said she’s been coming to Rock of Ages since it began and said she was excited to see Denver and the Mile High Orchestra.

When asked what she liked most about the band she said, “It’s the old band sound.”

Colburn, along with daughters Katie, 19, and Ashley, 14, also got the opportunity to watch Conflict and Minister RMB do their thing on stage and said she appreciated the diverse musical acts at Rock of Ages this year.

The concert was free to the public, but not free as far as organizing, planning and paying for the music groups. Centanni said Rock of Ages cost about $100,000 or more to finance, which was possible through hefty church donations. In addition, most of the groups charged a fraction of what they normally charge, Centanni said.