As RealProWrestling finally comes to television March 27th, you may be curious how RPW got started. Amidst all the current complexity of business, marketing, and post-production, it is almost comical how simple it all got started. Little did we know that a couple years later we would find ourselves in the middle of birth pangs with no turning back.
We wish we had supernatural powers to speak and bang, a sports league could come into existence. Yet for a project as big as starting a professional sports league, we don’t deny a big dependence on supernatural help. We feel like David throwing the stone and praying, just let it hit.
It all started about three years ago as Matt Case and I were working hard on a new magazine idea, which someday we hope to finish. We had not intended to put it aside, it just kind of happened and slowly RPW took over our lives.
Matt and I had been teammates on the wrestling team at Northwestern University where our team placed fourth in the NCAAs. Matt was a walk-on who worked his way up to the status of two-time All-American. An injury ended my wrestling days early but not before becoming a NCAA National qualifier. Neither of us achieved what we wanted to in the world of wrestling but we moved on with our careers. However, wrestling never left our blood.
At NU, Matt and I discovered we had some things in common. Besides both being on the wrestling team, we both liked music and were active in Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After college we both worked in the computer field. Through various circumstances, Matt came to work for me and we partnered to bring about products that would be creative and innovative using cutting edge technology.
One day while working on our magazine, Matt and I discussed the Title IX situation, the politics surrounding it, and the lawsuit the wrestling community was using to try to overturn the policy. We did not like the fact that the situation had turned into a fight between women’s athletics and the wrestling community. Most wrestlers think women should have athletic opportunities and support them. What is hard is to see the wrestling programs forced to close down to make the gender politics happen.
The answer we came up with was to make wrestling into a revenue sport. This would lead to a chain of events that would not only stop the loss of college programs but would solve most other problems within the world of wrestling. It was an elegant solution but was it feasible?
It all happened within a few minutes. I outlined how I though it could be done and Matt looked at me and said “Toby, why don’t you do it?” I really believed it would work and that I saw a solution others had not. I had the resources to do it but really had not thought to pull the trigger. Matt pushed me and pledged to support me.
But before jumping all the way in, we researched the idea further. As the data came in, we kind of kept going until we hit a wall. When we finally hit some tough walls, we found they were not because of wrestling itself but because of other stupid reasons, none of which were insurmountable.
The trick was always how to do our plan on a meager budget. With tens of millions it would have been far easier, but we didn’t have that luxury. We knew we could not spend years trying to raise the capital necessary to launch a league. We guessed, and I think rightly, that people would not envision what we envisioned and wouldn’t buy into a concept they couldn’t see.
That’s where ever increasing technology and our creativity came in. We also had to guess that we would be smart enough to learn as we go. We knew we didn’t know all the answers but we knew other pro leagues existed and so we thought it could be done. The big question was could we pull it off within our reasonable budget.
I have heard it said there is a fine line between genius and crazy. We’ll see where we end up. As people watch RPW, I think they will see we were not totally crazy and that what we envisioned years ago is a great concept. While not perfect in our execution, RPW is opening people’s eyes. Our Wright Flyer is airborne. With tweaks here and there, in no time we will be going supersonic.
Like David, we have thrown our stone. I think we can take out Goliath. However, we need the rest of the wrestling army to finish off the battle. We not only believed in wrestling , the wrestlers, and ourselves; we believed in the wrestling fans. We think we have a product that they will enjoy watching. We think it will bring many more fans to our sport.
We have all seen great stories in the movies. “Unite the clans”, “vision quest”, and “If you build it, they will come.” It is one thing to watch a movie, it is another to live it. Every wrestling fan has a part to play in this epic. The freedom of the world of wrestling is within our grasps.
Over the next months we will share more of the history of RPW. It has been a rocky road with twists and turns. Sometimes it shows how smart we are; other times how dumb. But a wrestler always gets back up and never gives up. For indeed we find ourselves wrestling again. But not just for a championship. We are wrestling for our sport and it just so happens we have a few wrestling goals still unfinished.
Story By Toby Willis CEO Real Pro Wrestling
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