It has been a year to the day since a fire destroyed the home of Toby Willis, Founder of Real Pro Wrestling. A lot has happened in that year and I was able to catch up with him and ask him some pointed questions about the state of affairs of RPW.
What is going on with RPW?
Willis: RPW has been hard at work doing a lot of behind the scenes work. While this logistical work does not always make for great news, it is essential to the long- term health of RPW. However, there are a few things that are big news.
What is one big RPW news story right now?
Willis: We finally finished our Season One DVD. As far as I know, not only is this the first time good wrestling production came to television, but it is the first time a complete major event has been made available on DVD. Maybe there are videos you can buy, but not that I know of. Putting wrestling on television is only one goal of RPW. The larger goal is making great wrestling accessible to the public. DVDs play a big part of this.
For those who missed episodes of RPW, now they can see what they missed. Also we have worked hard on the bonus material for the DVD — all 28 complete quarterfinal matches. We had to work hard to bring some sub-par backup footage up to quality since we lost about half of our original footage in the fire last year.
These 28 bonus matches are the same number of matches we showed in the television show, so in a way, this is like Season 1.5. There were some great matches in the quarters and encourage people to see what was missing from the television broadcast.
You mentioned the importance of an in-house post-production component for RPW. Why is that important?
Willis: This gives us the ability to do future or even past wrestling events. For example, we’d love to bring out all the past Nationals, Trials and Olympic Events. This will take some dealing making with the entities who own this footage but right now, all these great matches are sitting on the shelves collecting dust. Meanwhile our country’s wrestlers lose out from learning from the best, and the fans do not get to see the best compete.
It is a shame that we cannot see all the great wrestlers of the past. I’ve seen a few illegal copies of past Olympics and such, but it is a huge problem that the average wrestler cannot see the matches from the past. Take the 2004 Olympics for example. NBC owns the footage and doesn’t put out a DVD. One of RPW’s goals is to solve this.
What changes can we expect to see from RPW?
Willis: The most obvious change is in our merchandise. Check out our new designs and logos. We also have others working to help us design products such as singlets based on RPW concepts. We did some re-branding ourselves and even reworked some of the team logos and artwork. Based on feedback on Season One, we learned some things worked and others that didn’t. We also are planning changes for Season Two to reflect what we learned in the production. Technology continues to race forward and already our computer and software tools for Season Two are significantly improved over our first season. Our website will continue to evolve as well.
What is happening with Season Two and television?
Willis: The biggest hurdle has been the television front. Not all this is in our hands either. We continue to move this front but quite frankly, are very disappointed in the executives who make the decisions. Our ratings were good for the time and channel we were on for Season One. There is good evidence we can explode if given better channels and time slots. We are making progress though. We are currently involved in meetings with various cable networks looking to hammer out something that makes sense. We will announce our Season Two broadcast plans as soon as we can.
From the look and sound of things RPW is actually more than a wrestling show. Can you elaborate on this?
Willis: Many people do not understand RPW’s larger goal. Yes we have a television show and we had a few matches, but we have a much bigger goal and many bite-size steps to get from start to finish. It is a complex plan but necessarily so due to the fact that the world of wrestling is a huge complex situation. We have many organizations governing a part of this world, some who care for wrestling, others that don’t. We also have different styles and seasons, age levels, events, etc.
Part of our goal is also to bring sponsors to the table to give wrestling a good financial foundation for the future. While there have been individuals and corporations who have donated considerable funds in the past, for wrestling to prosper, we need the advertising inventory for them to make big budget long term commitments. RPW provides that. We already have some sponsors on board for season two and a few more on the fringe.
What can people in the wrestling community do to help not only RPW succeed but wrestling as a whole?
Willis: I think there are a number of things that can help our sport but here are a couple of things I believe are critical:
A very professional, fresh and cutting edge look and feel product for television, which I believe RPW is.
A comprehensive marketing, public relations and advertising package put in place and followed through on. It is not good enough just to have wrestling on television. If the product is not superior, and there is no set plan to market and advertise the show then the ratings will be poor and the networks will think wrestling can’t do well on television. This is what has happened in the past and is exactly what is hurting negotiations now. The leaders in the wrestling world need to think further forward than they are”¦this is a chess match not checkers.
We need investors and influential people from within the wrestling world to step up and help wrestling succeed. As I said before, while there have been individuals and corporations who have donated considerable funds in the past, for wrestling to prosper we need to really focus on the business approach to our sport. We (the wrestling investors) have to understand that a “donation “can actually be an “investment “in which returns can be realized.
How are you and your family doing since the fire a year ago?
Willis: I have been working hard putting my family’s life in order. The fire hit us really hard and at this point it looks like it will be about two years before we are back to normal.
This is tough for my nine kids who will never have a second chance at childhood. But we have no choice. Wrestling prepared me for hardship so we keep plugging away. Also faith that God will work everything out for good also plays a huge part.
One last question. Do you have faith RPW will succeed?
Willis: Thankfully true faith is not a blind leap in the dark, contrary to reason and facts. It is simply seeing the conclusions beforehand of what the data points to. With RPW, the data logically points to the conclusion that wrestling can explode and go prime time. We are not at that final destination yet, but we can’t get there without faith. We hope our work so far as helped make converts out of people so we”¦ so wrestling can be brought into the promised land.
I don’t wish to equate wrestling as equal with religion but point out the similarities. It takes intelligence and design to create good things and random chance alone can never get us there. We here at RPW are doing our best to bring about good in wrestling and in all of life. Is that not what coaches, parents, and wrestlers all try to do everyday?
I want to thank everyone for their past and continuing support of Real Pro Wrestling.
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