REAL PRO WRESTLING 50TH ANNIVERSARY REUNITES A WRESTLING FAMILY
NEW YORK, Friday, Nov. 1, 2052 — The highlight of the 50th anniversary celebration of Real Pro Wrestling (RPW), held today at the new underwater Madison Square Garden situated beneath the Hudson River, was not the annual Parade of Champions from the organization’s North American, South American, European, Asian, and African Leagues. No, that almost ritualistic ceremony goes on every year. What got the 35,000 fans and wrestlers worked up the most was the presentation of the annual Frank Gotch Award to RPW’s Most Valuable Wrestler by the one and only Dan Gable, who turned 104 years young one week ago.
“I guess you can’t name an award after me since I’m still kicking, “cracked Gable, as he slapped his new solar cell-powered hips. “But I’m still here, I still love wrestling, and I’m honored to present this award — even if it is to somebody outside of Iowa, “he quipped.
Dan Gable knows well that the recipient of this year’s award is indeed not from Iowa. The winner was his great-great grandson, Dan Gable III, the heavyweight from Paris Lutte, the team which has been to RPW in the mid-21st century what Gable’s Iowa Hawkeyes were to American college wrestling in the late 20th century.
“I’m honored to win this award for the third straight time, “said Gable III, “and even more honored that this year I get to receive it from my great-great grandpa. “
Things haven’t always gone so smoothly among the Gable family members. The 2012 Paris Olympics, widely regarded as the best Olympic Games ever, were also the last to feature wrestling. This, plus the now infamous money-laundering scandal, led to the collapse of amateur wrestling’s international infrastructure. While college wrestling continued in North and South America in the ICAA, after graduation many of the top collegiate wrestlers began to go directly to RPW without competing internationally, much as athletes in sports like baseball and basketball have done.
But there was a small group of American wrestlers who wanted to keep the dream of competing in the Olympics alive, and they departed for Europe some 25 years ago. Among them was Dan Gable III’s father, Mack. This caused great tension in the Gable clan, who were united in their desire to save and expand wrestling but divided over just how to do that now that it was no longer an Olympic sport.
Repairing the damage that was done to international amateur wrestling is taking time, although the recent announcement that representatives of both RPW and the International Olympic Committee are meeting next month on International Space Station IX is a hopeful sign. At the same time, RPW appears to have completely replaced the floundering international amateur wrestling movement with its overseas expansion that also began about 25 years ago, about the same time that the American expatriate wrestlers arrived in Europe.
The split between these wrestling factions is now just about healed. Perhaps this ceremony, with the greatest living symbol of the old guard presenting this award to the most prominent member of the new guard, will remove the old scars just as quickly and thoroughly as a dash of Scaraway does to scars of the body.
“RPW not only created a professional league for real wrestling, “said Gable III, “but also ended up being amateur wrestling’s savior. For that we will always be grateful. “
Also receiving an award was Sara Khatami of the Tehran Tigers. She won the Tricia Saunders Award given to RPW’s top woman wrestler of the year. Skip Sanderson of the Iowa Stalkers won the Kyle Maynard Award as the best disabled RPW wrestler of the year. Isaac Igali of the Lagos Warriors won the Alexander Kareline Award for the longest undefeated streak, which is now up to five years. And Henri Deglane, the head coach of Paris Lutte, won the Farmer Burns Award for RPW coach and trainer of the year.
Presenting those awards remotely via his Personal Viewer was RPW’s president-emeritus, the 81-year-old Rulon Gardner. He had planned to be in attendance to present them in person, but was still at home in Wyoming recuperating from a spill last week from his snow-scooter. “I’ll be back at 110 percent in a few weeks, “he vowed, “but I had to use my PV to give out these awards this week. “
After presenting these awards, Gardner did acknowledge that the time may now have come for RPW to change its name. Since the fake pro wrestling went out of business and was subsequently banned a decade ago after half its performers died from a mass, drug-induced suicide, the name Real Pro Wrestling has seemed to smack somewhat of overkill. “But we love the tens of thousands of our fans chanting ‘RPW, RPW’ at our events and over their PV’s, “stated Gardner, “so we just may keep it a bit longer. Besides, you never know what these other characters may do, so we still have to draw the line between what is real and what is fake. “
Now that the new Madison Square Garden has finally opened, RPW’s 2053 World Championships will be held here at the world’s largest underwater arena. Next year’s RPW All-Star Meet will be held in the New Tokyo Dome. For more information, set your PV’s to RealProWrestling and say “schedule. “
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