Olympic-style wrestling league hoping to catch on, earn spot in national sports craze
By Paul Adamski
News-Chronicle
In this version of the age-old tale regarding David and Goliath, Toby Willis has slung the proverbial stone.
Now, he and the rest of the aspiring wrestling community must wait to see if it lands with a heroic and captivating thwack or a measly blow en route to failure.
Willis believes it will indeed land, thus dispatching his vision of an Olympic-style wrestling league to the masses and perhaps one day a spot in the national sports craze that is occupied by the NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, etc.
Real Pro Wrestling, a made-for-TV competition that combines serious wrestling with the presentational flair of MTV, debuts this week as a nine-week series on Fox Sports Net.
RPW actually first aired Sunday on little-known Pax TV, while FSN is set to launch its series Wednesday – area cable viewers can see the inaugural episode at 3 p.m. on Fox Sports North.
With rosters of seven wrestlers each, eight teams with such names as the Texas Shooters, Iowa Stalkers and Minnesota Freeze vie for $250,000 in prize money in a series that was taped on a Los Angeles sound stage last fall.
California, Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania and Chicago also have namesakes in the league.
Four Wisconsin wrestlers will compete in the league, highlighted by Olympic medalist and former Freedom High School star Garrett Lowney. Fellow Wisconsin Olympians Dennis Hall and James Gruenwald, along with former University of Wisconsin Badger Donny Pritzlaff, round out the state representatives.
RPW will aim beyond purists, according to Willis, co-founder and CEO of the league.
Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestlers, who traditionally compete separately, will be thrown together – almost like fantasy wrestling. To combat any perception that wrestling is boring, the new format combines the most exciting elements of freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle wrestling, with a set of rules that rewards aggressive action.
RPW is by no way related to such fake wrestling shows as WWE. RPW is a league filled with Olympic and national champion wrestlers who will be competing in a style that many believe will take the sport of wrestling to an all-time high.
Founded in 2002, RPW is based in Nashville, Tenn., and is the creation of two former Northwestern University wrestling teammates, Willis and Matt Case. A pilot was shot in ’02, but this will be the first time the series will be shown to the nation.
“Finally, the world’s best wrestlers can earn a living at what they do best, “Willis said. “Wrestling fans deserve to see their heroes compete against the best in the world.”
Competitors enter the futuristic-style gladiator arena to pounding rock music and walk down a metal ramp to a specially designed elevated circular wrestling mat in a 360-degree Roman coliseum-inspired arena. Eight cameras capture the action.
Points are earned in the traditional way, through takedowns, escapes and reversals, but a wrestler’s margin of victory determines how many points he contributes to his team’s score. A 6-2 victory merits four team points; a pin is worth 15. So, piling up points, rather than preserving a lead, is at a premium.
Moreover, RPW has added some other action-pressing rules and a new points system that will bolster scoring and has the potential for competitive and seat-riveting matches.
Willis has a deep personal stake in the series as well as a large financial one. In 1994, Willis lost five brothers and a sister in a car accident. They were traveling to a high school wrestling tournament when they ran over a truck taillight assembly, which caused their gas tank to ignite.
Five years later, a court awarded Willis, his parents and his two surviving siblings $100 million in damages.
“The question came: What are you going to do with it; what can I do to turn this tragedy into something good? “said Willis, 34.
Willis wouldn’t specify how much he and his father, Scott, also a backer, have invested in RPW but did say the figure “has seven zeros behind the starting number.”
It shows in the first-class production of the series and in the top wrestlers who’ve signed on. The sport’s most visible American athlete, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner, provides commentary on broadcasts, and its elder statesman and living legend, Dan Gable, serves as a RPW consultant and spokesman.
Willis noted that RPW could have gone live in its first season but decided to go with the taped broadcast to “make sure we were putting our best product out there for everybody to see.”
Willis was confident RPW will begin its live broadcast this fall when the league enters an enhanced phase.
The first season was a two-day individual tournament that consisted of an eight-man, single-elimination bracket that crowned eight individual champions and one team champ. The team race was decided much like a WIAA high school regional tournament would be wrestled.
The series will be presented in the TV format in a nine-week span, in which a different weight class will be highlighted every week. For example, Week 1 will be the 121-pound class.
Each one-hour show will show highlights of the quarterfinal matches, feature stories about the four semifinal wrestlers and then both semifinal matches in their entirety – roughly 10 minutes apiece.
The championship matches at each weight class will be broadcast in the final two weeks on FSN, along with the crowning of the team champion.
Gable sees an advantage with the taped series.
“Look at golf, “Gable said. “It’s not exciting to watch every shot and just follow one guy around the course all day. But, what makes golf work on TV is they show the great shots, the guy hitting it into the sand, but being able to come out and make the putt.
“You don’t have to watch every detail about golf to figure out the tournament. (RPW) will show full matches, but they are also going to show the action, “Gable added.
In the fall, Willis said RPW would consist of a national tour of dual meets, with matches held in the states of the eight teams. He plans to have a college draft next year, and each team will be assigned general managers.
A plan for expansion also is in the works, with 12 cities wanting teams, according to Willis. Willis sees his league running like any other pro sports league, with salary caps, free agents and the ability to “keep your top wrestlers.”
“We’re going to do it, “Willis said. “We have a multiyear plan, so it was important that the first season went perfect. If we went live right from the get-go and the show was terrible, we would have been done. We think we’ve hit the bull’s-eye with this first year and we will be ready to take the show on the road for a live tour in fall.”
Willis wouldn’t put exact numbers on how much each wrestler won as far as money but noted that even a wrestler who was pinned in the first round and wasn’t on a winning team took home more than $1,000.
“Not bad for getting your butt kicked, “Willis said with a laugh.
Weight-class winners took home “well over $10,000 each, “according to Willis, and that total could be increased based on team results, the naming of RPW’s MVP and a fan vote of Most Popular Wrestler.
“The average guy took home around $6,000, “Willis said. “That’s a big difference in their lives right now for a two-day deal. We have potential to get what the other sports get; it will just take time and the understanding what this league is about. Some day, we’ll be able to give the wrestlers a league that they can easily support a family on.”
GABLE CONVINCED, LOVES IDEA
Gable has heard many proposals for leagues over the years, but he’s convinced Case and Willis are committed to elevating the sport while maintaining its integrity.
“We’ve never had this chance before, “said Gable, the former legendary coach at the University of Iowa. “Real Pro Wrestling has been put together by a very sharp group of people. It’s not a hit-and-miss-type show. If it was a hit-and-miss kind of league, it would have already missed. “While Gable is pleased RPW is being produced and presented in a matter that doesn’t hinder the sport, he is more pleased the sport will be displayed to the masses.
“We’re going to get more exposure from this (league) than we ever have before, “Gable said. “It appears to be a good product that people enjoy. It was shown in Europe, and it was met with good reviews. Hopefully, this TV series will make the numbers go up. We need to draw more than just the wrestling people.”
Pax, which is available on select satellite services, flies low on the sports radar, while the Fox time slot on (Wednesday afternoons isn’t a good one. Still, Gardner believes enough viewers will seek out the league to demonstrate that true wrestling has an audience.
“People know Pax and FSN, “Gardner said recently from his hotel room while on a promotional tour for the league in New York. “I think once it begins to get a following, people will search and find it.
“The first season is great, but this is going to be even better live.”
LOWNEY PLEASED WITH RESULTS
While wrestlers weren’t allowed to disclose how they fared in the league, Lowney talked about his experience.
“I’m really excited about this league, “said Lowney, a 2000 Olympic bronze medalist who’s on the California team. “It could be really big for wrestling. “As for how he did?
“Yeah, I’m happy with how I performed, “a laughing Lowney said. “But, that is all I can say. People will just have to watch and see.”
The wrestling faithful will, but the general public is the key to whether or not the stone landed.
“After two (shows) people will be talking a lot about wrestling, “insisted Gable, who is hoping for RPW to catch on as quick as the ESPN Power tournaments of the last few years.
“That would be great, “Gable added. “They didn’t have to hook me on this idea. I get goosebumps when I walk into a gym and see middle-school wrestling. They need to hook the average person to this league … and from what I’ve seen, it should.”
IT HAS BEEN TRIED BEFORE
A national pro wrestling league has been attempted before but was doomed to failure before it started, according to Willis.
In 1989, Wayne Gernstein tried to start the National Wrestling League. Gernstein was a school teacher and coach who retired from teaching to start the NWL. After years of researching and learning what had to be done to start a league, he attempted it using only his $30,000 life savings.
Gernstein took his ideas to sponsors and advertisers, and they were all interested in the idea. The big-money sponsors, however, wanted to see some action from the league first. Gernstein needed the money first, so he was caught in a tough situation. This problem proved insurmountable for the NWL.
“It was bankrupted – zero money for marketing – from the beginning, “Willis said.
Besides the money issue, USA Wrestling basically said it would not only not support Gernstein, but it would try to keep the nation’s best wrestlers from competing in the league, too. USAW said it would ban any wrestler who competed for the NWL from world and Olympic teams.
Despite that horrible news, Gernstein decided to give NWL one last shot. So, he took his money and produced a live show in Chicago and hoped for the best. The event drew 3,000 people who loved it, but with no money left and no big sponsors assured it would catch on, NWL failed. Or, did it?
“I was one of the 3,000 at the first event, “Willis said. “I saw it, had a great time. Even as a little boy, I figured such a league would work. Then, five years ago, I was in a financial position to get it going.”
And, with Gable, USA Wrestling and FILA behind Willis’ league, this time the wrestling world is heading into a fight together.
LATE START TO RPW
RPW was set to launch in February and have 15 episodes but had to reduce the number of episodes and change the schedule for its national TV debut because of some unforeseen circumstances.
The reschedule of the launch and reduction of episodes was due in part to a $3.5 million fire that destroyed the suburban Nashville home of Willis on Dec. 26. Willis, his wife and children were not injured. The fire consumed approximately 60 percent of the footage from the filming of the league in October.
“The fire was an unfortunate situation, and we are thankful that no one was injured, “said Chris Chickering, vice president of RPW. “The Real Pro Wrestling staff has been working day and night to make sure the debut is still a groundbreaking series even with the loss of some of the footage.”
No championship matches were said to be lost
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