Not even a day-after-Christmas fire could ruin the gift Toby Willis is trying to give Olympic-style wrestling.
That December blaze destroyed Willis’ Nashville-area home and adjacent production facility containing the master copies of the inaugural seasonof his Real Pro Wrestling promotion. Upon returning home with his family and seeing the $3.5 million residence burning to the ground, Willis could only salvage about 40 percent of the original footage that was shot last October during a television taping in Los Angeles.
But Willis refused to let RPW get pinned. Although forced to reformat the entire season and drop the number of planned episodes from 15 to nine, RPW’s weekly show will debut at 4 p.m. Sunday on PAX and 3 p.m. Wednesday on Fox Sports Net. “Basically, the show will look good and we have what we need, “said Willis, whose promotion was originally set to debut in mid-February. “We’ve made due, but (the fire) was a huge hit. “Willis, though, has overcome an even bigger loss before. Six of Willis’ siblings were killed in a 1996 automobile accident that also injured his parents.
Willis is using some of the money he received from the subsequent $100 million settlement to start RPW in hopes of helping Olympic-style wrestling expand its fan base and garner more mainstream attention. Previous efforts to promote the sport have failed because of a lack of television exposure and the technical nature of Olympic-style wrestling, which can come across as boring to the untrained eye. RPW is trying to change that perception by using high-quality production along with individualized vignettes to hype matches between some of the nation’s top wrestlers in various weight classes. A team format is used, with the winning squad having to post the highest overall point total. “We’ve put modern staging, lighting, music and all the things other pro sports have that make their shows exciting, “Willis said. “That’s something (Olympic-style) wrestling has never done. “Although he hopes there may be a small crossover of fans, Willis said RPW is trying to differentiate itself from pro wrestling. Willis said RPW won’t feature the same outrageousness as World Wrestling Entertainment and already has instituted a zero-tolerance policy for anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. “We have to not cross that line and turn into a WWE freak show, “Willis said. “I think people will know we have that integrity in place. “Willis picked a good time to try for a breakthrough of Olympic-style wrestling because such skills are utilized in mixed martial arts fighting. That genre is riding a wave of renewed popularity thanks to Spike TV’s Ultimate Fighter reality show that airs at 11:05 p.m. Mondays following WWE’s Monday Night Raw. “There’s a lot of positive things about MMA and the wrestlers in MMA, “Willis said. “They’ve established wrestling as the dominant sport (in the genre). Our big question is where do you draw the line on violence? There was a point in time where gladiators fought to death in an arena, so don’t tell me it can’t happen again. How far can you beat somebody up for money?”
If RPW draws enough interest to return for a second season, Willis hopes to align investors for franchises that would establish Olympic-style wrestling clubs in eight different cities. Those franchises would then compete on RPW programming and provide a place for wrestlers to train like how other sports leagues are run. “I’ve financed most of this thing until now, but for wrestling to grow, it’s got to go beyond what I can do personally, “Willis said. “I think I’ve taken a humungous risk and lowered it to an acceptable level. At this point, people can see what I’m talking about when they turn on the TV.
“Even if it bombs, I still think we’re making the right move. If we fail, it will be because of poor implementation, not a poor idea
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