The first week of October, 2019 was like Christmas morning
for a lot of wrestling fans. WWE’s “B Show” Smackdown
made the jump from USA to FOX bringing a weekly wrestling program to network
television for the first time since the DuMont era.* Filling the hole in the USA network’s loss of
Smackdown, WWE’s developmental
territory show NXT moved from the WWE
Network to its new cable home.
Wrestling fans biggest present was the debut of All Elite
Wrestling (AEW) Dynamite on TNT. TNT was the home for WCW Nitro from September
1995 to March 2001 when the program was cancelled and WCW sold to WWE as a casualty
of the AOL, Time Warner merger. Not only did wrestling return to a major cable
network with a history of airing one of the biggest wrestling shows, AEW is the
current golden child of wrestling.
Formed by a group of wrestlers known as The Elite, they slowly laid the
ground work over the last eighteen months leading to the first major wrestling
promotion weekly TV show since TNA IMPACT
started on Spike (now Paramount Network) in 2005. Speaking of IMPACT, after nearly a year on the Pursuit Channel, it is moving to
AXS TV on October 29. To round out the
October wrestling news, the Billy Corgan owned NWA, one of the oldest names
still going in wrestling, is set to debut their new weekly show POWERRR, Tuesday, October 6 on
YouTube.
While all these programs are entertaining and will satisfy one’s
weekly craving for wrestling content, I have found a smaller, lesser known promotion
which is my “must see” show each month.
Wrestling Pro Wrestling, much like my favorite promotion, Chikara, is a
wrestling promotion that I know very little about the behind the scenes
dealings thus I get to focus on the in-ring action. Also like Chikara, WPW has
a lot of interesting characters that wrestling purists my scoff at upon first
sight. Unlike Chikara, WPW focuses more
on the comedy aspect of wrestling to tell their stories.
I have attended four WPW shows so far and have walked away
from each show with a big smile. I would
recommend at this point going over to WPW’s YouTube
page to see of their videos because what I’m about to say may not make any
sense with no context of the characters or presentation of WPW.
The most recent show was “This Thursday in Texas.” A bonus
show during the first week of October, I’m guessing, to capitalize on the week
of wrestling. Using the title of the show as a jumping off point, the show had
a western theme. Color commentator Rivers Langley wore a cowboy hat and a shirt
that even 1955’s Doc. Emmit Brown would have questioned its western authicity.
The entrance way was set up to resemble saloon doors and masked bandidos
interfered in the first three matches before kidnapping Larry the Turkey before
his match.
Larry the Turkey at "Bash 24 Miles From the Beach."
Larry’s kidnapping lead to his Young Clucks teammate
Chick-A-Dee storming the ring and clucking a desperate plea to WPW owner Gary
Tickles to do something. Gary doesn’t want to make much of an effort so he says
he’s hired someone to rescue Larry. On cue, Turkey Cogburn, a Turkified version
of the classic John Wayne character
Rooster Cogburn came out and agreed to help Chick-A-Dee.
This lead to a main event of Turkey and Chick vs the
Bandidos. While the bandidos did get their comeuppance, it was at the hands …er,
heads, of Giraffeadora, a three-headed monster giraffe who made his WPW debut
in August. For more clarity of these events, check out the show once it’s available
on the YouTube page or Twitch stream.
The debut of Giraffedora
Wrestling Pro Wrestling isn’t all about the absurdity and
comedy. There are usually 2-3 matches per show that focus on actual wrestling.
The secondary title, aptly called the Mid-Card Title is currently held by the “Punk
Rock Poindexter” Darwin Finch. Darwin is
my bet for breakout star in the making.
I’m looking forward to eventually seeing Darwin defend his title against
the high flyer Gregory “Shmegry” Sharpe.
I don’t have the time to do a proper character breakdown for
the rest of the WPW roster. I highly encourage you check out videos on YouTube
to see stars like Cerealman, Pop-Tart Boy, Hobo, The 2 Man Gang and the Fromage
Horsemen (Ricotta Flair, Gorgonzole Anderson, Parm Anderson and Tully
Blancheddar.) and ring announcer “Mean” Janine Okerlund. I do have to admit, I don't get the appeal of Leather Daddy and Rubber Baby.
Cerealman and Pop-Tart Boy
Sure, I’ll continue watch WWE, AEW and NWA on a weekly
basis, but when it comes to pure entertainment, Wrestling Pro Wrestling provides a near perfect balance of Sport and Entertainment. It may not appeal to everyone or wrestling purists, however one thing you can't deny is WPW has figured out a way to separate itself from the rest of the wrestling companies and build a fan base looking for a true alternative.
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