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.