The Season One wrestling action will be different from what originally aired. There will expanded coverage and more footage of the most exciting matches. Some matches that did not initially air in Season One will be shown on the new syndicated show, and all of the matches are being re-edited. In addition to the different look for the matches, new host Aaron Simpson describes the format of the show:
"There are some backgrounds on the history of wrestling, there are some personal backgrounds on the athletes," Aaron explains. "I introduce every match, and then some comments after the match."
To say that Simpson knows enough about wrestling to be an effective host is an understatement. Simpson was a two-time NCAA Division 1 All-American at 177 pounds for the Arizona State Sun Devils. He has remained at ASU as an assistant coach since 1998, including last season, when the team finished in 6th place at the NCAA Division 1 National Tournament.
Aaron Simpson"It was fun," Simpson says of hosting the show, "I know the guys [at RPW] are expecting big things out of it."
The business side of RPW's recent television deals, on the other hand, has been of a more serious nature -– in particular, it's been a serious success. Rick Korn took over the General Manager position at RPW seven months ago, and he's hit the ground running. Rich has been a producer for television, movies, and rock concerts for over a quarter century. His resume as a producer includes producing concerts for Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, as well as an Oscar nomination and Emmy Award for being one of the producers of the docu-movie, Hank Aaron: Chasing a Dream, which still airs annually on ESPN.
"We are teaming up with sports networks in the eight states that we're launching team ins," Korn explains. "In the next couple of weeks, we'll announce exactly which stations those are in those markets. We'll be on regional sports networks in the eight team markets."
The channels that RPW will be on will be accessible to most people. In the Chicago market, for example, they have a deal with the CBS affiliate. In other markets, there are deals with either regular broadcast channels or regional sports networks.
"If they have cable in those markets, they'll be able to get our show," Korn states.
The syndicated shows will initially feature Season One matches, and those episodes will be one hour in length. When Season Two rolls around, the live events will be broadcast on pay-per-view. Those Season Two live events will be two-team dual meets, and they will go on for as long as the event lasts. The final two events in Season Two will be an All-Star meet, which will be an individual tournament to determine RPW's individual champions at each weight class, and then finally a team championship dual meet between the two best RPW teams.
Rick says that RPW plans on making the pay-per-view package affordable. "We haven't established a price yet, but it will be relatively inexpensive compared to other pay-per-view events. There will be a season package so that people can get all 10 live events."
Rick Korn and Aaron Simpson both share Real Pro Wrestling's vision of bringing compelling wrestling programming to a wrestling audience that's starved for it.
"The thing that Matt [Case] and Toby [Willis] did their first couple of years with RPW was to create really good and compelling sports programming," Korn says of RPW's co-founders. "The way that they shoot wrestling is much different than the way that we're used to seeing it. If you stayed up until 3 am watching wrestling in the Olympics, the way that they shot wrestling was really poorly done; it wasn't well thought out.
"What Toby and Matt did, which was really interesting, is that they turned it on its head. They added many more cameras around the mat. They were wrestlers themselves, and they really knew how to shoot it from the perspective of the wrestler, so you feel like you're on the mat with them. This year, when we do it in HD, it's going to be even more real."
Aaron Simpson is equally excited about the upcoming programming schedule and its implications for the wrestling community.
"It should be a pretty good way to showcase that Season One again, and get it into some people's homes that weren't able to see it," Simpson explained. "Our whole goal is not just to pick up the wrestling fans, but to pick up that mainstream audience that's looking for some type of sport that's –- that's real. They can respect the athletes, and get a better understanding of them.
"There are people who have wrestled at some time in their life who have just never had that connection with it because they don't live around it, or because they stopped doing it after high school, or because they stopped doing it after junior high. And they understand it because they went through it: they understand the scoring, and they understand the background behind it. If we grab some of those people, it will grow, because there are a lot us out there."
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