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UPSTART CLASSIC WRESTLING REVOLUTION PROMOTION FILMS FIRST MATERIAL, DETAILS ON WELL KNOWN NAMES WHO APPEARED & MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2015-07-17 09:20:00

The upstart Classic Wrestling Revolution, a project that has been in the works for some time, quietly filmed material for a sizzle reel that would be used to show potential TV, licensing and financial partners last week in California during a TV Taping promoted by Dave Marquez' Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.

Roddy Piper, Shane Douglas, Piper's son Roderick Toombs, Road Warrior Animal and former WWE stars Mason Ryan and Michael Tarver were involved in segments shot for the reel.  The basic plot as it was described to me was that Piper and Douglas were at odds and had their own "teams" of talent.

Filmed for the sizzle reel were several matches, including Roderick Toombs vs. New Japan's Ricky Romero and Tarver vs. Ryan (who was billed as Tor).  I am told material described to me as talents "training" outside of the arena was also filmed for inclusion in the sizzle reel. 

Road Warrior Animal appeared on camera and was working backstage as a Producer.  Shane Douglas was working as the booker.  I am told Kevin Sullivan, who has been involved with getting he promotion off the ground, was scheduled to be at the taping but was not there.   There were also several Producers who have worked on ABC reality series also present that are said to be on board with the project.

While there, those involved in Classic Wrestling scouted the CWH talent that were working the promotion's "Red Carpet Rumble" and I was told they were also scouting at a recent Paragon Pro Wrestling TV Taping in Las Vegas.

PWInsider.com first broke news of the potential promotion in March of 2014.  At that time, the promotion, represented by Shane Douglas, contacting talents and asking to sign letters of intent that they would be interested in working for the promotion when it launched.

 Bill Townsend, the Internet entrepreneur who helped create a number of online platforms, including Lycos.com, before turning to writing, motivational speaking and philanthropy is believed to be the promotion's primary backer and has been listed on paperwork as "President." 

Townsend has trademarked the name "Classic Wrestling Revolution."   The trademark covered not just organizing and promoting live wrestling events under that name but maintaining a website and streaming material via the web as well as providing downloadable content using that trademarked name.

As previously reported, the strategy involved in the start-up did not call for running live events and TV Tapings until 2016.  The 2016 launch is said to be targeted to give the promotion enough time to properly plan a launch and touring schedule. We are told that current battle plans discussed by those working on the company indicate plans to try and launch with 250 live events in the United States and possibly internationally. That is a pretty lofty goal, so we'll see what is actually executed if and when the trigger is pulled.

As previously noted, the plan was that the promotion would be based out of Las Vegas with an eye on presenting a "non" PG-13 style product with babyfaces vs. heels and an eye towards capturing the male 18-34 demographic that loved pro wrestling during the Monday Night War era.

The CWR promotion's plan was to partner with a Las Vegas casino and run wrestling events up to six days a week for the purpose of producing 36-44 hours of original TV episodes.

The letter of intent issued to potential talents last year noted, "The purpose of the [then known as] CWF project is to return to American culture the classic sport of wrestling as made popular by the likes of Bruno Samartino, George Steele, Triple H, Andre the Giant, Baron Von Raschke."

The letter of intent also noted that the promotion, "intends to set base pay for our wrestler athletes an n‐air talent higher than current alternatives, to offer health insurance benefits or stipends, a 401k retirement plan and other benefits, and to create a profit‐sharing plan where all athletes share in the success of the company. In addition, CWF intends to make a percentage of television revenue available to retiring wrestlers in the form of a company operated pension plan."

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