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Dave Sahadi, formerly of WWE, WCW and MLW, and now Directing Real American Freestyle, sent the following to PWInsider.com:
SINCE JOING RAF, I CAN NEVER WORK IN “PROFESSIONAL” WRESTLING AGAIN
This is the most excited and creatively inspired I have felt about anything in television production in at least fifteen years, if not longer. And I fell my best work is yet to come. I am heartened by our initial success. Traveling o hometowns and producing ”personality profiles” with the athletes in their hometowns is fun. We do this so that the audience gets to know the person beyond the athlete, the real-life stories from childhood to career, ones many viewers can relate to. And creative compelling video packages has always been my passion, but nowadays I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes (most times, actually) with an idea and get right back at it. It’s not a job; it’s a joy.
Everything about RAF Westling is Real. The outcomes: Real. The storylines: Real. The emotion: Real.
Working with Eric Bischoff is a pleasure and a blessing. “Nitro Eric” was just a character, and those of us in production love teasing him about it. We co-create. He listens. He loves new ideas, and when he doesn’t, he respectfully explains why. Eric is so passionate about RAF, and it not only motivates me but all who work with him as well, including g our amazing producer Jon Norton. “Norty” has produced sporting events for every network and nearly every major sport such as the NFL, NHL, NBA and combat sports. We are lucky to have him. He is so emotionally invested in RAF. So, too, is the entire live production team including our top-tier production people who have worked on NFL, NBA and NHL games, the Olympics, and even AEW and WWE.
RESPECT: It’s across the board and it’s genuine. With corporate and with production. The athletes, too. I was heartened to see David Carr’s father teach Pat Downey some new wrestling moves on the practice mats in Indianapolis. Opponents respect each other and help each other as well.
THE ATHLETES. Damn, I can’t say enough good things about them. They are genuine, authentic, and very appreciative of all we do in production. They treat my crews and I with tremendous respect, grateful that we are helping to create this new professional league , grateful they finally have a place to go when their NCAA careers and Olympic careers are over. IN their humbleness and grace, we are the ones who feel blessed.
THE ATHLETES pt2: Their training. It’s insane. No shortcuts. No taking a day off. They truly are the most elite athletes in the world. Even the heavyweights do things with their bodies that only gymnasts can do.
SOMETTHING SPECIAL: We made history with our first show, but there is something special about RAF that we all feel. It’s hard to articulate in words. Ity’s equivalent to when you can sense a star has that “it factor.” But we all know and feel something – the athletes, the production team, the wrestling experts – that we have not tapped into yet, and that we’ve only just begun, that what we created is just a start and our only limits are our imaginations. We started with a blank canvas, yet the art is still in it’s nascence.
STORYLINES: They are happening organically. They are unscripted, too. Such as the re-match between Real Woods and Jordan Oliver, where the end came quickly and there is great debate by those who think Woods should have retained his title. You also have storylines with great athletes that never faced each other because their NCAA careers nay have been separated by just three years, or they came from different programs. And matches featuring Olympic medalists is fascinating.
PACKAGES: *I write from the heart, from emotion. When I write things like this about Pat Downey’s inner demons which he battles (and he’s starting to control them now) it’s real.
EVERY WARRIOR MEETS A MOMENT WHEN WINNING NO LONGER DEFINES HIM.
FOR PAT DOWNEY, TONIGHT IS THAT MOMENT.
HE CAME IN WITH FIRE: LOUD. FEARLESS. UNAPOLGETIC.
WHEN HE WON,THE WORLD TOOK NOTICE.
WHEN HE LOST, THE WORLD TURNED ITS BACK.
HE DIDN’T LOSE BECAUSE HE WAS WEAK,
HE LOST BECAUSE THE BATTLE WITHIN BECAME LOUDER
THAN THE APPLAUSE OF THE CROWD.
All the above is real. I can’t write that for a scripted outcome with an athlete faking an injury or a storyline anymore. It would make me feel like a fraud.
CALL-OUTS: When an RAF World champion such as Wyatt Hendrickson calls out either Paul or his brother Jake Logan to come to RAF and dare to beat him, there is great anticipation. There has been nearly a dozen call-outs in four months, mostly by wrestlers who became UFC stars and have now returned to their roots in RAF. And when someone like a Michael Chandler calls a UFC star out, they usually accept the challenge because they don’t want to be perceived as chicken shits who are scared to accept the challenge. Pretty compelling. Oh, and the RAF wrestlers usually win in convincing fashion, too.
INCENTIVES: Not sure how it works, but in an attempt to make the action more aggressive and intense I believe the athletes get rewarded for high scores and “power moves” such as the 4-point takedowns which look pretty brutal.
MAIN-STREAM SUCCESS: Seeing the increased interest in RAF after each event, over four months, highlights being shown on FOX Sports and ESPN, and all the MMA websites now covering us, I have no doubt that in nine months to a year RAF will become a main-stream sport. UFC is mainstream in some ways, but it is not for everyone. Some think it is too brutal. Real American Freestyle, however, is physically grueling but “clean” and more family friendly. And the amount of enthusiastic kids in attendance cheering in the crowd the last two shows has been amazing!
GRATITUDE: The thanks we get from the athletes is one thing. They are grateful that wrestlers finally have a professional league they can call their own. But when fans of the sport show their gratitude as well, if’s both humbling and amazing. I saw one older fan cry tears of joy because he said, “This has always been my dream, and I never thought I would see this dream come true in my lifetime.”
HISTORY: Joining the WWF, and later TNA, is one thing. But being part of a new professional sports league when it was just an idea, being hand-picked by Eric Bischoff to lead the production team, to bring that dream into existence knowing I was an integral part of the process is beyond amazing. There was no roadmap to follow. A “Real” Professional Wrestling League never existed before RAF. Again, words cannot do justice to how happy I feel, how elated my heart is. This feeling is priceless, something that money cannot buy. I am having the most fun in decades!
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