By Dennis DuBay
Cool things are taking place in the middle of a difficult time for wrestlers who need the income, promotions that have put out money to run shows, and fans who are seeking the next fix.
Several companies have released statements in regards to doing empty building shows. Black Label Pro will be running "Empty House" on March 28th, while Freelance Wrestling will be running "Warehouse Wars," both on IWTV.live.
Today, AAW announced "Fight for the Future," a weekly project that aims to pay the wrestlers who have been effected by these shutdowns.
I reached out to AAW for some additional comments regarding Fight For the Future, which you can access via their streaming platform. For more information on that, head on over to their twitter page.
As someone who has watched, studied and wrote about professional wrestling, one thing has always been a constant in my findings: Promoters are thieves. From not paying wrestlers to paying them in hotdogs, the business, at times, has been run by criminals. What I've seen this week, however is the total opposite.
I asked Mike Petkovich, AAW promoter and Executive Producer why he was doing this, for the talent, but not for the promotion itself. "Right now, it's not about any individual promotion. It's about helping pro wrestling as a whole get through a tough time. Talent and fans included," Petkovich replied.
When asked if there could be more shows, Petkovich wasn't sure, but wishes to keep creating content while everything starts to find normalcy.
"There could be more but right now everything is day to day. That is how we are handling it. Who knows where any of this is going. We just want to provide as much content as we can to help entertain the fans that are home from work and in the process, help the talent that work so hard to entertain every one."
One thing I really wanted to know, even though at this time it's probably a silly question - would these shows be official, would title's be on the line ... "Yes, title matches will be recognized if the champions choose to be a part of the taping," Petkovich replied. We are not forcing anyone to be a part of this. This is strictly volunteer."
Petkovich added that the fans could help in other ways as well: "Fans can help by buying merch from the wrestlers' individual merchandise site or pro wrestling tees stores. Every sale counts."
If all goes according to plane, AAW plans to release the first episode of "Fight for the Future," first week of April.