Television Coverage
In the league's first season, 2005–06, matches were televised on PAX TV (now ION Television) on Sunday evenings and on Fox Sports Net affiliates at various times. Rulon Gardner, one of the most famous figures in amateur wrestling in the United States, was the color analyst. Veteran Radio and Television Sports Announcer Chip Hoback from Nashville, TN did the Voice Over and Highlights.
Due to executive reorganizations at both networks, both PAX and FSN pulled the show. RPW then decided to syndicate coverage of the second season on various broadcast stations.
In an interview with The Wrestling Mall co-founder Toby Willis also revealed that although sponsors and investers were already lined up for Season 2 a few employees had attempted a "take over" of the company which also added to the downfall of the league. In the same series of articles Mr. Willis stated his wish that wrestling would adopt more of a martial arts mentality to draw in more kids. Mr. Willis said, "Wrestling desperately needs to rebrand itself as a martial art not just another arbitrary sport. We need to use military terminology and martial art vocabulary. We need to teach it as self defense. So instead of the high school coach walking up to a kid in the hallways of school and asking them to try wrestling, they should ask the kid if he wants to learn self defense. What kid says they want to be defenseless? Then when the kid shows up for practice, the coach has to teach wrestling from a martial arts perspective."
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Famous quotes containing the word television:
“The television critic, whatever his pretensions, does not labour in the same vineyard as those he criticizes; his grapes are all sour.”
—Frederic Raphael (b. 1931)