The Legacy Continues for Ring Warriors…
Ring Warriors was initially presented as an a derivative of the New Japan Pro Wrestling program World Pro Wrestling. Howard Brody’s partnership with legendary wrestler/trainer Hiro Matsuda was to create and Americanized version of New Japan. After decades of planning, crafting, it appears the vision has finally been realized.
Ring Warriors made it’s debut at Sam’s Town Live, just off the strip of fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. It was announced just a few weeks ago that Ring Warriors was partnering with WGN America to showcase its vision of professional wrestling. The tapings kicked off last night, August the 8th and will continue tonight August 9th. They plan to return to Sam’s Town Live in October and again in November. The program is slated to begin airing on September 15th.
The efforts of Brody, Larry Brannon, and a menagerie of talent both inside and out of the ring meshed together to produce what might just be the next big thing in professional wrestling. Unlike previous attempts of Ring Warriors, which was created for international distribution, this show was built with the intention of producing in the United States.
One of the interesting parts of the show is that it takes advantage of the non-exclusivity of promotions like Impact Wrestling as they showcased both reigning Impact Champion Austin Aries and Eli Drake. “Aries coming out tonight doing the stuff he did, we are acknowledging that he’s the Impact Champion. It’s good. It doesn’t hurt our brand”, said Larry Brannon. “The days of wrestling promotions, successfully acting like they are the only thing going and nothing else is happening… if you’re still trying to take that approach, you’re a fool. You can’t do that. We live in an information age. Everyone is aware of what all of these guys are doing all the time. We all know that. So don’t try to pretend that these guys don’t have history and track records elsewhere, because they do.”
When discussing the landscape of modern day pro wrestling and being different, Brannon was quick to note “We’ve got a willingness to play ball with some other promotions. We are not going to act like other promotions don’t exist. They do. Does that mean I want to put everybody’s belt and everyone’s champion on my show and talk them up. No, I don’t want to. We will be selective about it.” Last night Impact Champion Austin Aries defended his title.
Longtime fans of Ring Warriors will be happy to know that much of the original talent is returning. The Hotshots (Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens), Chance Prophet, Tokyo Monster Kahagas, Michael Tarver, Wes Brisco, Alex Chamberlain, all were featured on the television taping.
The first taping did a good job of showcasing some of the talent who will be apart of the program. The show wasn’t without some technical snafus, but hopefully those issues are behind them for tonight’s show. Tickets are still available at the Sam’s Town Live Box Office