20.10.2004, 23:01
Vor kurzem hielt Real Pro Wrestling eine Pressekonferenz ab.Hier mal die Stimmen und Kommentare zu der Pressekonferenz:
Toby Willis- Co-Founder and CEO, Real Pro Wrestling
“You guys get to be with us for a dream that has turned into reality. Wrestling is one of the biggest sports in our nation. Last year more fans came to see wrestling then any other sporting event. We intend to bring wrestling back to the United States and the world.”
“Wrestling has many different styles. What we have done is combine styles that maximize the best elements from each style.”
“What you guys are going to see is basically wrestlers showing the art of the throw. At the core of wrestling is the philosophy of warfare. General Patten said good generals win their battles by two different things. Not only attacking, but also by out maneuvering. The better the general the more he uses maneuvering. That is what is at the very core of the sport of wrestling. We have taken unarmed hand-to-hand combat and made it safe for sport. We do not cross the ethical line and the last thing we have done is made it a good and fun time for the fans.”
“We have taken scientific wrestling and turned it into 1st class entertainment. Everything from the sets, to the lights, to the rules and we got the best wrestlers in the nation. It’s a very exciting time for us and a very exciting time for the wrestlers. We intend to only grow bigger from here.”
Matt Case, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President, Real Pro Wrestling
“This is a dream come true for us. A few years ago Toby and I were scratching our heads as to why there wasn’t a professional outlet for our athletes and for us.”
“There is a lot of tradition in our sport and the tradition dates way back beyond this country. Wrestling is one of the bigger sports in many countries. It’s one of the first sports. We like to say that it’s one of the oldest sports, sanctioned by God.”
“We have done a lot of research, talked to Mike Chapman (Wrestling historian), Ken Craft leader of the former attempt of a pro league and we thought of the reasons why it didn’t work. We put the pieces together, made some analysis and this is what you see here. This is our creation based on all the input from many coaches, many wrestlers, many executives who are heads of corporations that used to wrestle. We have done a lot of research and we are basing this just beyond the traditional idea of wrestling which includes basically a mat on a gym floor and its no longer just that. It’s a mat on a podium and we are elevating a matt on the podium because we want to put our wrestlers out there to elevate them and put them in the position that they should be out in front of the general public and recognized as true professional athletes.”
Kenny Johnson, Vice President, Real Pro Wrestling
“Real Pro Wrestling league is not necessarily a dream come true b/c I never thought about wrestling at a real professional status. I never really had a base to think about it. It was just something you put your time into and you loved to do. Then you have the folks like Toby and Matt that develop the concept then it became my dream and then my passion.”
“I think that everybody that is in the room that wrestled in the first show will continue to wrestle after this. Wrestling to me is the fabric of America.”
“There is nobody I have spoken to that doesn’t know wrestling or know someone that used to wrestler and it becomes more and more evident each day that I work to promote this league to the wrestlers, to corporate sponsorships, to the PR firms everywhere, wrestling really unites things. I think with this show bringing it to the map is going to bring wrestling not only to the fore front of not only America, but of the world. With Toby Willis and Matt Case I think there were a lot of people that said this was fledging and not going to make it and in the past two years it came from obscurity to something that is just about to explode.”
“I have wrestled with, lived with, trained with and been friends with most of the people that are wrestling at this event. I think it’s going to be a great starting point.”
Rulon Gardner, Olympic athlete, Commentator for Real Pro Wrestling
“I am excited to be here today because Toby and Matt came and asked me to be a part of Real Pro Wrestling after I was able to be part of the first show. I am excited to be a part of such an event that really draws the athletes to the crowd. Being able to see the athletes up close and being able to see their vulnerabilities in a throw, in a position where here where you are elevated, you are going to fall off the stage, you are going to hurt yourself so you really don’t want to fall off of the stage. As an athlete, being able to see that now and being able to come back and be a part of Real Pro Wrestling will hopefully bring a little bit of legitimacy back to Real Pro and bring back the sport of wrestling to the dominance.”
“Hearing the history as you go around the country and always hear people talk about how great it was when they used to compete and how tired they were in that one year that they tried wrestling, there is so much respect for the sport of wrestling. If we could get people to see that and understand the history of the sport again and be able to enjoy it, I think people would come back and want to grow the sport, would comeback and see the art of wrestling and also the combat of wrestling, I think that’s what Real Pro is here to do.”
“We are looking forward to being able to bring it here and bring it for these great athletes to participate is going to be pretty amazing to see Greco and Freestyle collide. Being a Greco and a freestyle athlete I know it’s an explosive situation where things will happen and people will wonder are these guys for real and are they actually trying to go out there to destroy the other person and they are and that is what this stage is going to represent in wrestling as the best athletes from the US are going to go out and be the best athletes in the world.”
Joshua Rubel- Spokesperson for Los Angeles Center Studios
“I am here in place of Peter Brosnan. Basically we have seen a lot of shows come and go in the past and we are really happy to have Real Pro Wrestling back here again this year. We believe in the show, we believe in the sport and we wish you all of the success that you deserve.”
Kenny Johnson- description of upcoming speakers
Kenny Johnson describing Dan Gable - “Olympic Champion, world champion, coach of the University of Iowa and many nationals championships, big time championships, many accolades.”
Kenny Johnson describing Mike Chapman- “Wrestling historian, director of the international museum of wrestling in Iowa, author of over 16 books predominately in wrestling, a great spokesperson for wrestling, great advocate of wrestling.”
Kenny Johnson describing John Fuller- “Director of media and public relations for USA wrestling he has worked with us since we started and has been a huge help for us and an advocate of wrestling in general.”
Dan Gable-
“I have had to put myself in a role as if I am involved in a battle. The sport is a battle. A battle between two athletes. Two wrestling athletes. The battle that I am in right now is one that Real Pro Wrestling is actually helping me win and by that I mean is whether its Real Pro Wrestling or college sports television, the public channel across America, it’s a battle to promote what you believe in, what you have a real passion in.”
“These people up here, these people in the audience, we all have real passions for the sport of wrestling. And the past 20 years there has been a lot of battles to basically short change the sport and this is one opportunity, here with Real Pro Wrestling that is going to actually give us the opportunity to be put in front of the media in terms of the masses, to try to get us into households as more of a common name.”
“We want people to watch and be involved more than just people that have been involved in our wrestling in its entirety. We would love to see it go to a much higher degree and I think Real Pro Wrestling is one of those organizations, if not the leading organization, that has people that have a real passion and are basically stopping at nothing to put this across America and help promote it across the world. We shouldn't’t be pushed around, but we have been pushed around, but with events and with programs and companies and with good mass media we will stop being pushed around. We always have goals in our sport to be as good as we can be and we definitely have a lot more to give to the American public then we have been able to give.”
“People are starving for good wrestling. If this is a good product we are going to meet some of those needs that are going to help us put us at a higher level and not have to worry so much about what other people do in terms of trying to cut you out and shove you out. This is one fantastic opportunity to promote the sport.”
Toby Willis- Co-Founder and CEO, Real Pro Wrestling
“You guys get to be with us for a dream that has turned into reality. Wrestling is one of the biggest sports in our nation. Last year more fans came to see wrestling then any other sporting event. We intend to bring wrestling back to the United States and the world.”
“Wrestling has many different styles. What we have done is combine styles that maximize the best elements from each style.”
“What you guys are going to see is basically wrestlers showing the art of the throw. At the core of wrestling is the philosophy of warfare. General Patten said good generals win their battles by two different things. Not only attacking, but also by out maneuvering. The better the general the more he uses maneuvering. That is what is at the very core of the sport of wrestling. We have taken unarmed hand-to-hand combat and made it safe for sport. We do not cross the ethical line and the last thing we have done is made it a good and fun time for the fans.”
“We have taken scientific wrestling and turned it into 1st class entertainment. Everything from the sets, to the lights, to the rules and we got the best wrestlers in the nation. It’s a very exciting time for us and a very exciting time for the wrestlers. We intend to only grow bigger from here.”
Matt Case, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President, Real Pro Wrestling
“This is a dream come true for us. A few years ago Toby and I were scratching our heads as to why there wasn’t a professional outlet for our athletes and for us.”
“There is a lot of tradition in our sport and the tradition dates way back beyond this country. Wrestling is one of the bigger sports in many countries. It’s one of the first sports. We like to say that it’s one of the oldest sports, sanctioned by God.”
“We have done a lot of research, talked to Mike Chapman (Wrestling historian), Ken Craft leader of the former attempt of a pro league and we thought of the reasons why it didn’t work. We put the pieces together, made some analysis and this is what you see here. This is our creation based on all the input from many coaches, many wrestlers, many executives who are heads of corporations that used to wrestle. We have done a lot of research and we are basing this just beyond the traditional idea of wrestling which includes basically a mat on a gym floor and its no longer just that. It’s a mat on a podium and we are elevating a matt on the podium because we want to put our wrestlers out there to elevate them and put them in the position that they should be out in front of the general public and recognized as true professional athletes.”
Kenny Johnson, Vice President, Real Pro Wrestling
“Real Pro Wrestling league is not necessarily a dream come true b/c I never thought about wrestling at a real professional status. I never really had a base to think about it. It was just something you put your time into and you loved to do. Then you have the folks like Toby and Matt that develop the concept then it became my dream and then my passion.”
“I think that everybody that is in the room that wrestled in the first show will continue to wrestle after this. Wrestling to me is the fabric of America.”
“There is nobody I have spoken to that doesn’t know wrestling or know someone that used to wrestler and it becomes more and more evident each day that I work to promote this league to the wrestlers, to corporate sponsorships, to the PR firms everywhere, wrestling really unites things. I think with this show bringing it to the map is going to bring wrestling not only to the fore front of not only America, but of the world. With Toby Willis and Matt Case I think there were a lot of people that said this was fledging and not going to make it and in the past two years it came from obscurity to something that is just about to explode.”
“I have wrestled with, lived with, trained with and been friends with most of the people that are wrestling at this event. I think it’s going to be a great starting point.”
Rulon Gardner, Olympic athlete, Commentator for Real Pro Wrestling
“I am excited to be here today because Toby and Matt came and asked me to be a part of Real Pro Wrestling after I was able to be part of the first show. I am excited to be a part of such an event that really draws the athletes to the crowd. Being able to see the athletes up close and being able to see their vulnerabilities in a throw, in a position where here where you are elevated, you are going to fall off the stage, you are going to hurt yourself so you really don’t want to fall off of the stage. As an athlete, being able to see that now and being able to come back and be a part of Real Pro Wrestling will hopefully bring a little bit of legitimacy back to Real Pro and bring back the sport of wrestling to the dominance.”
“Hearing the history as you go around the country and always hear people talk about how great it was when they used to compete and how tired they were in that one year that they tried wrestling, there is so much respect for the sport of wrestling. If we could get people to see that and understand the history of the sport again and be able to enjoy it, I think people would come back and want to grow the sport, would comeback and see the art of wrestling and also the combat of wrestling, I think that’s what Real Pro is here to do.”
“We are looking forward to being able to bring it here and bring it for these great athletes to participate is going to be pretty amazing to see Greco and Freestyle collide. Being a Greco and a freestyle athlete I know it’s an explosive situation where things will happen and people will wonder are these guys for real and are they actually trying to go out there to destroy the other person and they are and that is what this stage is going to represent in wrestling as the best athletes from the US are going to go out and be the best athletes in the world.”
Joshua Rubel- Spokesperson for Los Angeles Center Studios
“I am here in place of Peter Brosnan. Basically we have seen a lot of shows come and go in the past and we are really happy to have Real Pro Wrestling back here again this year. We believe in the show, we believe in the sport and we wish you all of the success that you deserve.”
Kenny Johnson- description of upcoming speakers
Kenny Johnson describing Dan Gable - “Olympic Champion, world champion, coach of the University of Iowa and many nationals championships, big time championships, many accolades.”
Kenny Johnson describing Mike Chapman- “Wrestling historian, director of the international museum of wrestling in Iowa, author of over 16 books predominately in wrestling, a great spokesperson for wrestling, great advocate of wrestling.”
Kenny Johnson describing John Fuller- “Director of media and public relations for USA wrestling he has worked with us since we started and has been a huge help for us and an advocate of wrestling in general.”
Dan Gable-
“I have had to put myself in a role as if I am involved in a battle. The sport is a battle. A battle between two athletes. Two wrestling athletes. The battle that I am in right now is one that Real Pro Wrestling is actually helping me win and by that I mean is whether its Real Pro Wrestling or college sports television, the public channel across America, it’s a battle to promote what you believe in, what you have a real passion in.”
“These people up here, these people in the audience, we all have real passions for the sport of wrestling. And the past 20 years there has been a lot of battles to basically short change the sport and this is one opportunity, here with Real Pro Wrestling that is going to actually give us the opportunity to be put in front of the media in terms of the masses, to try to get us into households as more of a common name.”
“We want people to watch and be involved more than just people that have been involved in our wrestling in its entirety. We would love to see it go to a much higher degree and I think Real Pro Wrestling is one of those organizations, if not the leading organization, that has people that have a real passion and are basically stopping at nothing to put this across America and help promote it across the world. We shouldn't’t be pushed around, but we have been pushed around, but with events and with programs and companies and with good mass media we will stop being pushed around. We always have goals in our sport to be as good as we can be and we definitely have a lot more to give to the American public then we have been able to give.”
“People are starving for good wrestling. If this is a good product we are going to meet some of those needs that are going to help us put us at a higher level and not have to worry so much about what other people do in terms of trying to cut you out and shove you out. This is one fantastic opportunity to promote the sport.”