Wrestling Society X (WSX)

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

 

Press release:

 

Each Week Dive Into The Most Dangerous Wrestling Competition on TV, Plus Witness Performances From Music's Hottest Artists Including Good Charlotte , Three 6 Mafia, New Found Glory & More

 

The Action Continues On MTV.com, MTV Mobile & MTV VOD With Unseen Matches, Plot Developments, Full Episodes & More

 

Santa Monica, CA (January 3, 2007) – Unveiling a new breed of wrestling competition, MTV announced today it will premiere "Wrestling Society X," on Tuesday, January 30th at 10:30pm ET/PT. Formulated as the greatest, dirtiest, and most dangerous wrestling competition on TV, "Wrestling Society X" throws out the glam of wrestling, and piles on the grappling action every week from an undisclosed bunker where danger is never far away. Each episode will also feature a very special musical guest, performing live in front of hundreds of rabid fans and the fiery combatants including Good Charlotte, Three 6 Mafia, New Found Glory, Pitbull, Black Label Society, Jibbs, Sparta, The Clipse, Quietdrive and Styles P. "Wrestling Society X" will join MTV's explosive Tuesday night block including "Road Rules" at 9pm ET/PT, "Bam's Unholy Union" at 9:30pm ET/PT, and "Two-A-Days" at 10pm ET/PT.

 

Each week on "Wrestling Society X," the most talented warriors the world has ever known will battle each other and their surroundings, creating an experience that will alter viewers' lives irrevocably. Featuring an onslaught of death-defying feats, aerobatic maneuvers, and truly athletic performances, "Wrestling Society X" will showcase the unique talents of some of the best in the business including aerial assault artist Jack Evans, the arrogant catalog models, Matt Sydal & Lizzy Valentine, the amazing third generation heir to a wrestling legacy Teddy Hart, as well as the likes of former World Champions Vampiro and Sean "6-Pac" Waltman.

 

The "Wrestling Society X" action continues on MTV.com, MTV Mobile, MTV VOD and more. Fans visiting wsx.mtv.com each week will experience "WSXtra," featuring exclusive, never before seen matches between WSX stars, along with completely unseen bonus footage, plot developments, interviews and wrestler profiles. There fans will also be able to relive the full WSX episode from each week, watch the show trailer, see photos and more. MTV Mobile users will also get in on the action with updated features showcasing the latest wrestling moves, storyline updates, episode recaps, along with ringtones, wallpaper and more.

 

For more information about MTV's "Wrestling Society X" visit WSX.mtv.com.

 

"Wrestling Society X" is produced by Big Vision Entertainment in conjunction with MTV. "Wrestling Society X" is conceived by Houston Curtis who is Executive Producer. Sam Korkis is also Executive Producer. Michael Ireland and David Gross are MTV's Executives In Charge.

 

ECW vs. WSX - Tuesday Night Wars are about to begin!

[Corkscrew_Senton 0]

Two wrestling shows I don't care about going head-to-head!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully ESPN has Super Tuesday until March

 

To be fair though, I'll give WSX a chance. There's certainly talent on the roster with Ricky Banderas and some of the PWG roster.

[Exslade ZX 0]

Honestly, I'm more excited about the fact that, Road Rules is BACK!

 

>_>, But, I will enjoy being able to watch the likes of Jack Evans, and Matt Sydal on my tv, without it having to be a DVD.

[David Blazenwing 0]

I wasn't interested in WSX... until I found out Lacey was going to be a part of it. Now I have to watch.

[qdes 0]

http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=127565 preview

[Exslade ZX 0]

Holy shit...they've got more stars then I thought.

 

Scorpio Motherfuckin' Sky was in there! After seeing that, looking forward to this a little more now. Barring the retarded explosions/electrocutions, it definitely looks like it might be a show to watch. And since its' only 30 minutes, there'll of course be a lot less fluff then...other shows.

 

So yea, I'm looking forward to it now.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

They also got Cabana, Teddy, Evans, Sydal, Genki Horiguchi, and YOSSINO.

[Broward83 0]

Okay... the trailer makes me want to see this show.

 

The explosions and the electrocutions.. a bit overkill.

 

Peeople doin fuckin SSP's from scaffolds and other various high places is awesome.. I can only hope this show takes off and gains a rather large following.

[NoCalMike 0]

I have a feeling that Wrestling Society X is going to be one of those promotions where in the beginning it ends up better then anyone expected, but because it is only a hybrid wrestling production and the main focus is on pushing music talent, eventually the better performers will be gone and it dies out....of course if Paul Heyman gets a full WWE Release....haha just kidding....

[King Cucaracha 0]

The roster smokes ECW's, I just worry about the presentation.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

I have a feeling that Wrestling Society X is going to be one of those promotions where in the beginning it ends up better then anyone expected, but because it is only a hybrid wrestling production and the main focus is on pushing music talent, eventually the better performers will be gone and it dies out....of course if Paul Heyman gets a full WWE Release....haha just kidding....

 

The man focus is not on pushing music talent; the main focus is on the wrestling and the wrestlers

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Seems alot like what XPW could have been. That certainly isn't bad in my opinion, I'll definitely have to check out the debut episode.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/...bDate=1/14/2007

 

Wrestling Society X to debut Jan. 30 on MTV

 

PRO WRESTLING

Sunday, January 14, 2007

 

BY MIKE MOONEYHAM

 

Add one more player to the pro wrestling mix.

 

Wrestling Society X, a fast-paced, high-energy new breed of wrestling competition, makes its debut at 10:30 p.m. Jan. 30 on MTV.

 

This isn't your older brother's WWE - there's nothing shiny or polished about it. The show is billed as the greatest, dirtiest and most dangerous competition on TV and, according to a press release, 'throws out the glam of wrestling and piles on the grappling action every week from an undisclosed bunker where danger is never far away.'

 

But, hold on, there's more.

 

'The most talented warriors the world has ever known will battle each other and their surroundings, creating an experience that will alter viewers' lives irrevocably. Featuring an onslaught of death-defying feats, aerobatic maneuvers and truly athletic performances, Wrestling Society X will showcase the unique talents of some of the best in the business.'

 

This pre-show hype is pretty heady stuff, and it remains to be seen whether this new concept can earn a share of the wrestling pie. But organizers behind the show seem to think they have found a niche and an alternative to today's WWE product.

 

Cody Michaels, who is an associate producer, writer and creative team member for the new series, calls the project a groundbreaking endeavor and hopes fans will give it a try.

 

'It has what I feel has been lacking in the national spotlight for some time. It's a major national television show focused on young, underexposed, talented wrestlers that are not household names. It's a show that will focus on their in-ring skills, with a production focus and quality that is in theme with the feel and attitude of the targeted demographic.'

 

That demo, of course, is a youthful audience that likes high energy in their music and their wrestling. Since there can't be an MTV show without music, each episode of WSX will open with a live musical performance, after which the musical stars that week will sit in for guest commentary for certain matches. Acts will include Good Charlotte, Three 6 Mafia, New Found Glory, Pitbull, Black Label Society, Jibbs, Sparta, The Clipse, Quietdrive and Styles P.

 

There'll be more music and less talk with a campy, underground feel to the show.

 

'It's not going to be like the current (wrestling) where you have to sit there for 20 minutes while they do the monologue and everybody comes out and passes the microphone back and forth. It's action,' says Michael, drawing the obvious comparison to WWE. 'MTV spent a lot of money to get a real underground feel. It's kind of like the underground fight club in an old warehouse with concrete pillars half broken down. We purposely got an old, dirty, taped-up ring with concrete broken on the floor. It's got a real rough, different look to it.'

 

'It's great, energy-filled entertainment. It's not garbage wrestling and it's not totally gimmick matches,' adds Michaels. 'It's good, young, fresh talent that can wrestle that people will like and want to keep seeing. You're going to turn it on at 10:30, and within two minutes you're going to be right into a match and some action. There'll be three matches with high impact and a lot of wrestling. There'll be some stipulation matches and lot of pyro. We had an exploding cage, time bomb death match, Hollywood style, with the ring going boom. But I don't want that to overshadow the match, because the match was excellent. It was great wrestling.'

 

The show, which is only 30 minutes, joins MTV's Tuesday night block including 'Road Rules' at 9 p.m., 'Bam's Unholy Union' at 9:30 p.m. and 'Two-A-Days' at 10 p.m. Michaels says he'd obviously like a longer show, but feels the shorter slot could be an advantage with an MTV audience.

 

'I'd love to have an hour. But when you look at the MTV demographic and the attention span of the audience, it's a 20- to 30-minute attention span.'

 

In that limited time frame, says Michaels, the show's challenge will be to hook the casual fan.

 

'You're going to get your wrestling crowd. It's that casual fan you're trying to invest in and get to watch it week in and week out. One way you can do it, and the jury's still out on whether it will be effective or not, is a half-hour format with shorter, higher-impact matches.

 

Another challenge will be finding the time to establish characters and storylines. Michaels says the WSX personalities will come in all flavors. 'It won't be all vanilla. We have cartel guys, we've got hillbillies, we've got Japanese guys. We've got a wide variety of personalities.'

 

Don't look for a lot of familiar names on this show. With the exception of Sean Waltman (the former X-Pac) and Vampiro (Ian Hodgkinson), the majority of performers will be off the independent circuit. Some, such as aerial artist Jack Evans and third-generation standout Teddy Hart, are stars in the making who will get the opportunity to display their wares on a national stage.

 

The show's first episode will feature Evans vs. Matt Sydal, a musical performance by Black Label Society performance, and an over-the-top rope elimination ladder bout, with two contracts for a WSX championship bout suspended above the ring, featuring Waltman, Vampiro, Hart, New Jack, Youth Suicide, Kaos, Puma, Al Katrazz, Justin Credible and Chris Hamrick.

 

The 42-year-old Michaels is no stranger to the wrestling business. He has worked in the industry since 1986 after being trained by veteran star Domenic DeNucci in Pittsburgh in the same class as Mick Foley, Shane Douglas and the late Brian Hildebrand (referee Mark Curtis). A broken neck suffered in a 1991 match in Dallas sidelined him from competition, but he has remained active in the business in a number of projects.

 

Michaels is credited with developing and expanding the ECW territory and fan base with the development of several major cities including Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Under the guidance of Michaels and longtime friend and former college roommate Shane Douglas (Troy Martin), ECW ran its most productive PPV in Pittsburgh, November to Remember, which drew a live audience estimated at close to 5,000 and a live gate of $100,000, both records for the promotion at the time. Michaels also was a driving force in the ECW Hardcore Homecoming reunion tour in 2005. The event drew a record crowd in Philadelphia and was a best-seller in the DVD market.

 

Michaels is guardedly optimistic about the new show, and is quick to clear up what he says are a growing number of rumors spreading through cyberspace.

 

'It's looking real good. There's been a lot of misconceptions as far as what's out there in the media. For as much as I appreciate wrestling fans, there's been so much out there on the Internet and the message boards that's just not true. People have made comparisons to what Vince (McMahon) did on MTV back in the ‘80s with the Rock ‘N Wrestling thing. This isn't the same.'

[Scroby 0]

They're running up against ECW? Damnit, I was hoping they would do something on Weds, or at least earlier. Maybe I'll record WSX and just watch ECW.

[claydude14 0]

Having watched that trailer, it will definilty get the casuals and steal away some of the ECW audience. Put me down for it outdrawing ECW and TNA, but it will be a fad and gone after two seasons. Hopefully some of the better stars get signed from it though, giving them national audience experience and the chance to get very over. If one of the major promotions bring in talent from this after it's run, it will help either out; like Tough Enough but with talent that is ready to go after the MTV exposure.

[Scroby 0]

Just watched the trailer.. and Kris Kloss (thats the annoucer from XPW right?) has already annoyed me.

[Bruce Blank 0]

I stumbled on this

'The most talented warriors the world has ever known

and then felt like adding

 

"and X-Pac"

[Craig Th 0]

Honestly, I'm more excited about the fact that, Road Rules is BACK!

Ha, me too.

 

This doesn't look that bad though. I thought it was going to be typical MTV.

[NoCalMike 0]

I definately have an interest in this.....this will probably get tivo'd while I watch ECW first.

[Art Sandusky 0]

This is going to be awful. I wasn't very optimistic until I saw the preview, but now that little optimism is gone. It looks like they're trying to make a real-life Def Jam video game promotion. It won't turn anyone off of wrestling at least thanks to the extremely short memories and attention spans of MTV viewers, which is the best that will come out of it.

[LucharesuFan619 0]

Article - http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/...bDate=1/14/2007

[JustJoe2k5 0]

This is going to be awful. I wasn't very optimistic until I saw the preview, but now that little optimism is gone. It looks like they're trying to make a real-life Def Jam video game promotion. It won't turn anyone off of wrestling at least thanks to the extremely short memories and attention spans of MTV viewers, which is the best that will come out of it.

 

Those "extremely short memories and attention spans of MTV viewers" are the exact reason why this promotion could succeed. It will be constant action, craziness in every match, not extended interviews or backstage segments.

[GreatWhiteNope 0]

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=22375&p=1

 

WSX PRELUDE: KEVIN KLEINROCK DISCUSSES THE DEBUT OF WRESTLING SOCIETY X, MTV'S INVOLVEMENT, THE MUSICAL ASPECT & MUCH MORE

 

by Mike Johnson @ 12:26:00 PM on 1/16/2007

 

If ever someone in the wrestling business could sit there like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary, it's likely Wrestling Society X producer Kevin Kleinrock, who watched his concept for a new professional wrestling company grow from notes on his computer all the way to a national TV debut on MTV on January 30th at 10:30 PM Eastern, all out of a chance comment to DVD production company Big Vision Entertainment's CEO Houston Mitchell, who was on his way to a pitch meeting with MTV Executives.

 

"The seeds were planted in August 2004, a little bit of time after I had finished with XPW (Rob Black's Xtreme Pro Wrestling) and had started with Big Vision Entertainment. I kind of had this idea for a modern-day version of Rock and Wrestling, kind of a punk rock pro wrestling organization. I jotted the ideas down and made an outline of what the organization was going to be and saved it in a word document in my computer and let it sit there for about a year. In August of '05, Houston Curtis was going into MTV to pitch another program. I said to him in passing, "Someday if you get around to it, I have an idea and maybe we can take it to MTV. He said, "What is it, now? What have you got?" So went over it and he really liked it and we went through putting together an official pitch to MTV. We went in and pitched this show with the other show. It was later that day that we were told they wanted to do a pilot. We did that pilot in February 2005 and we sat around for quite some time waiting to find out what the state of the project was. I think it was July they let us know that they wanted it for the full season, and here we are."

 

Wrestling Society X will feature a number of names that will breaking through, in terms of focus and exposure, on a national scale for the first time, including Jack Evans, Matt Sydal, Teddy Hart, Ruckus, and The Human Tornado, among others. To die-hard independent wrestling fans, their talent and work ethic is well known, but to a national audience, it's a whole new world for viewer and performer alike.

 

"There were certain people that we knew would stand out - Teddy Hart, Jack Evans - we knew they would stand out and come through for us. Guys that blew people away, especially on the producer's side were guys like Scorpio Sky. Human Tornado and Matt Sydal made impressions at the original pilot taping and definitely came through when we taped the series. Josh Abercrombie and Nate Webb worked great as a team. A lot of these guys still have so much ability that they still haven't showcased yet and we have a lot in the tank as we move forward to more and more seasons....I'm very thankful that we were able to put this core group of performers today. You've got names that the world has never seen before, guys like Joey Ryan and the Disco Machine, a team that was absolutely magic on this show. Jack Evans, Matt Sydal, M-Dogg 20, Scorpio Sky, Teddy Hart - we've got this roster that I feel, pound for pound, is the best roster in wrestling period. Three months from now, when you take the average person in America, if you sit them down and let them watch a broadcast from us, a broadcast from TNA, and a broadcast from WWE, people will choose our roster as more entertaining overall because of the in-ring style and personalities that we have. I know that the wrestling fans - the Ring of Honor fans, the WWE and TNA fans are going to gravitate towards these personalities and I'm excited to see how non-wrestling fans take to them."

 

Of course, with new talent being exposed nationally, what's to prevent larger companies from raiding talent left and right and leaving WSX without key players moving forward?

 

"Everybody who worked the taping is under contract. It's a contract that MTV has approved and MTV is pretty good at making sure they can retain talent that they want to retain, the same as any other television project that they are involved in. We encourage the talent to work for independent groups and we're hoping they get more work because of their exposure - guys working for Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will still be able to work there. The contracts prohibit appearing on other television shows. it would be nice for some of these guys who aren't wrestling full-time to become fulltime wrestlers because of the WSX exposure"

 

The Wrestling Society X series, billed as taking place in a "secret, underground bunker" will focus on exposing new names, high impact wrestling, violence and highspots, meshed with musical performances. All within 30 minutes. Why such a dramatic departure from the traditional wrestling TV format?

 

"The format of the show is dictated by the fact that MTV does half-hour shows. We knew walking in that in all likelihood we would be lucky getting a half-hour...It was a little bit nerve-wracking and even now sitting here and seeing what we put down on tape - a half hour does go by really fast. However, when you watch WWE or TNA, the majority of their matches are five minutes of less. WWE does the majority of their matches every week and the majority of the matches on Impact don't go more than five minutes. Our goal was to make a better five minutes, a more action packed five minutes. We want to bring this new style of wrestling, a style we think is going to translate the MTV audience, pop culture, people who aren't watching wrestling now and today may not have even had a desire to watch pro wrestling....It's only a half hour. It's a lot easier to give up a half hour of your day or your life then it is to give up two hours for a traditional WWE broadcast."

 

The faster, impactful in-ring style of the company is planned to be one of the benchmarks of the Wrestling Society X series, according to Kleinrock.

 

"We're kind of betting on the fact they when [viewers] see this show, they see this in-ring style, this fast paced nature of the show; when they see we don't have any segments where guys stand around in the ring and talk for fifteen minutes at a time or that our show doesn't open with a half hour of non-wrestling action, because we can't afford that time, that people will hopefully really take to the show."

 

But how can a viewer expect to get a "wrestling show" when there are going to be musical guests and performances every week, on MTV no less?

 

"The music really is a small component of the show. Every week's episode opens with a band on stage finishing a song, they are already most of the way through the song by the time we open live on them. So you've really got less than a minute of live music playing. The music catch from there on out is that the lead singer or other members of the band will join our host on commentary for that week, which will provide many entertaining moments on commentary. We were blessed, Zakk Wylde, who was on our pilot did a really good job with some frat house humor that the average 12 to 15 year old would probably really enjoy. When we got to the series itself, I was blown away by how happy we were with the commentary from most of the musical acts. We had a number of hip hop acts and they were all completely into the show and into the action. They were really good at putting over the wrestlers and the style. We had a couple of acts like Sparta who grew up as wrestling fans and talked on commentary about growing up in Texas and watching World Class and the Von Erichs. It was a really good experience. Good Charlotte are really big wrestling fans and a number of others had their own experience with wrestling watching growing up. None of the bands are calling moves but are providing unique color commentary."

 

With the debut on January 30th, WSX becomes the third wrestling promotion to have national television coverage since 2000 when WWF, WCW, and ECW battled for ratings nationally. Without MTV picking up WSX, national coverage would never have been an option for the company out of the starting gate

 

When asked about the creative process and input of MTV as the Wrestling Society X concept and series evolved, Kleinrock noted, "MTV pretty much has a say overall. We came to them with the storylines and the characters. The only time there was ever a question was when it became a question of standards and practices - was this going to be too racy? Was this going to come off too extreme - the only time they ever really got involved in the creative side is if they thought standards and practices were going to have an issue with it. There were very few times where they came up. There's not one character, not one piece of talent that we showed them that was rejected. They've been extremely supportive. They were a little bit concerned about the number of wrestlers we were going to bring into the series. When they saw the list, they were worried about the sheer numbers while only having a half hour show. When they went down the list and saw we have managers and tag teams, they were very supportive and didn't ask us to change anything. They wanted to make sure that the show was spectacular and that wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans will be blown away by what they see. There were some, for lack of a better term, stunts, that surpass what has been seen before in WWE or TNA. It's going to open a lot of people eye's."

 

So what were MTV's concerns when it came to standards and practices? Blood? Violence? Explosions?

 

"The biggest issue that standard and practices, and everyone at MTV has - and it's understandable. The concern is, 'How easy is it for some kid, some viewer, to replicate what they are seeing?' They don't want us swinging light tubes. Understood. An exploding casket, however, is not seen in the same light on the same scale of sheer violence of swinging a light tube; a kid's not going to be able to get an exploding casket in their backyard. That's their concern. It doesn't come from a sake of wanting or not wanting something to be seen on television, they have real series concerns. They've lived through a number of lawsuits from kids watching and imitating "Jacka**" and similar things, and it's just their set of standards that the entire network lives by. It doesn't matter if it's a wrestling show or "The Real World." It's just a standard of rules that everyone has to live by."

 

So what does that mean for the actual product, since it's marketing itself as an underground, gritty viewing experience?

 

"The standard [MTV uses] is how easy is it for someone to replicate it. That's what we have to look at when it comes to stunts and violence. It's not a whitewash WCW using cotton candy as weapons by any stretch of the imagination. It's definitely got your mix of extreme and your mix of entertaining in-ring high flying action. We give a little bit of each in each episode, the extreme violence and the excellent high flying technical in-ring wrestling. I think we accomplish that. Most episodes were laid out that way."

 

As WSX moves closer to January 30th, Kleinrock and Big Vision Entertainment wait to see how the wrestling fandom reacts to the latest entry in national television.

 

"It's kind of an amazing experience, starting out on national television. It's not the norm for this business and not the norm for anything I've ever done, so it's very exciting."

[Wyld Cannon 0]

sigh . . . i used to complain about 5 minute matches . . . . now I'll have to complain about 5 minute matches that will look like CRAZIEST SPOTS comp videos on youtube.

[NoCalMike 0]

From the preview it looks like the wrestling is going to be pretty wild and spot-based, my only fear though is that they might expose the business too much by having guys get whacked with all sorts of stuff, go through tables etc....and just get up mere seconds later because they are trying to all of this stuff into a half an hour......I mean if they are having an exploding casket match...that better be the FINISHER, and not just a transitional move to set up a DDT or something....LOL.

[Guest RayCo]

Why have they got Jack Evans? He is shit, not improved abit since he debuted. Is Pac on their roster, I heard rumours he is, he is an amazing young talent from England!!!

[theintensifier 0]

Yeah, since Pac is sooooooo much better than Evans, right?

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I don't think he was referring to X-Pac.

[Guest RayCo]

I wasn't referring to X-Pac, I was referring to a young British high flyer called Pac, of course not renowned in America yet, but still phenominal never the less.

[theintensifier 0]

I don't recall putting an "X" before Pac's name? Hang on, let me check.....

 

Yeah, since Pac is sooooooo much better than Evans, right?