It happened in a rather understated way. We kicked around the idea throughout the fall of 2012, unceremoniously announced our plans in December 2012 and prepared for it throughout January 2013. Details were kept close to the heart, ducks being put in a row, and finally on Wednesday February 20th, 2013, after five years and 100 live events, Steeltown Pro Wrestling made its broadcast debut.
For those in the SPW office, it’s always been a goal to be on broadcast television. It was with that goal in mind that we cut our teeth producing and promoting online based series’ like SPW iTV, SPW BlogTV and SPW SHOWDOWN. When the opportunity presented itself to produce a television series for Shaw TV Winnipeg (Channel 9 on all Manitoba Shaw cable systems), it was impossible to pass up, especially considering the timing that we were mere months away from celebrating SPW’s 5th anniversary and our 100th live event. It would serve as a nice feather in our cap for half a decade of hard work and dedication.
Getting the series to air came with a price and a bumpy road. Behind the scene turmoil caused several script changes in the week leading up to the January 12th and 13th television tapings. A major snowstorm prevented a number of wrestlers from appearing on the January 12th taping as well. A delay in production set the debut air date back by a few weeks as well. But, just as we have in the past, we carried on one baby step at a time and we reached our destination, our official television debut.
For those keeping score, despite “expert predictions” regarding our fate, SPW has been around 5 years and has promoted 100 live events and counting. Over the years we’ve produced hours upon hours of DVDs, YouTube content, internet television, internet pay-per-view and now broadcast television.
I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. It never came easy and we never expected it to. We lowered our heads, rolled up our sleeves and accomplished what we have the only way we knew how, hard work. Sometimes we got our hands dirty, sometimes we got hurt but we never gave up. Frankly, I’m looking forward to the SPW 5th Anniversary Show because it will truly be a day of celebrations for our wrestlers, our office staff, our sponsors and most importantly our fans.
Tune in and watch SPW TV every Wednesday night on Shaw TV Winnipeg Channel 9 at 10:30PM central time. Episodes of SPW TV are also available online at SteeltownProWrestling.ca.
