Newsfile: The Pro Wrestling Mini Museum Announces the Opening of Its Interactive Online Platform (PRESS RELEASE). “The museum will feature items like classic signed programs and ring/TV-worn memorabilia. Many ring-worn items do not see the light of day except for special circumstances once they are in the hands of private collectors.”
Washington State Department of Health: New COVID-19 safety guidance released after multi-county outbreak linked to high school wrestling tournaments. “The Washington State Department of Health (DOH), is updating the health and safety requirements for high contact indoor sports in the wake of a multi-school, multi-county outbreak. The outbreaks are linked to a series of wrestling tournaments held in early December and are linked to an estimated 200 COVID-19 cases. Genomic sequencing recently confirmed at least three cases are omicron.”
The Guardian: Holy bikini-clad Batwoman! Archive saves Mexico’s scorned popular films. “Had they not been rescued from a dusty storehouse seven years ago, the original negatives of hundreds of Mexican movies featuring the likes of the silver-masked crime-fighting wrestler El Santo, a bikini-clad Batwoman and the Satan-worshipping Panther Women would have been lost forever. Salvation came in the form of Viviana García Besné, a film-maker, archivist, self-described ‘popular film activist’ and descendant of Mexico’s cinematic Calderón clan.”
Engadget: Spotify and WWE are tag-teaming on podcasts. “WWE and The Ringer (which Spotify bought last year for around $200 million to bolster its sports lineup) are building a podcast network together. The Ringer podcast The Masked Man Show has been rebranded as The Ringer Wrestling Show. More podcasts are on the way, including a narrative series produced by Bill Simmons (a self-professed lifelong WWE fan) and additional shows from WWE talent.”
Reuters: Mexico’s lucha libre wrestlers take fight against COVID to vast market. “Mexico’s famous lucha libre wrestlers turned Latin America’s largest wholesale food market into a battleground against COVID-19 this week, barging down walkways to urge people to wear masks to contain the virus.”
CBR: Masked Wrestler Guide Recreates Over 200 Masks – in 8-Bit Form. “An Illustrated Guide to Masked Wrestlers is a cross between an interactive gallery and an online museum exhibit where 226 wrestling masks are recreated in an 8-bit art style. From the home page, you can choose to either be guided through the gallery, connecting certain masks’ and wrestlers’ stories together (under ‘Choose a Guided Story’) or choose to explore the gallery freely, clicking on whichever mask ignites your curiosity (under ‘Skip the Story’)”
Slate: Somehow the Pandemic Hasn’t Stopped Sumo Wrestling. “On March 22, 35-year-old professional sumo wrestler Hakuho Sho gripped 34-year-old Kakuryu Rikisaburo in a powerful bear hug, glided across the floor, and launched his opponent outside of the ring. That final bout, which lasted less than 30 seconds, won Hakuho his 44th top-division championship. No roar of the crowd accompanied his achievement, however, because the seats were empty. The 15-day tournament in Osaka, Japan, did not have an audience because of the Japan Sumo Association’s coronavirus precautions.”
Slate: Florida Governor Expands Pandemic Essential Services to Include Professional Wrestling. “With the state stay-at-home order in effect until the end of the month, [Florida governor Ron] DeSantis has made the latest in his series of questionable decisions, announcing that WWE—yes, the professional wrestling entertainment behemoth—would now count as an essential service, exempting it from shutdown requirements. The order signed last week applies, technically, to ’employees at a professional sports and media production with a national audience—including any athletes, entertainers, production team, executive team, media team and any others necessary to facilitate including services supporting such production—only if the location is closed to the general public.’ The state lockdown had been in place less than a week at that point.”
WWE Network News: WWE Network Now Offering Free Access To Much Of The Archives For A Limited Time – Includes Wrestlemania, Originals, + More. “The world is chaotic right now, with tough times effecting virtually everyone. With life shut down for so many, some turn to entertainment to help themselves cope. WWE has continued to pump out programs week in and week out, but they are also now offering a large bulk of the WWE Network for free.”
Tubefilter: TikTok Inks Deal With WWE For 30 New Wrestler Accounts, Entrance Music Licensing. “WWE is body-slamming onto TikTok today, with a new pact that will see the wrestling media purveyor — which counts 1 billion followers across all of its social channels globally — launch various new channels on the Bytedance-owned, short-form video app.” I miss Dean Malenko since he retired.
I wasn’t sure whether I would put this in or not, but it’s the weekend, it’s an information collection, and it’s well done. New Generation Wrestling UK has has uploaded over 200 wrestling videos to its YouTube channel. They are well produced and the few matches I looked at had good commentary (the collection is not all matches but there are many, many matches.) PS: My favorite wrestler is Dean Malenko. Do not @ me.
Willamette Week: In the ’90s, Two Portland Teenagers Aired Old WWF Matches. Now, They Have a Treasure Trove of Wrestling Archives. “The Squared Circle’s Greatest Matches aired on public access television in the Portland area on Saturday nights at 10 pm. True to its name, the show featured classic bouts hand-picked by the ideal curators—two teenagers with little regard for copyright law…. A prodigious jabberjaw, [Bryan] Bennett talked Mount Hood Community College into giving him access to its TV studio at age 13. While he’d managed, through his friendship with local legend ‘Playboy’ Buddy Rose, to secure an agreement with Vince McMahon to air old WWF matches, the show simply flew under other organizations’ radar.”
KICKSTARTER CORNER: Couple of Kickstarter projects that might interest you. One of them is a project to build a database of wrestling move GIFs. (Goal for that one is $250.) The other is a project for assembling a database of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) projects in Africa. That one has a whopping goal of $184,000.
Snapchat is teaming up with the WWE (PRESS RELEASE). “Snapchatters and WWE fans around the world will be able to experience WrestleMania as part of a multi-year partnership announced today by Snapchat and WWE. To kick off the partnership, Snapchat will cover WrestleMania, which takes place this Sunday, April 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, via a Live Story. WrestleMania will also air live around the world on WWE Network at 7 pm ET. SNICKERS®, the official presenting partner of WrestleMania, will be WWE’s first-ever Snapchat Live Story brand partner.” Snickers, WWE, and Snapchat… so not my demographic…
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