New Impact Hiring, 75 Wrestling Promotions On New Streaming Service, Hart Foundation Next Generation
- IMPACT Wrestling has hired music and wrestling interviewer Alicia Atout. Atout owned the AMBY website, where she interviewed many wrestling superstars, legends and musicians. Atout has worked with IMPACT as a backstage TV host along with hosting backstage interviews with RISE Wrestling and hosting Greektown Wrestling's Thursday Night Wrestling. She is also the backstage TV corespondent for Smash Wrestling which airs every Thursday night on Fight Network at 10PM EST. (Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Himanshu D)
- MLW announced today that one of the sport's most celebrated dynasties will embark on a new era, as the Hart Foundation's Teddy Hart & Davey Boy Smith Jr. (with Brian Pillman II) fill face ACH & Rich Swann on their Battle Riot card on July 19th at the Melrose Ballroom in Queens, NY. The event will also be a FUSION TV taping. Additionally, all four men will compete in the first-ever Battle Riot main event featuring 40 wrestlers. Tickets are available now at mlwnyc.eventbrite.com.
- Video startup Pivotshare is launching a new pro wrestling mega-channel, Powerslam, with 75 of the biggest promotions in the wrestling industry from around the world with 2,000 hours of content. The Powerslam Wrestling Network will be available on iOS, Apple TV, Android, and Roku devices, as well as Amazon Prime Channels. They sent us the following press release:
WORLD'S BEST INDIE PRO WRESTLING BRANDS JOIN FORCES TO CREATE POWERSLAM CHANNEL
Pivotshare launches Powerslam, the world's largest indie pro wrestling library across multiple services.
Los Angeles, CA – Pivotshare, the creator of the first self-service SVOD platform, is proud to announce the launch of the largest and most authentic indie pro wrestling destination in the world, Powerslam. Pivotshare has been working in the pro wrestling world since 2014, powering subscription video channels for some of the biggest names in the industry. Pivotshare works with international brands like ICW, Demand Progress, Rev Pro, and Pro Wrestling EVE in the U.K., Over the Top in Ireland, Spain's White Wolf Wrestling, and Canada's Smash as well as domestic favorites Highspots, CZW, MCW RAGE, WXW, and DEFY Wrestling.
With well over 100 pro wrestling channels in over 15 countries powered by the Pivotshare platform, the company is able to acquire the best events from both the indie circuit as well as more established brands to hand-curate a video library that has something for everyone. Powerslam is the heartbeat of the indie pro wrestling world offering genuine content to fans that are looking for more than the glitzy, superficial, overproduced offerings found elsewhere. Strong-style content can be found next to lucha and hardcore events, along with family-friendly brands, roundtables, and shoot interviews with some of the legends in the business like Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Matt Hardy, A.J. Styles, and Colt Cabana.
Pivotshare's head of Publisher Relations, Chris Woolsey spoke about his excitement for the project when saying, "We wanted to create a channel that was going to not only help our partner-promotions generate revenue, but to also reach a huge new audience through super-serving wrestling fans around the globe." He went on to add, "It seems like many of the other streaming options in the market aren't really delivering on their promises of revenue. We wanted to create something that can grow along with the great brands we work with. We think wrestling content is valuable, and our partners should receive real revenue from their hard work."
Owners of pro wrestling promotions are equally excited about Powerslam as a way to not only grow their recurring revenue, but also as a powerful marketing tool to expose their brand to a global audience. James Gilmer, owner of Seattle's DEFY wrestling said that his team "is so excited to be a part of Powerslam...This channel will make DEFY shows and our weekly series DEFY NOW available to the widest audience yet and we feel honored and energized to be featured alongside a select group of premium promotions."
Powerslam has launched on iOS, Apple TV, Android, and Roku devices, as well as Amazon Prime Channels. Wrestling fans can go to Powerslam.tv to get a Free Trial on their device of choice and wrestling promotions interested in syndicating their valuable content to Powerslam can apply at powerslam.tv/join.