The First FPW Championship Match

It was Sunday, April 23, 2023.  The venue was the PMC Spotlight Blackbox Theater in Circuit Makati.  The finals of the FPW Tournament, to decide the first FPW Champion, was about to take place.

 

Mike Madrigal, Ralph Imabayashi and Cali Nueva would go through a competitive tournament to reach the finals.  I was fortunate to see all three wrestlers live last August.  There was no question in my mind then that all three grapplers deserved to be in the final on this very day.

 

Prior to seeing the August show, it was watching each on You Tube video when all three were with Philippine Wrestling Revolution.  I knew about Ralph Imabayashi being PWR Champion longer than anyone in the promotion's history.  But, after watching some video with Mike Madrigal and Cali Nueva, any one of the three could be the first FPW Champion.

 

This wrestling fan has watched this match a couple of times now and it was as action packed of a three way match as any triple threat match I've seen worldwide.  All three brought their 'A' game that day to the PMC Spotlight Theater.

 

I want to say that Red Ollero and Poch Spice (who is also the ring announcer) did a good job with the commentary.  They brought a lot of excitement to the match as well.

As 2024 is a few days old, I could see any of the three in this match holding the FPW Championship this year or sometime down the line.  If you haven't seen the match, the link to it is below.  Hope you guys enjoy it.  The fans who were there back in April did just that!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDS3iccCB2s

Now Is The Opportunity!

Waking up this morning, it was exciting that the Manila Wrestling Federation Factory will begin soon for aspiring wrestlers.  From what I'm reading, the Factory will begin on Sunday, January 21st at the Brawl Pit Bulusan in Quezon City.

This blogger has read the numerous comments from MWF wrestlers, staff and fans who are interested.  Especially with the wrestlers, please read what they have to say before committing to this.  What is mentioned is very important and it is from their experiences in the ring.

 

To find out more, please check the Manila Wrestling Federation page on Facebook.  It is a lot more detailed there than what I'm sharing on this post!

 

To the fans who are reading this post, and live outside of the Philippines, I know first hand of several promotions that have had off and on sessions over the last few weeks (Grapplemax in Singapore and PWS Korea for example).  If you are interested, please send me a message on Facebook (under SF Wayne) and I will try and connect you with a representative of the promotion.  Promotions in Southeast Asia are continuously looking for aspiring people that want to become wrestlers.

 

All the best to MWF, Jake, Nigel and all the aspiring people going forward.  Chelsea Marie, Joya, Isaiah Valencia, Joey Rosas and Kurt Jiminez have reached MWFs main roster over the last couple of years.  There are at least two others that I know of that could be MWF bound in 2024!

Why Is Pro Wrestling Not A 365 Day Event?

Lately, I've seen some posts on social media as to why various wrestling promotions in Southeast Asia aren't running their shows every month of the year.

 

One of the things the fans need to remember is that pro wrestling in Southeast Asia is not the WWE, AEW, TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling.  The four companies are established companies that have been around for awhile.  The wrestlers, for the most part, are being paid full time to entertain the fans and are making good money.

 

Recently, I read where Triple H and management gave a majority of the wrestlers time off around Christmas time.  That is a change from when Vince McMahon was running things.  It appears that it helped somewhat because the shows that I've seen so far in 2024 have a little more bounce to them.

 

The four major promotions mentioned are on the road throughout the year.  It is definitely different from the days of The Territory Era where wrestlers didn't travel quite as much and far.  To wrestlers with these companies, they are constantly on the road.

 

With the Southeast Asia wrestling promotions, definitely it is a lot different.  The travel within the promotions is very minimal.  With wrestlers in a promotion, they are either going to school and/or doing a second job besides entertaining the fans.  Certainly, they are not making the salary of the big four companies.  Promotions currently are working hard in attempting to get sponsorships, donors and more to help pay for the venue as well as the employees.  

 

Where WWE, AEW, TNA and NJPW have anywhere from 800-1000 shows per a calendar year, a Southeast Asia promotion may have anywhere from six to 10 shows.  So, we are talking apples and oranges here.  Hopefully, the fans see this.  I look at this like an independent promotion in the Bay Area where I live.  Most of the companies here have seven to eight shows per year.

Having one show every six weeks to two months is really good.  Wrestlers need the time to train, try and stay in as good of shape as possible and more.  There is also recruiting people to wrestle, promoting the product and more.  Last year was a great year in what was just mentioned here.  In 2024, it will even be better with the vision of the promotions in the region.

 

Looking forward to 2024, this fan is grateful for any promotion in Southeast Asia to have shows.  With the amount of shows, this gives promotions time to prepare with production, planning, making sure that the wrestlers have practice time to prepare, and making sure that equipment is more than adequate and in great shape.

 

I feel if wrestling fans see the big picture, which this wrestling fan sees, the quality of the product will reach greater heights than ever in 2024!  

Top FPW Moments For 2023!

A few days ago, Filipino Pro Wrestling came out with their top five moments for 2023.  I would probably agree with the five that they came up with.

 

The top five does not include the two matches that I witnessed last August.  The Robbie Eagles-Ralph Imabayashi and the Mike Madrigal-Duke Ortega matches were great matches in my opinion.  

 

I believe they will likely appear in Season 2 of FPW - Astig which will likely happen sometime this fall.

 

Anyway, the top five moments can be viewed by clicking the link at the bottom of the post.  For more on Filipino Pro Wrestling and season one of FPW - Astig, please check out all 11 shows on their You Tube channel. 

 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nLFa81CmKk