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WOW - Women of Wrestling will present its “Crowning the Champs” episode this weekend nationally via syndication this weekend.
PWInsider.com sat down with WOW host David McLane, who has been the lynchpin for every incarnation of the women’s professional wrestling series and was the original founder of GLOW - Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling back in 1986 to discuss WOW’s evolution across the last several months as they crown their first Tag Team Champions this weekend.
On WOW’s first 13 weeks so far:
“We're so happy. It's an alternative for wrestling fans. W we're all wrestling fans, and nothing better than watching some diversity of,another product that's out there and we’re answering the fans’ call for putting on women's wrestling and more women's wrestling and a dedicated hour to it. So we're fortunate. We're in all 210 markets. I do have to, you know, I'm humbly here talking to you today, Mike, but, I’ve got to brag about the fact that women's wrestling is, for the first time ever - we didn't have this in GLOW, in GLOW, we were only on maybe, maybe if we were lucky, 80 somehing markets, if we reached a hundred, I'd be amazed. 210 markets. It doesn't matter what market you're in. Kokomo, Indiana, Nashville, Illinois, St. Louis. Wherever you are, you can see WOW - Women of Wrestling.”
The Crowning the Champs episode:
“This weekend's a big weekend for wrestling on television and otherwise, and we're fortunate to be in the mix, and it's gonna be a great WOW - Women of Wrestling weekend because the Tag Team championship is going to be held, and it's the culmination of a lot of matches that have taken place over the last 13 weeks. We will have the crowning of the new Tag Team Champions and any big fans of WOW know that the best known and, and most popular, easily Tag Team champions of WOW were Caged Heat. You'll see a little montage [this weekend] that pays homage to them. So you'll see the original Ice Cold, you'll see the Warrior Woman. You'll see Fire and Adrenaline, you'll see Caged Heat, you'll see Santana Garrett and Amber O'Neal on there. There's just a great history of tag team wrestling on this weekend's broadcast, and I encourage everyone to watch it. And those that were a fan of it, um, we pay homage all the way back to when it began.”
Working with the former AJ Lee, AJ Mendez:
“I never knew this until after the fact, but when AJ and I went to do the announcing for a while on the very first night, we had total chaos outside of the building, and I was pulled away for the whole day with just total chaos. She and I never got to sit and review anything, The show started at, I think 7 or 7:30. I literally came to the table one minute before. She just gave me a look like, ‘I've been here since, you know, two or three in the afternoon. Where have you been?’ Then, the mics went on. The show went, and it was days later, maybe weeks later, that she told me, well, she had never done announcing before! [Laughs] Oh man, stupidity on my part, and my stupidity looks like a genius, genius, genius result because she and I blended perfectly and had tremendous chemistry and worked well together. I really enjoyed working with AJ and she kept me straight and narrow. It was great fun.”
What AJ Mendez brought to WOW - Women of Wrestling:
“She's blowing up now. She's got big producer and writing gigs for Netflix movies, and her career's just blossoming. I love to see it, but it was great working with AJ. She provided us something that none of us could do, which was really not only an insight to the women wrestlers and what they were going through in the ring. She gave a historical picture that no one else had of women's wrestling. So it was great having AJ involved.”
Figuring out the sensibilities and style of today’s WOW - Women of Wrestling vs. GLOW in the 1980s:
“Well, you can't pay for experience because it just happens. I'm lucky that I was fortunate enough to get in at a young age and not only grow up and then start with the revolution of women with, you know, just starting with GLOW, getting it on television as the first women's wrestling show on tv, and now with WOW, but I got to see the men's wrestling evolve too, from my engagement in the Midwest when I was a kid, so my experience gives me a lot of knowledge, respectful of what the product I think should be and what I think fans want. Jeanie Buss, my business partner…no one knows more about marketing, sports entertainment than she. And we both have our ears to the ground trying to listen to the fans, and we rebooted WOW because the fans wanted better for women's wrestling. They wanted more women's wrestling. They wanted the status quo to change for women's wrestling and we feel we're fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to do such. For women's wrestling to be on 210 markets in the United States…it's never been done before, period. We have a hundred percent clearance in the entire country. Women's wrestling has never been given that opportunity. So we're just fortunate enough to have CBS Media ventures, Paramount, The CW Network, all the different affiliates, Sinclair Broadcast Group, etc. all engaged in helping lift women's wrestling up, which is so deserving of it after so many years of fans wanting to see it uplifted. So it gives me a great perspective.”
Feedback from their broadcast partners thus far:
“The feedback's been excellent. We're gaining an audience. The eyeballs of the consumers are finding WOW. Syndication is a difficult animal, in that we're not able to even be with you right now and say, watch Saturday night at such and such time in one place. You've got to be going to your local marketplace and find where WOW airs. So that's a bit challenging in today's marketplace, but we're finding it, we're growing it, we're doing exceptionally well with women viewership. I've been told in some respects we have the highest women's viewership of any wrestling program ever, period, and that was a goal to capture those dissatisfied women that were watching wrestling over the last few years and [to] bring them back and bring the families back to wrestling. The live events have been well received. Even AJ Mendez, whom you mentioned earlier, said to me, you know, ‘Wow, look at our live audience. We've got the kids back.’ That's something very unique that she told me. You don't see in other leagues as much the family component, the dad with the daughter, the mom with the youngsters, and they're coming to WOW, but we got a lot of room to grow, Mike, we need you. We, we thank you and we need you and we need the fans. It's a David versus Goliath, not only to grow in the wrestling space, but the entire entertainment space. A lot of competition. We need help. We need more eyeballs, and we need the fans to get online and say how they like WOW, and even what they don't like. We're listening and we will listen and adjust to what the fans want. We're humbled that we're on nationally, we're growing, we're humbled that we've got great viewerships starting, but it's just got to grow. And luckily this is a marathon and not a race.”
The Difficulties of syndication today vs. the 1980s:
“It's more difficult today. There's less, there's less eyeballs on any one program today than what there was years ago and it's continuing to shrink. We just did LA Comic-Con and I was amazed to find out from my reports how many people here in Los Angeles, where our base is have watched WOW on YouTube and on all these social platforms, but they hadn't seen it on KCAL on Saturday nights at 11 when it originally airs and then repeats on Sunday, late at night. That wouldn't have happened years ago. When GLOW aired way back when, it was only on that syndicated show on that weekend, maybe with a double air, but that was it. Everyone saw it because there were only like four major stations, and today you're right, Mike, it's so fragmented that it's not only difficult, but it's harder to capture the audience. So, but what you end up with, I remember in the old days when I promoted concerts, you'd go into the marketplace and you had one or two R&B stations and they only played the R&B Soul hits. You had the Rock and roll station. You had the country station and everything was fragmented and getting more fragmented. Then, SiriusXM started where all you could do is get in your car and listen to comedy all day, if you want. Today's television market is getting fragmented. We hope to find our fan base, um, like the other wrestling products and, uh, offerings that are out there while something unique. It's an alternative and, um, we hope it continues to grow.”
WOW’s storytelling:
“The storytelling as it happens and unfolds on the TV screen is unique because one of our Executive Producers, Nick Staler and his team know how to do that type of production. We say the word stories or storylines, they really all evolve out of real life. Kandi Krush is a former boxer. She is a former swimmer, and she brought her boxing gloves to the WOW Training Center and Selina Majors, and I wondered, why are you bringing these boxing gloves to the training center? She goes, ‘Oh, they're my inspiration. My grandmother gave me this inspiration to do anything I wanted, and I've always carried 'em with me’. Well, somebody [and it hasn’t been revealed yet] stole them. Did we materialize that in the broadcast? Yes, but it happened. Nothing that we've created is superficial. Somebody wrecked her boxing gloves and it's being displayed on the television broadcast and it's unfortunate. She’s on a mission to kick some butt and get some retribution for what happened.”
Who wins the Tag Titles this weekend:
“The answer is…You have to watch WOW - Women of Wrestling this weekend! You will find out whether it’s the Tonga Twins or the Carlson Twins. That's another thing, Mike, I'll tell you this, whoever wins, it's gonna be a pair of Twins!”
WOW airs across the United States in 210 markets. For more on WOW, visit www.WOWE.com.
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