So, exactly what is the Global Wrestling Championships, which launches Nov. 22 in Ithaca, N.Y.??
Share:
by Gary Abbott USA Wrestling
Two-time World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev will be competing for the heavyweight belt in the Global Wrestling Championships in Ithaca, N.Y., facing Tyrell Fortune a title match.
A new wrestling enterprise, the Global Wrestling Championships, will launch on Saturday, November 22 at 2:00 p.m. at Friedman Wrestling Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
Going into this weekend, the wrestling community knew the basics about this wrestling promotion.
The event will feature three championship belt showdowns between top U.S. freestyle competitors. A total of $30,000 will be awarded in prize money during these matches. In addition, a freestyle dual meet between the host Finger Lakes Wrestling Club and the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club will be held prior to the three matches. A live webcast will be provided as a Pay-Per-View by Go Fight Live.tv at gfl.tv
On Thursday, a special media conference call was held featuring Wayne Boyd of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club and wrestling legend Dan Gable, to provide more details on the Global Wrestling Challenge.
Here is what we learned during this entertaining press conference.
• The Global Wrestling Championships is being organized by the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, one of the leading clubs in the nation, and is supported by its founder Andy Barth.
• These are championship matches, and the winners will be considered the champions in their weight class of the Global Wrestling Championships. The winners of these matches will receive a championship belt.
• The weight classes will be called by the boxing divisions rather than by the actual weight class.
• The matches will consist of five three-minute rounds, with the potential for a 15-minute match. A pin ends the match, just like in all other forms of wrestling. The competition will use freestyle rules in Ithaca.
• If one wrestler wins more rounds, but the other wrestler scores more points during all the rounds, there will be an overtime round to determine the winner.
• The pin will be longer than in freestyle, going to two seconds on the back to secure the fall.
• The matches in Ithaca will be held in this order:
FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Tony Ramos vs. Sam Hazewinkel
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Tervel Dlagnev vs. Tyrell Fortune
WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Kyle Dake vs. Andrew Howe
• Just like boxing and MMA, when a champion is crowned, they will defend their title belt in championship matches moving forward.
• The cost of the Pay-Per-View is $6.95 if ordered in advance, but goes up to $14.95 the day of the show (so if you want to order it at the lower price, do it TODAY!!!) Here is the link to order the program:
http://www.gfl.tv/event/Fight/Wrestling/Global-Wrestling-Championship/2663
• The prize money split is 75% to the winner and 25% to the loser in Ithaca.
• A long-term plan for this program is to develop a dual meet season, featuring club teams or regional training center teams that compete for money. There are hopes to get the dual meet portion of the project launched in 2015. There could be a playoffs system for the clubs, similar to the World Series. In addition, the structure of championship belts in each weight class will be continued.
• This promotion will not strictly include men’s freestyle wrestling. There are plans to also include women’s freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in future promotions.
• The organizers of the Global Wrestling Challenge are willing to partner with other organizations in the development and expansion of this project.
• Promoters noted that the match between Howe (who finished his career at Oklahoma) and Dake (who wrestled for Cornell) will be of great interest, because the event will be followed by the Cornell vs. Oklahoma dual meet at 6:30 p.m.
Here’s some of what was said at the media teleconference:
Wayne Boyd of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club
“I am passionate about this because I have been involved in wrestling since 1958. I’ve lived it for 58 years. I am excited to take it to a more modern level, where people beyond wrestling really respect what we do. The energy it takes, the science it takes, the dedication it takes, the characteristics that are build from this sport make us better people in anything that we do in life.”
“To get new fans, you have to change some things. We are not changing the rules. We are changing the length of the matches. We are not the first to try this. But we need to make it stick. It is time to do it. We need to work with one another. I am open to anybody who wants to host any type of event.”
“I refuse to use the word amateur any more for what we do. We are not amateurs. We are the professionals. And the only way we will prove that is by doing big events that entertain people. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but when you spend a lot of money, you get media attention. Sometimes when you spend a lot of money, you make a lot.”
“To make a profit is very important. That is not what we are worried about right now. But, if we can’t generate an audience and we can’t generate television, this will go away. If can’t sustain itself, if it has to do it from a donor standpoint, we have failed as a sport. We have to drive a profit.”
Wrestling legend Dan Gable
“I think this may be a result of the Olympic wrestling movement, where wrestling lost its way for a little while, and all of a sudden, more emphasis was put on it for a six month period. There was a committee called CPOW that met all the time. They created some strong momentum with a lot of good people. Other countries around the world did the same thing. It wasn’t new supporters we picked up, it was a lot of people who have not been involved in our sport for awhile. We already have an audience there. We have to get them interested again.”
“I am really excited about these matches. The three matches they have lined up will be very entertaining. There is something that Wayne may learn. Maybe the matches are too long at five rounds. Maybe they are not, if people can hold up and people can go after it. It is all about experimentation. Three minute periods are not too long. We have already gone through two-minute periods. They were a disaster. All they created was stalling. The three-minute periods are good and will help. Wayne will be smart enough to adapt for the sport and the people who will watch back home. We don’t just need a house full. We need every house full.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing these three matches. I think they are very good athletes who will compete hard and you will see lots of good entertainment. I look at the participants and I do feel you will see some of our best wrestling going on because of who is hand-picked to compete. It will be a good viewing. They picked the right athletes.”
EVENT TRAILER: Global Wrestling Championships promo video
A new wrestling enterprise, the Global Wrestling Championships, will launch on Saturday, November 22 at 2:00 p.m. at Friedman Wrestling Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
Going into this weekend, the wrestling community knew the basics about this wrestling promotion.
The event will feature three championship belt showdowns between top U.S. freestyle competitors. A total of $30,000 will be awarded in prize money during these matches. In addition, a freestyle dual meet between the host Finger Lakes Wrestling Club and the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club will be held prior to the three matches. A live webcast will be provided as a Pay-Per-View by Go Fight Live.tv at gfl.tv
On Thursday, a special media conference call was held featuring Wayne Boyd of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club and wrestling legend Dan Gable, to provide more details on the Global Wrestling Challenge.
Here is what we learned during this entertaining press conference.
• The Global Wrestling Championships is being organized by the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club, one of the leading clubs in the nation, and is supported by its founder Andy Barth.
• These are championship matches, and the winners will be considered the champions in their weight class of the Global Wrestling Championships. The winners of these matches will receive a championship belt.
• The weight classes will be called by the boxing divisions rather than by the actual weight class.
• The matches will consist of five three-minute rounds, with the potential for a 15-minute match. A pin ends the match, just like in all other forms of wrestling. The competition will use freestyle rules in Ithaca.
• If one wrestler wins more rounds, but the other wrestler scores more points during all the rounds, there will be an overtime round to determine the winner.
• The pin will be longer than in freestyle, going to two seconds on the back to secure the fall.
• The matches in Ithaca will be held in this order:
FLYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Tony Ramos vs. Sam Hazewinkel
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Tervel Dlagnev vs. Tyrell Fortune
WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP – Kyle Dake vs. Andrew Howe
• Just like boxing and MMA, when a champion is crowned, they will defend their title belt in championship matches moving forward.
• The cost of the Pay-Per-View is $6.95 if ordered in advance, but goes up to $14.95 the day of the show (so if you want to order it at the lower price, do it TODAY!!!) Here is the link to order the program:
http://www.gfl.tv/event/Fight/Wrestling/Global-Wrestling-Championship/2663
• The prize money split is 75% to the winner and 25% to the loser in Ithaca.
• A long-term plan for this program is to develop a dual meet season, featuring club teams or regional training center teams that compete for money. There are hopes to get the dual meet portion of the project launched in 2015. There could be a playoffs system for the clubs, similar to the World Series. In addition, the structure of championship belts in each weight class will be continued.
• This promotion will not strictly include men’s freestyle wrestling. There are plans to also include women’s freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling in future promotions.
• The organizers of the Global Wrestling Challenge are willing to partner with other organizations in the development and expansion of this project.
• Promoters noted that the match between Howe (who finished his career at Oklahoma) and Dake (who wrestled for Cornell) will be of great interest, because the event will be followed by the Cornell vs. Oklahoma dual meet at 6:30 p.m.
Here’s some of what was said at the media teleconference:
Wayne Boyd of the Titan Mercury Wrestling Club
“I am passionate about this because I have been involved in wrestling since 1958. I’ve lived it for 58 years. I am excited to take it to a more modern level, where people beyond wrestling really respect what we do. The energy it takes, the science it takes, the dedication it takes, the characteristics that are build from this sport make us better people in anything that we do in life.”
“To get new fans, you have to change some things. We are not changing the rules. We are changing the length of the matches. We are not the first to try this. But we need to make it stick. It is time to do it. We need to work with one another. I am open to anybody who wants to host any type of event.”
“I refuse to use the word amateur any more for what we do. We are not amateurs. We are the professionals. And the only way we will prove that is by doing big events that entertain people. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, but when you spend a lot of money, you get media attention. Sometimes when you spend a lot of money, you make a lot.”
“To make a profit is very important. That is not what we are worried about right now. But, if we can’t generate an audience and we can’t generate television, this will go away. If can’t sustain itself, if it has to do it from a donor standpoint, we have failed as a sport. We have to drive a profit.”
Wrestling legend Dan Gable
“I think this may be a result of the Olympic wrestling movement, where wrestling lost its way for a little while, and all of a sudden, more emphasis was put on it for a six month period. There was a committee called CPOW that met all the time. They created some strong momentum with a lot of good people. Other countries around the world did the same thing. It wasn’t new supporters we picked up, it was a lot of people who have not been involved in our sport for awhile. We already have an audience there. We have to get them interested again.”
“I am really excited about these matches. The three matches they have lined up will be very entertaining. There is something that Wayne may learn. Maybe the matches are too long at five rounds. Maybe they are not, if people can hold up and people can go after it. It is all about experimentation. Three minute periods are not too long. We have already gone through two-minute periods. They were a disaster. All they created was stalling. The three-minute periods are good and will help. Wayne will be smart enough to adapt for the sport and the people who will watch back home. We don’t just need a house full. We need every house full.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing these three matches. I think they are very good athletes who will compete hard and you will see lots of good entertainment. I look at the participants and I do feel you will see some of our best wrestling going on because of who is hand-picked to compete. It will be a good viewing. They picked the right athletes.”
EVENT TRAILER: Global Wrestling Championships promo video
Read More#
Cooley wins his first bout but falls in the quarterfinals, Aslikyan still possible for repechage at U17 Worlds in Greco-Roman
Robinson, Turner, Murphy among stars competing for U.S U17 Women’s Freestyle World Team in Istanbul
U.S. pushes all five men’s freestyle wrestlers to semifinals on day one of U20 World Championships
U.S. women’s freestyle draws set at U20 World Championships
