It’s not one of the most familiar brand names out there, but Ring Warriors is making a comeback and doing it with a splash – they’re rebooting with a new one hour television show on WGN America. The Las Vegas, Nevada based promotion made the announcement on their official Facebook page late Monday night. Their new show will debut September 15 in the 8am time slot on Saturday mornings. The first set of tapings is slated form August 8 and 9 at Sam’s Town Casino and features a cast including Impact Wrestling‘s Austin Aries and Eli Drake, Lucha Underground‘s Marty The Moth, indie talent like Jeff Cobb, Santana Garrett, Chris Bey, Alexander Hammerstone, and Luke Hawx, plus former Ring Warriors alumni like Alex Chamberlain, Wes Brisco, Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens.
Ring Warriors Makes Return, Gets TV Deal with WGN America
Ring Warriors was originally a promotion within the pre-Billy Corgan National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), called NWA Ring Warriors, from its founding in 2011 through 2012, and based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Owned by former NWA owner Howard Brody and wrestlers Vito DeNucci and Paul Jones, it folded in 2016. The promotion was based on a concept conceived by Brody and late Japanese great Hiro Matsuda, a regular of Championship Wrestling From Florida and NJPW, with the goal of bringing the Japanese style to North America – sadly, Matsuda passed away in 1999 and never saw his vision come to life. The new Ring Warriors is solely owned by Brody and will hold a tournament to crown the new Ring Warriors Grand Champion, last held in 2016 by Bruce Santee. Ring Warriors’ last champions also included Battling Bombshells Champion Santana Garrett, Global Tag Team Champions Dos Ben Dejos (Eddie Cruz & Jay Cruz) and Bahamian Champion Alex Chamberlain (a title that has its lineage with the NWA Florida Bahamian Championship from Championship Wrestling From Florida in 1982).
Ring Warriors also released the following press statement:
Las Vegas, NV – Founded by the late Hiro Matsuda, a legendary wrestler and the trainer of such international superstars as Hulk Hogan and the Great Muta, Ring Warriors today announced it has secured a U.S. cable broadcast outlet.
Starting on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 8 a.m. ET/PT, Ring Warriors will debut on WGN America, a nationally distributed television network that reaches more than 80 million households via cable, satellite and telcos.
The series, a joint venture between Florida based Ring Warriors and Nevada based Goin’ Mobile Video Productions (GMVP), was acquired for worldwide distribution, marketing and licensing by California based Global Genesis Group (GGG).
“We are thrilled to be on such a high-profile network,” said GMVP’s Howard Lipkint, the show’s Executive Producer. “Working with Global Genesis Group to take Ring Warriors to the next level, we look forward to bringing our passion for wrestling to fans around the world.”
“Ring Warriors combines the most electric elements of high-impact sports with explosive characters and storylines that make each match feel larger than life,” added GGG President Rick Romano. “We are so excited to bring a series with such legendary roots to wrestling fans all over the world.”
Play-by-play and color analysis
Calling the action for Ring Warriors will be the team of Blake Chadwick and Larry Brannon. Chadwick, a veteran play-by-play announcer for Ring Warriors during its during previous productions (2012-2015), is joined by Brannon, a former NWA world tag team champion who performed under the name Vito DeNucci. Brannon is also the Chief Executive Officer of Ring Warriors, LLC.
“This is a big move for us,” said Brannon. “We know we have a challenge before us and we are ready, willing and able to meet that challenge. We’ve assembled an amazing array of talent to kick things off. Our goal today is the same as it has always been – to deliver an episodic wrestling product for the fans.”
Also joining the broadcast team is veteran wrestling announcer Ken Resnick, who brings more than 30 years of experience to Ring Warriors. “Killer Ken” as he is affectionately known, will be handling backstage and in-ring interview duties.
“I think Hiro would be very proud of what we are doing today with Ring Warriors,” said Howard Brody, Matsuda’s former partner and current Ring Warriors, LLC Chief Operations Officer. “Hiro had a vision that one day Ring Warriors would be on TV in the U.S. but he passed away before that was realized. After almost 20 years that vision is now a reality.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYFhLZRXKmI
