Professional wrestling again

Ring of Pakistan (ROP), an Islamabad-based body headed by Asim Shah Kazmi, has decided to stage professional wrestling shows in Karachi and Islamabad next month.

This will be the second successive year when around 20 wrestlers from the world will be entertaining the public of both the cities.

The organisers announced this at a launching ceremony at Karachi’s Marriott Hotel a few days ago. Tiny Iron and Bram of England, Baadshah Khan of France and Rebel, a female wrestler from the United States, were also present at the ceremony.

In Karachi the event will be staged on August 29. This will be followed by the show in Islamabad on August 31.

The venues for the shows are yet to be known. There is no denying the fact that this kind of wrestling is liked by the people and last year too the shows received a good response.

The organisers want this time to keep the prices of the tickets low to make it accessible for the poor people as well. Unlike the last shows this time the organisers also aim to utilise hockey or cricket stadiums for the purpose. Last year the shows had been conducted through Pro Wrestling Entertainment (PWE) but this time the company has been changed because of the presence of another company with the same name in New Zealand.

Last year the organisers had claimed that they would establish academies throughout the country to promote professional wrestling which is governed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). And again during the launch of the second season they announced that they would open academies.

Last year, too, Asim Shah had requested the federal government to give him land so that he could open academies in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.

What ROP says it will have to do if it wants to keep its credibility. Otherwise it will have to face serious criticism. Baadshah, France-based wrestler of Pakistani origin, even said that from the next season effort would be made to put fifty percent of Pakistani wrestlers in the shows.

Khan is also optimistic about the progress of this genre of wrestling in Pakistan. “Pakistan has great potential and can be converted into a big market for professional wrestling as its population is about 200 million and the people love this sport,” Khan told ‘The News on Sunday’ (TNS).

“As you know there was no pro wrestling in Pakistan and we came here to start it. We will go to every city and being a Pakistani it is my desire to see this kind of wrestling flourishing here and also to fight with the wrestlers of my own country,” Khan said.

Khan, who belongs to Wah Gardens, Rawalpindi, started his pro career in 2010 and has wrestled around the world.

Khan has made a major contribution to the whole process and bringing in foreign wrestlers to Pakistan which according to him would also improve the image of the country.

The British wrestler Tiny Iron is also confident about the growth of this kind of sport in Pakistan. “Yes, why can’t professional wrestling grow here? Pakistan can be converted into a big market. Anyone who wants to wrestle can contact ROP. Now you have a body which can develop this kind of wrestling here,” Tiny Iron told TNS.

The ROP plans to spread the sport to the nooks and corners of the country. It wants to form its bodies in the provinces and major cities which would enable it to begin a national league and to work as an effective pro wrestling organisation in the country.

British boxer Amir Khan had also pledged that foreign trainers would train the kids in his boxing academy in Islamabad but he did not keep his promise.

It is expected that ROP this time would open academies throughout the country and convince the youth to join this sport. But it would not be an easy task. If it wants to develop pro wrestling it will have to take Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) into confidence. Although Olympic or freestyle wrestling is different from pro wrestling, there is a need to negotiate the issue as PWF would not allow any thing which can damage Olympic wrestling.

In Punjab mostly mud wrestling is played. The PWF tries hard to convince the wrestlers of mud wrestling to come towards mat wrestling by managing jobs for them and other incentives. And it has been successful so far.

I talked about the issue with some top wrestlers of Pakistan and they told me that they would never join such wrestling which is merely played for entertaining the people. “You know Olympic wrestling is the real wrestling. Pro wrestling is aimed to entertain the public and it has no other value,” one of Pakis-tan’s most experienced wrestler told me.

It is expected that the coming events will attract big crowds in both Karachi and Islamabad. The seating arrangement for the spec-tators last time in Karachi was not good. In future ROP aims to bring some great global stars for the shows like Goldberg of the United States.

73.alam@gmail.com