Recently we caught up with Paul Williams, the owner of the Internet Wrestling League and IWL Entertainment and asked if we can sit down with him and have a little interview with him. We felt we had to ask him some pressing questions that the IWL audience would want to know, as well as SEVERAL others who look down upon the promotion as a whole. Hopefully we managed to get everything.

IWLe.com: Paul, nice to meet up with you this afternoon.

Paul Williams: Always a pleasure, to chat with you guys and the IWL audience. I know you and everyone has a lot of questions in regard to the status of the IWL and I was actually hoping on getting a chance to talk with you guys before the show and season premiere of OverDrive come to air.

IWLe.com: Right and we know that you are pretty busy with the schedueling of that show. So right off the back, what exactly happened to the IWL during the latter months of 2008.

Paul Williams: Shortly before the IWL dragged itself pass the eigth year marker, we finally caught a brute part of the whole economic downfall and stuff like that, and so we were caught literally between a rock and a hard place and had no where to really go. So in turn, we came under fire from a lot of groups of people. One of those groups were the agents of some of the IWL wrestlers who were, and still are, threatening to leave IWL.

IWLe.com: So did the IWL run out of funds to continue or what was it?

Paul Williams: There is no one reason that the IWL closed down or went to crap like it did. But a multitude of reasons. And one of those many may say was because of my non-presence in the IWL back office during that time. Um, it’s safe to say that we’ve lost a lot of faith from those in the industry, peers and talent alike, due to this being the sixth closure of the IWL in it’s eight years.

IWLe.com: Well now that you are back is there any timeframe before the IWL can take itself back to where it was or further?

Paul Williams: I like how you asked that. But no, there is no set timeframe that we can expect a 100% turnaround from where we’re at to where we once were. One of the things we are definently trying to avoid is the continually proverbial “dragging through the mud” we’ve seem to set ourself upon. That’s the one thing I’d like to stop and prevent from happening. That may take a month or three. But definently something that can be done in the short-term.

IWLe.com: Moving on from there, let’s look at the here and now. Now I know you said that the IWL got slammed hard by the state of the economy, but you’re booking OverDrive in the Manhattan Center across the street from Madison Square Garden instead of inside. Is this a sign of the tough time in the IWL?

Paul Williams: Well not really. IWL has a strong history in the New York City area. It’s where we first started back in 2000. It’s where we reopened in 2004. So when it comes to restarting or the start of the IWL and the IWL OverDrive, it generally has to be New York City. Now, yes times are hard for the IWL but the only reason why we’re not there instead is simply a matter of bad booking. Evidently before I was able to request that day for the event, we got outbooked by Rascal Flats and their tour before we got a chance to get in the door.

IWLe.com: Ahh. So Manhattan Ballroom was an alternative.

Paul Williams: Indeed it is. We use Manhattan Ballroom from time to time when it’s neighbor MSG is booked in some compacity.

IWLe.com: Alright fair enough. So what’s in store for OverDrive [87]?

Paul Williams: Well this is a new year, so it’s time for a new way to broadcast. And it’s generally for that reason, we’ve decided to go not just digital with our tapings but to also start to broadcast them in High Definition. So you get to see the whole IWL experience almost as if you were at the event yourself.

IWLe.com: Indeed, I mean it’s something we’ve seen many other shows do shows already. What about the event itself.

Paul Williams: We already went ahead and up the production value and made changes to the layout of the arena. This will likely serve as a template for shows from now on, but then again we’re not afraid of changing stuff up at the last minute.

IWLe.com: Well what about the roster, do we have any notables coming back.

Paul Williams: We have a small coming back party with our current crop of signees. Some people are back again, others are just coming in for the first time. So it’s gonna be a mix of old IWL and new breed.

IWLe.com: Now we know the layout of the show and we see that you’re taking duties for the first segment of the week. Anything we need to know?

Paul Williams: It’s always better to see what I say in those situations. Me just annoucing it here is kind of moot point, I want to see how everyone is going to react. I will give you and the audience one bit of a hint, there’s some hardware involved.

IWLe.com: Paul, while you were away was there anyone that you were eyeing that sparked an interest in signing to the IWL?

Paul Williams: There’s always a LOT of people that I would like to bring in to the IWL but I have a responsible for keeping the IWL fiscally sound as well as entertaining at the same time. While there were a lot of faces that hit the circuits that I would like to see in the IWL ring, there’s too many for me to name here in this interview and way too many for me to try and mention here.

IWLe.com: Paul you recently got the IWL signed to a television deal to air on ESPN8. What are your thoughts on the deal?

Paul Williams: This is a first time, in a long time, the IWL has managed to grace a television screen. All the while we managed to sustain a following by using sites like hulu and YouTube, to keep our tapings fresh and people wondering about us. So I think that this deal is especially great for us and it’s especially great for all our wrestler fans who rely on the programming of ESPN8 for such great shows like IWL. I think this deal will help IWL get back to where we were but sooner.

IWLe.com: Paul will you be able to run the IWL now since Leon isn’t by your side?

Paul Williams: I don’t know, IWL has always been better ran by two parties and not one. So we’ll see how we do or what happens in terms of the office of the commissioner.

IWLe.com: Any last comments to the fans watching?

Paul Williams: I just want to take every one of you for taking the time to hear this interview today or read the transcript from the IWL website. It means a lot since I literally built this promotion from ground up, then from the ground again.. and again. I know we hit some bumps in the road and I thank you all for staying with me. And with that being said, you know keep an eye out for the IWL in the new year and keep an eye out for what we do.

IWLe.com: Thanks again for the interview Paul, means a lot.

Paul Williams: Glad I can do it.

Filed under: News

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!