Powerbomb.TV co-founder Vin Gerard first wrote this on Reddit
Promoting my first Independent Wrestling Event – Break The Barrier
As I wrote the title of this post, I realized it has now been literally 12 years since co-promoting events out of the Staircase in Pittston PA with CHIKARA. For those of you who most likely have no idea who I am, my name is Gerard Durling and I’m the co-founder of Powerbomb.TV.
It is possible you might recognize my username as former independent wrestler Vin Gerard, and yes that would be me.
In just under a month, I will be promoting my first Independent Wrestling event called “Break the Barrier 2017” on Sunday June 11th. I’m very proud of what we’re putting together so I decided its time I take some time to express why.
Earlier this year, Adam Lash and I launched Powerbomb.TV – an independent wrestling video subscription service, similar to what you see now with WWE Network, NJPW World, Chikaratopia, FloSlam, FiteTV, HighSpots, etc.
To be completely honest with you, video on demand services have become a very crowded space to jump into. I’m sure most of you have WWE Network and a combination of any of the above services.
So the question we started asking ourselves is ‘how could we be any different than the rest?’. Neither of us have millions of dollars to pay out to any of these promotions, and with so many other options in the VOD space, it became incredibly difficult for us to even make a comparable offer for a promoter to take a chance on what we were doing. Or even a fan.
We struck out a lot and understandably so.
I will never forget having a conversation with Adam just a few months ago that we needed to do something to prove ourselves to promoters, wrestlers and fans that we’re here to help them reach new audiences. We need to show how much we care about independent wrestling and it was that conversation that created “Break the Barrier 2017”.
Some of you might be familiar with the original Break the Barrier that happened back in 1999. For those unfamiliar, Break The Barrier was a professional wrestling supercard held at Viking Hall, better known as the ECW Arena, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, 1999. The event was organized by the founders of Scoopswrestling.com, Al Isaacs, Remy Arteaga and Barbi Bistrowitz, and brought together some of the top independent wrestlers from around the country. Pro Wrestling Illustrated has called it “one of the greatest Supercards of all time”.
So I decided to reach out to Al Isaacs and got his approval to use the name “Break the Barrier” for our first live streaming event on Sunday June 11th in Old Forge, PA. We asked as many of our partners as we possibly could to send us a match that best represents their product. We want to give talent and wrestling promotions the ability to break barriers and make a name for themselves in front of a new audience.
I’m very grateful for the response this event has received from promoters, wrestlers and fans. It’s helped us break our own barriers as more and more promotions have reached out to be part of Powerbomb.TV – including ones that had originally turned us down. I’m hoping its because they’re starting to see what we’re trying to do for them.
As lame as this may sound, independent wrestling is both Adam’s and my own passion project. I’m sure any of you who actually takes the time to read this feels similarly.
I’m here writing this because I want to invite you to be part of what we’re doing.
If you’re a Powerbomb.TV Subscriber, you can attend the event for free in person. We also have bus trips available from NYC & Philadelphia.
If you can’t be there in person, enjoy a free trial and watch the stream on Powerbomb.TV from the comfort of your own home.
And yes, we intend to be launched to Apple TV & Roku devices for our June 11th event.
Here’s what we have announced so far for Break the Barrier 2017: Independent Wrestling Festival
Representing Mexican Lucha Libre: Puma King & Tiger Casas vs. Triton & Guerrero Maya Jr
Representing C*4 Wrestling: Joey Janela vs. Buxx Belmar
First Time Ever: Colt Cabana vs. Orange Cassidy
Representing Beyond Wrestling: John Silver vs. Tracy Williams
Representing Grand Slam Wrestling : For the GSW Adrenaline Championship – Brute van Slyke (C) vs. Stevie Shields vs. Ricky Reyes
Former Tag Team Partner Collide: Desean Pratt (fka Amasis) vs. Ophidian the Cobra
Matches still to come from: Olde Wrestling, Women’s Wrestling Revolution, Top Rope Promotions, Georgia Premier Wrestling and of course, no show would be complete without a Main Event!
If you have any questions/comment, please feel free to leave them here and I’d be glad to answer them. I’d really appreciate your feedback on what we could do to help improve on what we’re doing.
If you want more info about the event – visit https://tix.powerbomb.tv