WRESTLEPURISTS: A community within a community
How a group of online friends took the wrestling media business by storm
by Gina Fry
COMM-150-011
The Internet Wrestling Community
The Internet wrestling community, mainly referred to as the IWC, is filled with passionate fans who love talking about and celebrating the sport. There are countless online spaces where fans can connect with one another and share their love, spanning from forums and message boards to social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit. Fans often discuss the latest storylines, share news, and give their opinions on everything from match results to wrestlers' fashion choices. The thing that makes this fanbase stand out from others online the most is the community's engagement with the broader industry. Members of the community create their own content, like podcasts, YouTube shows, and blogs, to share their thoughts on the latest wrestling news and interview wrestlers as well as other members of the industry. While there are sometimes arguments and drama, the online wrestling community provides a space for fans to connect and share their passion for the sport.
The most vibrant and active section of the community lives on Twitter. The platform has been the easiest place for fans to communicate directly with the wrestlers they watch weekly for some time now, mainly due to a boost in popularity following the 2020 pandemic. Besides wrestler/fan interaction, the Twitter community is also known for its fiery debates and discussions on the sport. These discussions took a whole new form following the introduction of Twitter Spaces in 2020.
Spaces Crew
Twitter Spaces, or just "Spaces" is the app's live audio chatroom feature. Users can speak, listen, and react to the conversation from the hosts in real-time. Spaces took Twitter's wrestling community by storm during drama among fans in February of 2022. This is where Rob (@SrPerograph), Chris (@chrisobread), and Ibou (@BackupHangman) first interacted. The chemistry between the three was almost instant, and what was supposed to be a one-off discussion slowly blossomed into almost daily discussions, eventually leading to hosts Israa (@raallins) and AO (@KXNGAO) being added to the lineup. Averaging 100-300 live listeners a night, the "Spaces Crew" spent all of summer 2022 establishing their own brand and creating their own community within the IWC.
The Spaces Crew ended up garnering a fanbase within a fanbase. Users were now tuning in just to hear from their favorite regulars on the host lineup, instead of listening just for wrestling discourse. This growing popularity did not go unnoticed to founder of WrestlePurists.com, Monty (@MontelWP).
Example of what a Space looks like from a listener's perspective. Hosts from left to right are Chris, Ibou, Ao, Rob and
Israa (first on the second row), accompanied by guest speakers and friends.
"Monty approached me and Chris at the same time. Immediately asked us to join the brand and offered us our own show...He offered us the opportunity because our spaces were doing so well and were such a blast that he wanted to bring that energy to the channel. We came on the show and it did very well, then more personalities that you see every week started doing more appearances on the channel. It was then that the supporters of WP started demanding more content from us."
-Rob (@SrPerograph) on his invitation to join WrestlePurists
"[WrestlePurists] helped me meet people in the actual wrestling business and even ghost write some promos, so it’s been a great experience. I’m glad I was able to add my flare to this great growing brand."
-Chris (@chrisobread)
Monty took the WrestlePurists brand to the next level in April 2022 with the introduction of the WrestlePurists podcast, a show live-streamed on YouTube weekly. Ibou was the first member of the Spaces Crew to be introduced on the show, making his debut on the second episode on the show. Ibou's introduction to the brand let to Rob, Chris, Israa, then AO all becoming regulars on the channel. The Spaces Crew had officially taken over YouTube.
WrestlePurists: A New Era
Daily spaces were now daily podcasts as more personalities from the Spaces era were being added to the channel. The growing success of the revolving cast of hosts on the Flagship show led to the creation of several programs on the channel: Mondays show being WP Worldwide, the show in which Monty hosts Ibou as well as WrestlePurists OGs Manny (@MannyTheHooper), and Joe Hulbert (@JoeHulbert) give an international, grasping perspective on variety of topics ranging from WWE, AEW, ROH and occasionally vintage promotions. Tuesday is the fastest rising Japanese wrestling podcast in the game; Dumb Guy Live (@DumbGuyLive). Hosts P, Murph (@murphburner) and Jamie Ross give weekly Puro, Lucha libre, and Joshi (female japanese wrestling) updates, reviews, and predictions. Wednesday is Before The Fuse, where an interchangeable set of guests discuss the days news and notes, as well as give their AEW Dynamite predictions. Thursday is the AEW Dynamite Review, where again an interchangeable set of guests join Monty in reviewing Dynamite as well as going over the news and notes for the day. Last but not least is the biggest pod in the game, Unpurists where hosts AO, Chris, Rob and Marcus (@marcusdavis904) give a comedic, entertaining and unique perspective on all the current events going on in the world of wrestling. The show is the fastest rising black owned wrestling podcast in the community.
"The professional wrestling media landscape is dominated by white male voices. One of the missions we had when starting WrestlePurists was to get actual diversity of thought by hiring people with completely lived experiences. There is no other professional media platform as diverse as us, we have black men, black women, mexican men, mexican women, a west asian woman, and a brazilian women just to name a few. It is our belief that these unique and diverse voices have lead the rapid growth of our platform, making it the force that it is in the wrestling media industry that it is today."
-AO (@KXNGAO)
Israa's introduction to the brand truly changed the channel forever. Her debut podcast episode brought in the most overnight views the channel had ever seen at the time. Additionally, she brought in a new audience of mainly women to the channel, giving them a space to share their wrestling takes and interact with other women in the community. Israa also created a women-only podcast on the channel, WrestlePurists Divas,
with co-hosts and friends of the brand Charlie (@chx_rliex), Anna (@annademarco), Wynter (@Wynttxr), Jayde (@jaydedlvr) and Angel (@craveangei). Israa was also able to land the firstWrestlePurists live interview with WWE legend Melina. Tuesday show Dumb Guy Live has also done wrestler interviews, theirs being with NOAH star Ninja Mack.
"Working with Wrestlepurists has given me the opportunity to voice my opinions in an industry that’s dominated by men. It’s let me connect and work with people around the world that are as passionate about wrestling as I am, and build relationships with them. It’s been an extremely positive experience."
-Charlie (@chx_rilex)
A Community Within A Community
Because of this come up, the WrestlePurists community is unlike any other the IWC has ever seen. The connection on-screen hosts have with their audience is genuine and organic, and live chatters add to the show's overall product. WrestlePurists live chatters have even gone as far to create their own, fictional characters based on real-life wrestlers, creating hilarious on-screen moments during the live shows. The WrestlePurists Discord Server currently hosts over 1,000 active members
Because the Internet Wrestling Community is already such a niche community, making a statement and establishing your own brand is extremely difficult. The way WrestlePurists has grown its brand and community is by far the most impressive to date. Their unique live shows and compelling website content shines brighter than any other wrestling media brand to date. Their impact on the wrestling community will never, ever be matched, and they're only getting started.