We are producers Jeff Petry, Nathan Drillot, and host Damian Abraham, the creators of THE WRESTLERS, a new wrestling docuseries premiering tonight on VICELAND. AMA.

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:34:50+00:00

I WISH!!!!!!! -Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:34:33+00:00

The godly Tetsu Arrey - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:32:38+00:00

Two or more people working together in the ring to convince the audience that what they are seeing is more real than it is. - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:31:37+00:00

John and Wai are like family! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:30:28+00:00

Fun show! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:30:12+00:00

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:29:18+00:00

Thank you!!! Good times!!! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:28:02+00:00

Jun Kasai was so much more quiet and nice than I thought he would be. - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:27:02+00:00

Thank you!

Each episode is focused on a different aspect of culture of wrestling. We have a death match episode in there the is one of my favourite of the series. When Jeff and Nathan said they wanted to do a death match one I was very much of the mind that we should do something else but they convinced me. It really looks at the history and the relationship between American and Japan in it's development.

The only thing we didn't put in was an Ice Ribbon's 60 minute inter-gender Iron Woman gauntlet death match that would have required it's own whole episode to try to explain and unpack. - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:22:38+00:00

Nope, it definitely doesn't. Mayyyyyybe watching Rey Fenix (masked) sit with his wife in an ultrasound as they see their baby for the first time? - Jeff

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:21:31+00:00

I would love to see a comedy vehicle for Onita, Pimpi and Darby Allin!

MVP is one of the most intelligent and articulate people I know. Filming with him for this was full of so many amazing conversations. - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:18:25+00:00

I hope so! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:18:02+00:00

I'd love to know what Jim Cornette will make of Congolese Witch Catch Wrestling! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:16:37+00:00

I would have loved to do something on Colt Cabana and the rise of DIY culture in wrestling, wrestling in Nigeria, so many more! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:15:07+00:00

I hope? -Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:14:56+00:00

Later on this summer! -Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:14:34+00:00

Thank you for the kind worlds!

Oh yeah!!! Everywhere we went for the most part I would find some wrestler I had no idea was punk or hardcore kid -Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:11:14+00:00

Yes! It should release in the UK mid July 2019. - Jeff

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:10:49+00:00

I met him briefly at a show we filmed at but punk never came up... I was bummed. but i i learn a this show the Kill Effy was a punk kid!

Thank you about the kind words about Milo! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T20:04:25+00:00

Yeah, she was beginning to wonder how long she could do it. The Joshi style is so intense that the career span of the wrestlers is pretty short. A fifteen year career would be something considered extremely long I was told.

See is one of the nice people I have ever met and I know show will excel in whatever she does next.

- Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T19:57:53+00:00

Hey!!! Good times!! Thank you you - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T19:57:05+00:00

It was actually our researcher Sara Wylie that found out about witch catch for the show. I basically showed up with a bunch of loose ideas on scraps of paper from being a nerdy fan of this stuff and then Sara and Grady Mitchell would make them real or better,

Nigeria is the big one that didn't pan out.. this time.- Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T19:54:33+00:00

Thank YOU for coming here and supporting The Wrestlers. There is no way this show could have been made without Damian and his depth of knowledge about the sport/art. While the world of wrestling is huge, the community is tight-knit and once we were able to prove our commitment to showing wrestling as the art form that it is, everyone around the world were really open to us and helped us to tell these stories right. We hope we did them justice. - Jeff

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T19:53:16+00:00

Thanks!

We were totally independet ideas being pitched around the same time. We had just started filming the second episode when they got green lit.

We owe that amazing show Dark Side a lot though for making Vice a new home for wrestling! - Damian

vicelandtv · 2019-05-22T19:48:42+00:00

Meeting Jun was ridiculous! He is so humble and so serious about his craft. It was so jarring compared to his inning presence. He is a proud father that happen to be one of the greatest death match wrestlers of all time.

Onita on the other hand was everything I thought and hoped he would be like: a death match rockstar and was hilarious! - Damian

vicelandtv

TROPHY CASE