Where 2008 was a year of beginnings, 2009 was a year of growth! Our journey began 20 months ago in April 2008 and in that time so much has happened; Christmas Catastrophe 2009 was our 36th live event.
In January 2009 SPW officials discussed their plans for the coming year, deciding on some goals and formulating an outline of where they wanted to be headed. The decision was made to double the amount of events that were held in 2008 for 11 shows to 22 shows. That goal was achieved on October and we closed out the year with a total of 25 live events.
In June we promoted our first double shot weekend with a Friday show in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and a Saturday show in Selkirk. That weekend was memorable. On both nights we had a special guest with us: WWE Legend Rick “the Model” Martel. On the Saturday show we also welcomed ROH’s Claudio Castagnoli! Talk about star power four our first ever double shot.
We created several new markets throughout the year with multiple stops in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Gimli and Arborg in addition to Selkirk and Winnipeg. We hit every corner of the province: Winnipeg, the Westman region, the Eastman region, the South Central region and of course the Interlakes!
Can you believe that SPW iTV has produced nearly 60 episodes and is currently in its 5th season? In 2009 we began to release SPW iTV seasons on DVD, four seasons currently available. Season 4 was particularly great with the highest rated episodes to date and appearances by Austin Aries, Short Sleeve Sampson, Rick Martel and Claudio Castagnoli!
Even our DVD releases doubled in 2009 from 11 to 23 with live events, compilations and SPW iTV seasons! Can you believe that the SPW Mix Tape series is already at Volume 7? Over the last 20 months SPW has developed quite the library of video footage!
Champions sure made an impact in 2009. The Provincial Title changed hands 6 times, twice held by The Epic and twice by La Sombra. Ike Idol is currently the longest reigning champion to date with 124 days as champion. A revived TRCW title became recognized by SPW, a championship once held by Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart and Tatanka! And the SPW Heavyweight Title did its fair share of travelling being defended all over Manitoba as well as defences in Chanhassen, Minnesota and Regina, Saskatchewan. For 378 days Matt Fairlane reigned as SPW Champion, quite impressive. October saw the road to the SPW Tag Team Title commence, champions that will be declared in 2010.
This was a great year for Steeltown Pro Wrestling and a great year to be a wrestling fan. With 2010 on the horizon, you can only wonder what the future will have in store. Hard word, good times and great memories lay ahead of us. And to think, it’s only just begun…
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