Chris Graham: Days in the rasslin’ business
Kevin Nash was supposed to tear up Augusta Expo. That he didn’t is still a mystery to me.
One thing I’ve learned in my year in the pro rasslin’ business is that the other business that I commit a lot of my time to – the politics business – is a lot less political.
In politics, at least, you’ve got two main teams, the Democrats and the Republicans. In rasslin’, there’s no I in team, but there are enough Ms and Es to go around to make life difficult for anybody trying to make sense of it. Read more
AFP produces DVD for Awesome Wrestling Entertainment
The Awesome Wrestling Entertainment Night of Legends two-disc DVD set is now available for purchase after a successful project led by Augusta Free Press LLC.
AFP produced the DVD from footage and commentary from the AWE live pay-per-view event emanating from Augusta Expo in Fishersville on Oct. 15. AFP President Chris Graham, who appeared on the pay-per-view telecast as a commentator, led the effort to integrate the footage from the live broadcast with footage from an hour of matches that were contested before the broadcast began.
AFP Vice President Crystal Graham was in charge of packaging, including design of the DVD jacket and the slip cover for the discs, and oversaw production and delivery of the finished product.
AFP is now working on contract with AWE to market the DVD and handle sales and delivery of the product to consumers.
Night of Legends DVDs in hand: Shipments going out this week
The AWE Night of Legends two-disc DVD set is in hand at the Awesome Wrestling Entertainment offices in Waynesboro, Va.
Presale orders will begin shipping this week. Order your copy today – just $24.95 plus $3.95 shipping and handling.
Ordering information: Click here. Read more
Chris Graham: Say yes, then figure it out
“So, Chris, can you produce videos?”
“Um … sure.”
I mean, I had produced videos, kinda, sorta. If you count pointing a Flip camera at myself and ranting and then figuring out how to get the result onto YouTube so that people could comment.
“Yeah, definitely.”
I learned a lesson a while ago from a friend in the entertainment business, Larry Vickers, who decided as a teen that he’d one day be a Broadway dancer. It didn’t daunt him at all that he’d never taken a single dance class. He was convinced … it was going to happen.
His debut on Broadway literally a couple of years later (yeah, it’s a helluva story) was delayed because he turned his first Broadway gig down. Naive as he was at the time, he’d already taken a job on a summer-stock production, so when the casting director offered him a slot on an upcoming Broadway show, he turned it down, not realizing that union rules would allow him to back out of his summer-stock contract without any repercussions.
That occurred to him later. As he walked away from the casting director having turned down the job, another dancer berated him.
“Next time don’t be stupid. Say yes, then figure it out.’
So that’s my mantra. Say yes, then figure it out. And we’ve figured out a lot in terms of video production since the day literally a year ago that I was asked if I could handle video production for a small pro-wrestling company with big, big dreams.
A series of videos that I produced helped build big-time interest in the company, to the point where demand for our product pushed us onto TV. And now I shoot and produce TV commercials for several clients, in addition to delivering sophisticated web-video products for a bigger list.
And last night, I entered a new realm – DVD producer, piecing together footage from the big wrestling show put on by Awesome Wrestling Entertainment last fall into a two-disc DVD set that will go on sale April 1.
“So, Chris, can you produce videos?”
Turns out that I was right when I said yes, even though I didn’t know that for 100 percent certain at the time.
More online at www.TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
Own Night of the Legends on DVD!
The feud between Ricky Morton and Kevin Nash simmered for more than a decade without the two ever stepping into the squared circle to settle their differences.
It took the most awesome night in the history of independent wrestling to finally get them together.
And now you can see the resolution to the Morton-Nash feud with the DVD release of Awesome Wrestling Entertainment’s “Night of the Legends.” Read more
Package Chris Sharpe stands out in striped shirt
You probably don’t pay all that much attention to who the referee is. Chris Sharpe understands. Because if you’ve noticed him, it’s probably because he’s not doing his job.
“I think if you have two really great wrestlers in a match, but the referee isn’t really that good, then the match will suffer because of it. But if you have two wrestlers who are pretty new, and they may just be learning the ropes, but you have a really good referee, it can really help the match,” said Sharpe, the senior referee in Awesome Wrestling Entertainment, who worked several matches on the AWE Night of Legends pay-per-view, including briefly the main event featuring Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page and The Rock-n-Roll Express.
The pay-per-view was a homecoming of sorts for the Mechanicsville native, who cites another pair of Mechanicsville natives, Dave and Earl Hebner, as childhood influences who helped him decide on a career in professional wrestling. Read more
Sonjay Dutt: Risk and reward
Sonjay Dutt may have fallen short with Jamin Olivencia getting the pinfall at the AWE Night of Legends pay-per-view, but considering the buzz that both have gotten for what many are calling the match of the night on the star-studded card, well, it’s hard to say either guy really walked away from the show with an L.
“It feels great to hear everyone praising our match. I know that this was really a chance for us to shine, and I know I really stepped it up in there, and by the tough fight that I was given, it’s obvious that Jamin also brought his best,” Dutt said. “Truth be told, it’s my goal to always have the match of the night no matter what card I’m on. It’s just that competitive spirit in me, and what better avenue to showcase that but on pay-per-view.” Read more
