Wrestleview.com’s own Josh Boutwell passed this along:
Recently former ECW producer Steve Karel announced that he was launching a new promotion called Urban Wrestling Federation (UWF) which will blend the worlds of Professional Wrestling and Hip Hop. A very unique and original idea. Concrete Marketing CEO Bob Chiappardi, who also worked for ECW as well as the WWE in helping make soundtracks for the companies, will be handling the musical aspects of the company. E1 Music will be responsible for bringing in the Rappers to the promotion and they have partnered with Russell “Big Block” Spencer to bring Gorilla Zoe of the group Boyz N Da Hood to the UWF as an artist. Big Block is the owner of Block Ent. which for many years had a relationship with Diddy’s Bad Boy South and helped spawn the careers of Young Jeezy, Jody Breeze, and Gorilla Zoe who were all members at one point of the group Boyz N Da Hood. The following is the complete press release sent out by UWF:
The chaos previously only found on urban streets of the toughest neighborhoods in America is now coming to the ring. The turf wars and battles for domination are no longer only a staple of the “hood,” they are now the Urban Wrestling Federation (UWF).
Stemming from a union of the urban music industry and the sport of professional wrestling, the UWF has tapped the heat and emotion of the streets and brought it to the masses. The UWF has aligned itself with the intense ‘take-no-prisoners’ urban music artists and married them with extreme style professional wrestlers to fight their fights and determine who really are the “shot-callers.”
The brainchild of television and live events veteran, Steve Karel, the UWF promises to raise the action bar of professional wrestling and methodically smash it into the faces of the wrestling fan. Karel was previously responsible for Extreme Championship Wrestling, which caused industry wide controversy in the 1990’s when ECW introduced the cutting edge elements like barbed wire, burning tables and other dynamically over-the-top wrestling matches.
Taking the insanity to new heights, the UWF will be starting where ECW reached a plateau, and will be expanding on the out of the box madness and counter culture. With the all-out wars waged between feuding “fams” of rap moguls, it’s without question that bodies will fly and wrestling hardware will litter the rings of the UWF with this new level of insanity come entertainment.
Bob Chiappardi, Concrete Marketing CEO, will be spearheading the music efforts for the federation. He had previously worked with Karel on ECW which spawned two soundtracks, one of which earned a Grammy nomination. Chiappardi also worked extensively with the WWE as a music supervisor on several soundtracks and music based promotions. “Music, typically heavy metal or rock & roll, has always been a part of wrestling entertainment”, said Chiappardi. “As opposed to matches of the past where music has filled the background, the UWF will bring music to the forefront, integrating the feuds, street wars and other everyday urban norms to showcases of urban stars and rising talent.”
“We’ve essentially created a ‘double brand, said Karel.” “With the marriage of urban music and wrestling, we’ve expanded our audience reach, while spontaneously opening the door for higher attendance, product development and sponsorship. The crazy wrestling matches of the past will look like a game of cards compared to what is in store for the UWF.”
Entertainment One Music, one of the countries leading urban record labels and producers of musical entertainment, has been tapped to bring A-list talent to the UWF. Entertainment One Music will also play a valuable roll in the pay-per-view promotion of the initial events around the U.S.
“We at Entertainment One Music are very excited to be participating in the initial event launch of the Urban Wrestling Federation. We will be supplying some of our urban artists and their music to the first TV event, taping in the next few months. We will be assisting in the promotion of the first national pay per view broadcast including our artists,” said Alan Grunblatt, president, Entertainment One Music. “We’ve also brought in our partner, Russell “Big Block” Spencer, Block Entertainment, who will be promoting his artist Gorilla Zoe with the UWF.”
UWF fans will be able lend their support, and show the colors of their gangs of wrestlers while gaining exposure for their favorite musical clans in their fight for domination of the streets and charts.
HOT 97 Radio New York, the leader in the urban format in the largest radio market in America will also be jumping on board with the UWF.
Benjamin Finley, Vice President of Branded Entertainment for HOT 97 said, “When presented with the opportunity to tie-in with the launch of this unique urban market media vehicle, we were pumped about the activation possibilities. We expect to see significant marketing investments increase in 2011, against the need for custom solutions that package media and offer truly engaging lifestyle event platforms like this collaboration does. I’m thrilled to bring HOT 97’s promotional and marketing might to the UWF ring and help take entertainment to whole new level with the UWF at the upcoming live event and broadcast pay per view. Our listeners and clients will most certainly want to sign on for this upcoming wild ride.”
UWF events will soon be popping up across the country and will be widely available on Pay-per-view and Video-on-demand systems nationwide.
The ring is the new block; it’s a MAN’s game now.
The UWF’s first PPV event will be titled “First Blood” and is scheduled to come to PPV in June of this year. UWF has already announced several stars for their promotion and they include fromer TNA X-Division and Tag Team Champion “The Notorious 1-8-7” Homicide as well as former TNA star Sonjay Dutt. Former ROH star Brian XL, a big time high flying star, and the Amazing Red’s cousins The S.A.T. have also signed on. The S.A.T. now consists of Joel Maximo & the younger Will Maximo after Jose Maximo retired from the business. The S.A.T. and Brian XL are trainers at the Amazing Red’s House of Glory School. Current ROH and CHIKARA star Eddie Kingston, former WWE star Ricky Ortiz, Scorpio Sky, The Ghetto Mafia, Grim Reefer, former ROH star Skullcrusher Rasche Brown, Slyck Wagner Brown, and former ROH star and CZW Heavyweight Champion Ruckus have all signed on with the promotion! Also, rappers like Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Grandmaster Melle Mel, Gorilla Zoe, Uncle Murda, Red Cafe, Gunplay of Triple C’s, & Brisco have signed on as well.
UWF’s “First Blood” promo below:
Today the UWF EXCLUSIVELY announced to me that Buck Chyld and BC Killer have signed on to wrestle for the promotion. Buck Chyld is currently training with Team 3D at the 3D Wrestlign Academy and is a Baltimore, MD native. The following is Buck Chyld facing TNA’s Jesse Neal of Ink, Inc. at an INDY show:
BC Killer is a hardcore wrestler who has wrestled all over the place including XPW and in Mexic for the GLC promotion. He’s known as a Death Match wrestler and I reported recently in my Lucha Libre Column about he and Supreme being stood up on their pay after a GLC event in Mexico. At that event BC Killer faced Super Crazy and Supreme in a Hardcore 3-Way. Video of THAT match is below: