Filed to GERWECK.NET:
PROGRESS Wrestling Co-Owner Martyn Best joined Lee Tarrier of PWMania.com for an exclusive interview. During the conversation, Best opened up about the controversial announcement regarding the promotion heading to Dubai and headlining the first-ever Women’s World Championship Match in the region, their first SuperShow, and more. Here are some highlights
PROGREESS Wrestling’s controversial Dubai announcement:
“Ah, that Dubai show!
“I’m hoping that now we have had the opportunity to explain our reasons for going to Dubai, and we have had numerous personal conversations with fans and some wrestlers to help provide everyone with a better understanding of our aims, that the initial reaction is now calmer.
“The key concerns were that we were being funded by the Dubai government – which we’ve confirmed that we are not, this is an entirely commercial venture for us, and in fact is part of a longer term investment for us in building up a strong following in Dubai and supporting the wrestling community there.
“There were some absolutely understandable concerns about the LGBTQ+ community both in Dubai and the current state of the law over there, and we had not highlighted and reminded everyone of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, which we hope has been demonstrated this year.
“We are working closely with Wrestlefest DXB, run by a local Emirati, Shaheen who is a huge supporter of Women’s wrestling out there. He had the first female headline match last month with Charlie Morgan and Alex Windsor, and it was always our collective plan to build on that with the first Woman’s World Championship match in that region – and we’ll know how that will be after Sunday. We also have Lizzy Evo and Session Moth Martina, and in fact Martina will be our ring host.
“In Dubai wrestling terms that is a huge local statement in supporting Women’s wrestling and in fact the wider element of diversity.
“We did have many comments about us apparently supporting a state that does not support LGBTQ+ rights, and that is certainly a concern for us, and is certainly not the case that we support that situation.
“In PROGRESS terms we have always been widely inclusive, and our fans will know the range of wrestlers we have had this year – we very much support Women’s wrestling, our diverse range of backgrounds and wrestlers of color have been prominent, and we’ve had many wrestlers from the LGBTQ+ community on our card and building up some great matches and relationships with us – but we can truly understand why there were concerns in that area, and we’re sorry that we caused concern amongst our fans.
“All of our wrestlers we have spoken to, and all those coming with us to Dubai are totally behind what we are doing. We will have a number of interviews and reports with each of them, and much of the aims and subtlety of this situation will be looked at in deeper reflection. We have plans for other matches out there next year, with an even wider array of talent across all diversity.
“This is part of a longer term plan, and I’d only ask for patience with us, as our next shows will build upon this. We could have decided to not go, just hammer our keyboard, and try to effect change from afar, but we have developed a good friendship with Shaheen, and we have had a number of wrestlers on our roster who had been over to Dubai this year and who had come back with really positive feedback.
“The local Dubai wrestling community is so excited at our visit, and they recognize that our support for their aims and efforts will really help them. This is not Formula One, golf, or football going to that area, and Dubai is by far the most progressive of the Arab states and we are massively focused on the support of grass roots wrestling, and trying to play some small part in helping to effect change.
“We hope that if any of our fans still have concerns that they know that Lee and I are there as we always are, visible and receptive to have any conversation with them.”
Best also opened up about their first SuperShow for the promotion, how his first year in charge of PROGRESS has gone, and more. You can read the complete interview at this link.