Save Filipino Wrestling

This is a modified version of my World Wrestling Day 2017 piece that I released a few days ago.

A few months ago, Filipino pro-wrestling fans trended the Twitter hashtag #SaveFilipinoWrestling in response to the business problems being experienced by the Philippine Wrestling Revolution (PWR) and, to a certain extent, the Manila Wrestling Federation (MWF). I support the intention of this hashtag, and I’m really glad that steps have been made to fix the problems experienced by these organizations.

However, the hashtag #SaveFilipinoWrestling bugged me a bit because of the absence of the word “Pro”. Even though the hashtag says “Filipino wrestling”, the truth of the matter is that it’s actually focused on “Filipino pro-wrestling”.

But if we’re going to carry on with this hashtag, I think it’s proper to include Filipino amateur wrestling. In a country that gives a lot of emphasis on basketball and boxing, amateur wrestling is a sport not many Filipinos knew existed. Heck, I’m not even sure if any Filipino pro-wrestler in those two companies had amateur wrestling experience.

I may not be the best spokesperson for this, because I’m neither a wrestler nor an athlete. But I think it’s time that we give some love to Filipino amateur wrestling. It’s an often-overlooked sport which, I believe, has a great potential to unleash a new breed of Filipino athletes and fighters.

#SaveFilipinoWrestling