Anyone who knows me, will know that I'm not the sportiest sort. Sitting around watching teams of grown men attempt to take a ball of some nature, from one end of a place, to another end, is okay for the occasional viewing, but hardly a worthy distraction from the games I can play myself. And as for taking part, that would involve being away from comfortable chairs and my intravenous (although sometimes frustratingly laggy) Internet connection. However, there is one kind of exception to my general disinterest in all things sporty. Not sports, but rather sports entertainment. For the uninitiated, I'm talking about professional wrestling.

Therefore, imagine my delight, when wandering around the SL5B sims, to discover an exhibition of wrestling inworld, being put on by SL's very own brand of raw, impact driven, slobberknockery. The superstars of SLCW, or SecondLife Championship Wrestling, flinging each other around the ring, smacking each other with steel chairs (and anyone else who happened to get too close), all for the entertainment of those watching. And since their exhibition was part of the Metaverse TV exhibit, it seems that an audience is not something they are lacking. Intrigued, I decided to seek out the organiser and manager of this inworld promotion, Ivan Halfpint, at his office at the SLCW Arena, to find out a little more about bringing the world of sweat, spandex and suplex's to the virtual world of SL:


Voodoo: So, How did SLCW come about?

Ivan Halfpint: Well basically I have always been a wrestling fan so when I entered SL back in Nov of 07 I looked for wrestling sims. I only found one - and it was basically not holding any matches or doing anything productive - so I offered to help him manage the promotion - it didn’t materialize so I said the hell with it and started my own. Our roots are much more humble than our current setup. We started in a very tiny arena.

Voodoo: Have the logistics of setting it all up been very tough?

Ivan Halfpint: Well it hasn’t been hard at all really - my business partner Alpin Criss developed the wrestling system that we use and it is very fun and always under construction - besides that all we had to do was rent a piece of land and throw up a building.

Voodoo: How does the wrestling system work?

Ivan Halfpint: Basically it is gesture based - Alpin animates the gestures - there is an attack and a 'sell' - so one person picks the move and starts the attack and the person they are attacking is automatically animated to sell the move.

Voodoo: The animations are particularly good. Are they based on rl wrestling moves, from things like the WWE?

Ivan Halfpint: Yes they are all based on wrestling moves that are real - not just WWE - but some have an amateur background - and some are some old style moves that haven’t been seen in some time - both myself and Alpin are fans of old school wrestling - not so much the new WWE stuff.

Voodoo: Have you had a good response from people? Are there a lot of SL wrestling fans?

Ivan Halfpint: It has grown well beyond our expectations - the response has been amazing - we have grown from literally having just a ring in an empty field to becoming the largest fighting promotion in SL - we hold weekly shows and have a weekly TV program on http://www.metaverse-tv.com/

Voodoo: Yes, how did the web TV deal come about? Did they search you out?

Ivan Halfpint: Well it was the oddest thing. I mentioned the wrestling promotion on a web forum and one of the guys from the TV station seen it and thought wrestling on TV would be a good idea. After some meetings we reached an exclusive deal and the rest is history.

Voodoo: If someone wanted to get involved and become a wrestler, what should they do?

Ivan Halfpint: Just drop by the lobby and pick up an application. We are always looking for new talent and it is alot of fun.

Voodoo: And apart from the chance to smack someone with a chair without getting reported for griefing, is there the chance to win anything else?

Ivan Halfpint: It’s non for profit but we do offer a 500L$ pot for the wrestler who has the best match.

Voodoo: Finally, are there any tips you would give to anyone else looking to set up anything similar?

Ivan Halfpint: I would say be aware it is pretty time consuming - so don’t try and do everything yourself cause either #1 it will be done half assed or #2 you will get totally burned out. Besides that just have fun with it - don’t be afraid to try new things - and always have lots of patience - you need it.