DWRT recently returned to the airwaves and I sat down with its producer and creator, Ranma Yoshiro for a brief chat.
"Welcome back to the air," I say as I sit back at the large table
at the DWRT studios. "Thank you", Ranma smiles as he sits opposite me.
"How does it feel to be bringing DWRT back to the airwaves?"
"It feels great. After a year and a half, it was something that needed to be done."
"So, why now? What inspired you to bring it back at this time?" I can tell this is going to be a well-thought out response, and I look forward to Ranma's answer...
"When I originally started DWRT back in December of 2010, it was
meant to find a way to bring all the different federations in Second
Life together. At the time, some of the federations were out to set
their own standard in SL wrestling. I wanted to bring them together in a
sort or community type of setting. After running the first season, we
hit a bit of a snag with someone more or less flat out bashing everyone,
and I decided to put the show on hiatus because it seemed to cause a
bigger rift between the federations. Bringing it back was an easy
decision though. A few months ago, we all started talking about doing a
big show for charity, and it lead to the different feds to combine their
efforts and do Give Back 2012 for Relay for Life for the American
Cancer Society. When I saw that a once fractured relationship between
the feds can lead to something so huge, I knew it was time to bring the
show back."
"Very good response and nothing better than raising
money for a worthwhile cause to bond the community. So, for the
uninitiated as in, those outside of the SL wrestling community, what is
DWRT?" One thing any outsider needs to understand - there are a lot of abbreviations in the SL wrestling world!
"DWRT stands for Digital Wrestling Round Table. It is a show dedicated to showcasing wrestling in Second Life" DWRT held its return show on Friday July 20 and
received very positive feedback. Their second show (and the one I was
lucky enough to tune into!) was aired on Friday July 27.
"Will you have regular segments? Can you tell us what some of those will be?"
"We are still working on what segments that will be
aired. We started one this past show called, 'Mike's Mad Minute.' One of
the wrestlers, MadMikeFreeman Straaf, is being given one minute to rant
about anything he wants. It's quite entertaining hearing him go off on a
tangent. We have some more ideas, but I don't want to spoil it."
"Oohh sounds exciting. Of course, every SL wrestling
show needs a crazy man ranting!" The thought of Mike's last 'Mad Minute'
is enough to produce a couple of laughs. "If someone wanted to get involved with DWRT, how can they?"
"We
have a sponsorship package that we've introduced for anyone that would
like to get a small ad about their place of business out on the
airwaves. The sponsorship package entails us making a small 'commercial'
that will be aired during the show, and placement of the business
location on our website as well."
"That sounds like a great idea!"
"I'm all about helping the businesses in Second Life get their product out there." Ranma
informs me that anyone is welcome to go to the in-world location of the
DWRT Studio to place a donation as well. Check out all the essential
info at the end of this article.
"And that's a fantastic way to be. I am sure that a lot
of businesses in SL would appreciate any opportunity to promote their
products, especially the not-so-famous ones."
"By spreading the word for them, they can also help us benefit too. It's a win-win!!"
"We at the show have just about everything covered as
for production. Our main focus is to bring in fans of wrestling, and the
best way to support us is to check out the many different feds in
Second Life. Of course, and there are so many to check out and with
all different kinds of wrestlers from all around the world. There is
really something for everyone! We all have our favourite wrestlers, of course I am a little biased!"
"Yes there is. Just because your husband is one of our hosts I bet!!"
I
can't help but laugh at this. Of course, my husband is none other than
Curt Bombastic, a well-known heel in the SL wrestling world and also
part of the team at DWRT, "On a personal level, what are you hoping to achieve with the return of DWRT?"
"Just
to bring SL wrestling into a more prominent spotlight in SL itself.
There are so many people that don't even know that it exists."
"Yeah that is true. I know before I met my husband I had never heard of it! In
regards to what you said earlier, about the community being 'fractured'
due to some people involved, how do you think the community is able to
become strong again, in what ways can they achieve this?"
"I won't mention any names, but some of the people that
caused the friction between the feds are no longer involved with the
management side of wrestling, and with new leadership, people started
communicating. It has led to the Federations to being able to work
together, like with Giveback 2012, and built a stronger bond.
"That is great and it gives the community somewhere positive to go in the future as well"
Ranma nods, "I agree wholeheartedly."
"So please tell the readers who makes up the team here at DWRT and what do they do?"
"Myself as the producer of the show. I handle streaming
and recording the show. Celtdan McMahon is our lead host for the show.
Curt Bombastic, Maxine Darkwatch, and recently, Derrick Zane, are our
other co-hosts that represent a mix of the different feds in SL
wrestling."
"Sounds like a great team! Thank you for your time today Ranma, one more question, and this is the all important one...how do we tune into the show?"
"We stream the show into Second
Life live every Friday at 3pm SLT. There are a few places that stream
the show and you can listen from the player on the website at http://dwrt.webs.com or in your Windows based player at this link: http://66.45.227.195:5002"
"Once again, thank you for your time today Ranma, and good luck with next week's show."
So, in case you didn't catch all the important details, here they are again!
Tune into the live DWRT show every Friday from 3pm SLT on the website at http://dwrt.webs.com or in your Windows based player at this link: http://66.45.227.195:5002. Many SL wrestling federations in SL also stream the show live. You can also visit the studio in SL at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/
Feel free to contact Ranma Yoshiro, Curt Bombastic, Celtdan
McMahon, Maxine Darkwatch or Derrick Zane in-world for more information
about DWRT.
Charlotte Bombastic
