Andrew Bowers couldn’t get the BBC’s Dragons to bite but is undeterred in his quest to make North Wrestling even bigger
North Wrestling hopes to take its performances on tour to towns and cities across the North of England.(Image: Stomp Photography)
A Newcastle wrestling promoter who left the Dragons’ Den without investment has turned to fans to help him take the business to new levels. As previously reported by ChronicleLive, Andrew Bowers appeared on the BBC show this week to ask for £60,000 in return for a 25% stake in the company he started about eight years ago.
Having failed to get the Dragons’ to bite, Mr Bowers is appealing to the public to help him raise a more modest £15,000 towards the growth of North Wrestling, which stages “raucous” events on Tyneside that attract people in their hundreds. The graphic designer and events manager has set up a crowdfunder campaign and is promoting the company’s patreon page, where fans can pay monthly subscriptions to access behind-the-scenes content and pre-sale tickets among other perks.
Speaking to ChronicleLive following his appearance in the Den, an undeterred Mr Bowers said: “The idea is to try and crowdfund what we want to do, and there’s a couple of things to that. We want to improve our production and get ourselves out on the road, improve our digital output and provide training for people.
“There are not really many wrestling schools around here and the thing we struggle with is hiring a space because we need to keep the ring pretty much up all the time. There’s not loads of funding in the area.”
Last year North Wrestling staged its biggest show to date – Thunderstruck 2 – attracting 700 people. On the back of renewed interest in professional wrestling in the UK, North has set out to create a stage of wrestlers to showcase their talent and for like-minded fans in search of community.
North Wrestling hopes to expand its productions and train up local talent.(Image: Stomp Photography)
As well as staging events in other towns and cities across the North, Mr Bowers hopes to beef up the behind the curtain aspects to his shows, including more extensive video editing and graphic design work to create TV-ready content and training for local people in production areas such as lighting. He also sees a purpose in the physical side of the performance art.
He explained: “I think its a great vehicle for people who don’t want to, or are unable to do combat sports but want to do something physical that has an element of drama and acting to it. It gets people moving.
“Wrestling is great in that you don’t have to be massively athletic. If you take, for example, football, you have to be a specific type of person to want to go and play in a team and individual sports like tennis and golf are more difficult to get into – you need to be somewhat athletic.
“But with wrestling, because there’s a huge performative element to it, I think we can encourage people who are maybe quite at risk of not doing any exercise.”
Wrestling impresario Andrew Bowers hopes to take North Wrestling further afield and boost its production.(Image: Stomp Photography)
Over the years, the North has staged events featuring wrestling legends such as Gangrel and Scotty 2 Hotty to future stars like Leon Slater, Rory Coyle, Man Like Dereiss, Rhio, and Gene Munny. Its bills have included talent that has gone on to star in major wrestling promotions such as WWE, TNA and wXw.
We have a dedicated newsletter for What’s On news and reviews. It’s free and you can sign up to receive it here. It will keep you up to date with all the latest updates on food, drink, entertainment and events in and around the North East.