Manchester musician Shotty Horroh is the co-owner of a brand new professional wrestling company, which will have its first ever show this weekend. Sovereign Pro Wrestling will launch with its 'First Reign' show at the 500-capacity Trinity Sports Centre in Hulme on Saturday (October 1).
Shotty, whose real name is Adam Rooney, owns the promotion alongside London-based Ryan Skillit and Zubie Baig, but said that their debut event "had to" be in Manchester. He told the Manchester Evening News : " When you first envision this thing, you want certain people there and you want it a certain way.
"I know the city and I know so many promoters. We’ll be sticking in Manchester for a good few shows, at least the first four or five, we want to establish ourselves. With the rich history and heritage in Manchester of professional wrestling, it’s just a really great place to do something like this."
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Shotty released his most recent album 'Scum of the Earth' earlier this year and has previously collaborated with musicians such as Deadmau5 and James Arthur, but he admitted that professional wrestling has been his lifelong dream. "I’ve wanted to do it forever," the 36-year-old said. "My music career is so important to me and always has been but my first primary passion and love is professional wrestling - it always has been.
"Like every other guy, I wanted to be a pro wrestler but the first time I saw Paul Heyman in 1998, on ECW, that was it for me. A lot of my idols have since become bookers and promoters and I’ve become intrigued about that part of the game. Since then, I’ve watched wrestling differently, looking for camera shots and crazy details like that."
The main event of the show will see Joseph Connors take on Levi Muir, Malik and Warhorse, in a four-way match for the Sov Pro World Heavyweight Championship. Shotty spoke about WWE recently discontinuing their British show NXT UK and how this will now lead to more exciting potential match-ups.
He added: "We’re a story-based company, we plan on sticking with these guys and developing them. Every promoter’s job should be to help get these guys as far as their talent will take them.
"When NXT UK came along they took all the major people driving forward the British indie scene and taught them how to be TV-ready. That’s great because now they’ve gone and learnt that and while they were gone, a whole new crop of talent developed so now you’ve got so much British talent.
"It almost feels like two different eras ready to meet and now you’re going to get, for instance, Ashton Smith against Leyton Buzzard - there’s so many more matches and so much more cool content you can do. I think we’re about to have a major boom period in British wrestling."
Shotty told the M.E.N that he has worked plenty of 17 hour days in preparation for the launch show, which is almost a sell-out despite rail strikes and stiff competition from the likes of NJPW Royal Quest II in London, 1PW's A New Twist of Fate in Doncaster, and Odyssey Pro Wrestling show Panic Stations in Morecambe - all on the same day.
"It’s been insane because we’ve never done nothing like this before," he said. "We’re all from similar industries but nothing can prepare you for booking a wrestling show with a blank canvas and a new venue.
"I’ve had to sort lights, get a liquor licence, buy alcohol. We’ve trusted the wrestlers and the plan.
"It’s been so much more than being a promoter, I’ve made every theme song bar two, I’ve made every music video, every little detail. For me, Skillit and [merchandise manager] Phaze What, I think it was our love for wrestling that turned us into musicians in the first place and being entertainers.
"I always marketed myself and my rap battle ventures in the vein of pro wrestling. We all feel that we’re finally in the place where we have to be.
"I’ve been involved in so many amazing projects around the world and this is the craziest, most manic, hectic, busiest time of my life and all of a sudden, it’s calmed down and it’s tomorrow.
"There’s only one First Reign, Reign is basically our Wrestlemania, our flagship show and we’re going to hit the ground running."
First Reign is at Hulme's Trinity Sports Centre, on Saturday October 1, from 7.30pm. Limited tickets are available from the Sovereign Pro Wrestling website.
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