The rumor mill was humming this morning after twitter user @MikeySandz6 called out a “hot mic situation” from FRL yesterday morning. Apparently celebrity boxer Ben Askren asked the other FRL members if Flo was buying Trackwrestling and the rest of the FRL crew did not deny it and the show was then temporarily delayed.
Now, I did not hear the hot mic situation, nor see the clip of the situation so I cannot say this did or did not happen. However, Willie Saylor, former FRL member and star of the #WillieTrials, responded to the rumors with a quote retweet of his own saying “Yes, it’s true. Track & Flo are working on a deal.” So, If Willie says there is smoke then there might be some fire.
So what’s this mean? As a wrestling-content-consumer expert appointed by the Texas judicial system I will break it down.
- Protect Andy Hamilton At All Costs. Andy Hamilton the former Des Moines register reporter, blue check having, Trackwrestling Community Manager must be protected. I have seen what Flowrestling has done to employees in the past and this cannot happen to Andy Hamilton as he is an icon of the wrestling media world and it is very important that he remains so.
- Flo Arena or Track Brackets? Personally I like Track brackets but that seems to be the minority opinion among my twitter peers. Flo Arena seems to require a lot of clicking around compared to Track brackets, but that’s about as first world problems as it gets.
- Less Nickel and Diming but Monopoly. The wrestling community is in a good place media wise right now but is also getting nickel and dimed with Flo, Rokfin, Track, and StaleMates Merch so will this get rid of one more monthly expense? My guess is, if Trackwrestling and FloWrestling merge, then your $150 per year Flo subscription will most likely cover any events on Trackwrestling which is good for obvious reasons. However, this is less competition in the marketplace, therefore furthering Flowrestling’s lead and thinning out the competition which makes for a monopoly which is never a good thing. Will Grandpa and Grandma have to pony up about 150 big ones for a Flo subscription to watch little Johnny at the Southern Iowa Open? Or will they still be able to pay a small fee to stream it from home. Hopefully the latter.
- What does Tom Brands do now? Brands and Co. held an event on Trackwrestling last fall after his wrestlers were snubbed from a Flowrestling card over the summer. If Trackwrestling and FloWrestling merge together to become…FloWrestling, then where will the Hawkeyes go to hold their revenge cards? They do have a Rokfin channel now or they could pull a North Carolina and use the good folks at fite.tv, OR Tom did say in his interview with world renowned journalist Zach of StaleMates LLC. that we could stream it next time. Anything is possible. (Don’t believe me? Check the 3:20 mark of our interview with Coach Brands on our Youtube Channel. Subscribe while you’re there.)
This was an unforeseen occurrence by the wrestling community. Both long time staples in wrestling media, it is an interesting turn of events that has of course been met with a lot of mixed feeling. What this truly means long-term for wrestling coverage, time will tell.
