Callihan added that it was Rousey’s idea to donate the funds to charity.
Coming up on November 16th, The Wrestling REVOLVER is presenting their ‘Unreal’ event from Los Angeles, California. Among the talent scheduled for the show is UFC Hall of Famer and multi-time WWE Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey. She’ll be in tag team action alongside Marina Shafir.
It will be Rousey’s second independent match. The Wrestling REVOLVER promoter, Sami Callihan, appeared on Busted Open Radio and discussed Rousey being scheduled for the show. He stated that he will not take credit for it because it is something he fell into.
Callihan shared that people spoke highly of him to Rousey. He said it was her idea to donate the earnings to charity and a lot of talent booked for the show have told Callihan that they want their earnings to go to charity as well.
Look, I fell into that one (Ronda Rousey being booked for Wrestling REVOLVER). I’m not gonna take credit for that, like it’s some mastermind plan that I went, I was like, you know what? This is gonna be the thing. We’re gonna run L.A. on two-and-a-half weeks’ notice. No, it’s something I fell into because of my relationships with other people and people putting myself over to Ronda like, ‘This is the guy you wanna work with. This is the guy, we wanna do this.’ Ronda wanted to do this for charity. She wants to do something for the Hawaiian Relief Fund. Her husband is from Hawaii and this is a charity she holds very near and dear to her heart and as soon as it was brought up to me, I was like, ‘Absolutely. That’s 100 percent something I wanna be involved in because that money will actually go to help people.’
Every cent that we make from ticket sales after production’s stuff is paid off, every cent is going to charity and a lot of people that’s working the show have already been like, ‘Yo, give all my money to charity, give all my money to charity’ because we’re actually sending the money directly to families that need it in need.
Switching over to Callihan’s personal future, he is a free agent after finishing up with IMPACT Wrestling. Callihan feels he can be plugged into AEW, WWE, MLW or New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
I’m looking at everywhere. Right now, I’m having a lot of fun working on Wrestling REVOLVER and having the time to do that but also, I haven’t worked on the independents in almost three years. Getting a chance to go back out there and see what’s out there and just like this past week, I went viral doing something with Jason Siegel at Rey Fénix and Pentagon’s show. Being able to have those moments on a weekly basis is a lot of fun. But it is one of those things, I am open to pretty much anywhere right now. It’s just finding what’s gonna be the best home for me and the best fit. It’s out there on the dirt sheets. There is interest from other places, I’ve talked to a lot of places but it’s just a matter of what’s gonna fit best for me and timing is everything.
I think it’s anywhere. I’m not gonna pick just one because I legit think it’s anywhere. I could be plugged in at AEW. I have relationships and I have written storylines with almost everyone in that company. I’ve had a lot of good relationships with people in that company and what AEW’s doing is different than anyone else so that’s a great place. Or you look at somewhere like WWE. I feel like a guy that could be plugged in backstage extremely easily and have a lot of well-being with what I can do. You look at MLW, I had already at one point been an agent there back when they did their relaunch. I think, what was it? 2017 or 2018? And I had a good relationship there. I could go back to New Japan. My options are pretty vast right now. Just determines what is gonna be the best timing and what’s gonna fit the best.
Circling back to The Wrestling REVOLVER, Callihan expressed that he wants to get the promotion to the level that Ring of Honor was at in 2005 and 2006.
He’s not concerned with turning a profit right now. Callihan does not pay himself out from REVOLVER shows. He stated that everything goes back into the promotion.
Every cent of Wrestling REVOLVER has went back into the company. I’ve never paid myself a dime. There’s a lot of people that give Wrestling REVOLVER great deals and we’re able to do the stuff that we’re able to do because my relationship with them or people that believe in the company. I have never, like I said, paid myself a dollar. That’s why we have amazing entrance ways, we have a ring trailer, we have guardrails, we have the floor mats, we have the lights, we have every single thing you could ever need to run a wrestling company because every cent from Wrestling REVOLVER has went back into Wrestling REVOLVER. It’s one of those things, right now, I don’t wanna use Wrestling REVOLVER to make myself rich. That was never the option to begin with. I wanna use Wrestling REVOLVER to get to the level of like an ‘05, ‘06 Ring of Honor because that, I think, was like the golden era of independent wrestling at that time frame. We wanna be a touring brand and right now, one day, will we make money? 100 percent but right now, it’s not about making the money. It’s about building my library, it’s about building the mystique and it’s about building everything else you would need production-wise that are stuff, if randomly needed, could be plugged right on television and people wouldn’t know the difference.
In addition to Rousey and Shafir, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena, Swerve Strickland, Billie Starkz, IMPACT World Champion Alex Shelley, Jon Moxley and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey are scheduled for Wrestling REVOLVER ‘Unreal’.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Busted Open Radio with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
