Eddie Allen had a feel for the wrestling business long before he stuck his nose in it. Several years ago he was the lead singer of what he refers to as a “heel” band.
“My lead guitar player would go out during sound checks and play all this classic rock stuff. He’d play one riff and then another to get the crowd excited to hear some real rock and roll. Then I come out and what did we sing? Air Supply. Milli Vanilli. The crowd would boo us, and I loved it.”
As with many heel acts, the crowds slowly developed an appreciation for Allen’s unique band. “It got to the point people knew what to expect and were ready for it. Once the crowd decided to like us, it wasn’t fun any more.”
After walking away from rock and roll, Allen decided to get involved in the wrestling business. The Clarksville, Indiana native ended up down the road in Madison, where he began learning the business from Eric Draven. After helping Draven get his promotion established on Youtube, he made the jump to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville to learn more about producing wrestling for TV.
“It was the most intense training I ever had,” he says. “You learn all about timing matches, working to the camera, how to tell a story. You realize that you can’t just take any independent wrestling show, film it, and put it on TV. Television wrestling is its own unique style, and that’s what I wanted to produce.”
Allen went looking for an indy federation that was willing to work with him and create a product suited for television. After a few false starts, he hooked up with Underground Wrestling Alliance, one of several groups running across the river from Louisville. UWA was filled with young, green talent who were willing to learn anything that might advance their careers. It was a perfect match, but Allen knew he needed something more.
“I went out and recruited some veterans, former OVW guys, others who had worked TV. I needed them to help me teach these kids how to wrestle for television.”
It took some time, but the investment in both time and talent paid off. In September of 2014, UWA went on the air in Louisville. “They put us on right after OVW’s TV show, and our ratings have grown ever since we went on the air.”
Television proved to be a big boost for UWA. The young wrestlers benefited greatly from the veteran leadership and the new direction, and attendance is up at the live events, both taped and untaped. Allen played to the fans early on at TV tapings, knowing that they were key to the show being a success.
“When fans come dressed up, trying to get on camera, I make sure it happens,” he says. “They’re going to go home, tell their friends to tune in and see them on TV, and our ratings are going to go up. And maybe someone who tunes in will see what we do and come to our next show.”
UWA currently airs on Time Warner Cable in Louisville three times a week: 11 PM Mondays (after Monday Night Raw), 10 AM Saturday morning, and 2:30 AM Friday night/ Saturday morning. You can also catch them for free on the Independent Wrestling Channel app available on Roku as well as their Youtube channel. You can learn more about UWA and their upcoming events on their Facebook page.
Allen is currently developing his own Roku channel and plans to use UWA as the flagship for that station. “It’s a whole new way of doing television. I’m really excited about it.”