Fire destroys Real Pro Wrestling offices and home of founder Toby Willis; Broadcast schedule pushed
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
12/28/2004
A devastating fire destroyed the home of Real Pro Wrestling founder Toby Willis in Tennessee, and has caused a delay in the broadcast debut of the new professional level of wrestling. The fire occurred on Sunday, December 26. The offices of Real Pro Wrestling were also in Toby Willis' ranch property. Real Pro Wrestling executive Matt Case, in an e-mail to the wrestling community, explained that the fire caused the company to delay the start of the national broadcasts of the wrestling series. Nobody was injured in the fire. According to the Tennessean, the home, which was once owned by country singer Randy Travis, was completely lost with an estimate of $3.5 million in damage E-MAIL FROM MATT CASE OF REAL PRO WRESTLING Dear RPW Backers - This past Sunday night, Toby Willis' ranch and RPW studio facilities were completely destroyed in a fire. The Willis family is safe as they were away from the house at the time. All the event tapes from RPW Season One are also safe. We did lose all of the production equipment for creating the television show including a new state-of-the-art audio/video studio that Toby designed. The good news is that we have found an alternate site for editing and are now working hard to replace the equipment without too much delay. Despite the losses, the television show is scheduled to move forward. Both PAX and Fox Sport Net have graciously agreed to reschedule the original 15 week airings starting late March. The new broadcast dates are as follows: PAX - 3PM CST/4PM EST - March 27th FSN - 3PM CST/4PM EST - March 30th Please adjust your calendars to reflect the date change and let others know accordingly. We greatly appreciate your patience and thank you for your involvement in RPW. Sincerely, Matt Case EVP, Real Pro Wrestling Click here for story on the fire in the Tennessean Real Pro Wrestling web page