[Archive 2008-04-29] Wikinews interviews Mr. Orange of IWL in Taiwan about wrestling

Historical archive — originally published 2008-04-29. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Pro-wrestling, a sport derived from Greco-Roman freestyle wrestling, is often connected with the idea of sports-entertainment. Popularized by Japanese and American federations (e.g. World Wrestling Entertainment, New Japan Pro Wrestling, etc.) the ongoing events and news are often discussed on the Internet. As such, television programs and other mass media focused on pro-wrestling are commonplace in Japan, America, and Europe.

In Taiwan, fans do not simply watch the TV shows and discuss them via the Internet, but some of them participate in the sport of wrestling through communities from the Internet or colleges. Although a Taiwanese wrestler recently won a world-class pro-wrestling title, due to policies that focused only on promoting key athletic sports like baseball, billiards, basketball, and taekwondo (i.e. those with more possibilities to win a gold medal in the Asian Games or Olympics), governmental officials lost a great opportunity to promote sports like wrestling, which has many potential participants.

What's the vision of wrestling in Taiwan? How did the communities drive TV spectators and wrestling fans and government officials pay more attention in wrestling? Is wrestling a future key sport in Taiwan? Wikinews Journalist Rico Shen visited the "2008 IWL Spring Festival", organised by a fan community and interviewed "Mr. Orange", well-known commentator of WWE TV shows broadcasted by VideoLand Max TV in Taiwan, to prospect the future of wrestling.

((Opening)) Hello, everyone! In my side is "Mr. Orange", WWE TV show commentator of VideoLand Max TV in Taiwan, I will do a special interview for topics related to wrestling, and he will do an overview of wrestling in Taiwan with his experiences.

((WN)) Glad to see an unofficial wrestling match in the Taipei City Mall. How did you involve in wrestling initially?

Mr. Orange: Since I'm in a childhood, I often watch (wrestling) shows with my neighborhood to a period when going to kindergarten. And then, I progressively understood the meaning of wrestling and finally involved in it.

Orange: Europe and America. Matches in there are often packaged and refined excellently such as theme music, introduction, momentum of wrestlers better then matches in Japan, which just contained traditional rules.

((WN)) On the other way of wrestling in Taiwan, what are the opportunities, possibilities, and threats?

Orange: Generally, I'm not a notable person, I just use the media as a promotion tool because we [the public] can't look down the strengths and impacts of public opinions and mass media. At that time, due to some coordination on behalf of broadcasting rights of TV programs, and many serious piracy and copyright issues in Taiwan, furthermore, pirates often used discussion boards to promote piracy. Those badly harmed several companies who do an agent of genuine copies. And accidentally, after a TV broadcaster grasped its opportunities on wrestling TV programs, I finally joined their production for commentary and planning of wrestling programs until now.

Orange: I met those opportunities coincidentally because when no one want to do it, and senior elites from media industry may not spare time to do production. I felt luckily on those undergoing experiences.

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Text adapted from Wikinews interviews Mr. Orange of IWL in Taiwan about wrestling by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.