Prime Time Wrestling

History

The 2021 launch

On June 28, 2021, Arkadiusz "Pan" Pawłowski, an experienced, yet polarizing figure on the Polish scene, announced the launch of his own wrestling promotion, promising "a new quality of entertainment". He posted a trailer featuring himself and glimpses of various wrestlers. Over the course of the summer, training events have been held and social media promotion continued. Eventually, the organization announced it was going to hold their very first show in October, and revealed the booked wrestlers. These were both veterans of the Polish scene, as well as debuting Polish wrestlers and foreign guests.

The first show

This first show, titled PTW#1: REVOLUCJA was met with positive response, even though some aspects were criticised. Fans praised the starpower, production value and overall high-budget feel. The criticism was focused on Pawłowski's character who fans felt was overexposed, inviting influencers to hype up the show, blatantly aggressive sponsor ads, and the booking - with a significant imbalance of starpower and a DQ finish in the main event. Most of the Polish talent on that show became cornerstones of PTW's roster, while some notably flopped. TV personality and freak fighter Paweł "Trybson" Trybała, initially strongly booked as a non-wrestler entering the business, failed to ever make his PTW return.

The successful show was quickly followed by PTW announcing their Underground shows. The first one was held in the PTW Performance Center in Chorzów. It kicked off a near-monthly cadence of events in 2022 and 2023: an Underground show on the last Sunday of each month, except when that weekend was already booked for the bigger (numbered) events. Underground shows advanced storylines seen in these bigger events, but with significantly less starpower. While initially only available to the live public, since Underground 4 they were also streamed live, first on FITE/TrillerTV and later YouTube as well. The venue had limited capacity, which was cleverly used to make these events feel more exclusive, only for the most dedicated fans.

2022

Continuing their strong entry into the scene, they started the year with the second Underground show and quickly followed with PTW#2 Blackout, which was also well received. This show had even more starpower than Revolucja, featuring debuts of well-known names like Joe Hendry, Marty Scurll, Matt Sydal and John "Bad Bones" Klinger.

Over the year, PTW continued its steady pace, presenting the monthly Underground shows, and debuting at Ryucon, a manga-themed fan convention in Kraków. The third major show Legends was the first one to be held outside Chorzów, in Warsaw. Among other notable moments, it featured the first PTW women's match (outside the exclusive Underground shows), where Diana Strong competed against two former NXT-UK competitors Xia Brookside and Myla Grace. Also at this show, the IMPACT Digital Media Championship was defended, and Santino was named the kayfabe co-owner of PTW, leading to a long-standing feud between Bad Bones & Longman vs Pawłowski. This show became part of a double-header weekend: on the day before, Warsaw's PpW Ewenement hosted their own event, named Najlepsza Gala w Mieście (Best Gala In Town). This was seen as PpW playfully taking potshots at the rival organization. Legends closed PTW's 2022 as their last show of such ambition and scale, until 2024's Gold Rush.

2023

Sponsorship dropped, name change

Prior to the first event, on 21st of September 2021, Kinguin was announced as one of the sponsors, later becoming the titular sponsor, and was added to the promotion's logo. Kinguin is a marketplace selling digital items, primarily game keys and in-game currency. The Kinguin mascot became a regular part of the shows, and even an angle with Taxi Złotówa at PTW#3 Legends.

Though Kinguin's departure was never officially announced, the titular sponsor was gradually dropped from PTW's branding over the spring/summer of 2023. The last Facebook post featuring Kinguin PTW name was from 26th March 2023, a cover photo change announcing Underground 14. Afterwards, none of the graphics for the show featured Kinguin in either logo or name.

Crisis and departures

See also: PTW Exits.

In the aftermath of PTW #4 Mystery, build-up for the 5th major show started. Initially planned for October 2023, the show was postponed indefinitely. During that time, multiple talents started to voice their frustration on social media. Eventually, Rafi Rarytas, Gabriel Queen, Justin Joy and Samson were all removed from PTW's roster. See Justin's page for a series of screenshots from his social media where he addressed the situation. During a shoot interview for the "Wrestling Polska" YouTube channel, Samson stated that he "never earned a single penny" in PTW, that Underground shows were not paid appearances and only the "big" (numbered) events were, with the promotor urging talent to take the "barter in training fee" instead.

During a regular live stream for his YouTube supporters (video requires paid subscription), Pawłowski confirmed the accusations, stating that barter was an option, but always voluntary. He also confirmed that PTW wrestlers are not officially contracted and their exclusivity is based on a gentlemen's agreement. He emphasized that his goal is to make PTW a fully mainstream promotion, with wrestlers being able to earn their living just based on their PTW role, rather than an alternative, independent route with talent being able to freelance. It was also announced that more roster cuts are to follow, especially after "Season One" is finished.

In the beginning of 2024, Vic Golden was also quietly removed from the roster page. Robert Star's departure went unnanounced by the promotion, with his profile removed at some point between January and March 2024. During an interview for Istota Wrestlingu Youtube Channel, Robert confirmed his departure from PTW.

On February 12th, 2024, PTW commentary team member Piotr "Showoff" Małecki announced an indefinite leave from PTW, citing burnout as a reason. Gradually, he severed his ties with the organization, first changing his Twitter/X bio entry to "ex-PTW commentator", and becoming increasingly critical towards them.

Expansion into Austria

Throughout 2023, Krampus, in addition to his in ring career in PTW, launched a wrestling promotion of his own, WWA (Wrestling World Austria). The first set of tapings was announced for September 29th 2023, emanating from City Theater in Hallein, Austria. Among others, the show featured multiple talent from PTW. On December 4th 2023, both PTW and WWA announced that WWA has now become a part of PTW.

The initial name for the this merged promotion was "PTW: WWA" (also stylized as "PTW presents: WWA"), but the organization soon adopted "PTW German" as their social media name. In addition to covering their own shows, this account reposted PTW's updates concerning events in Poland, but translated to German.

2024

In February 2024, PTW held their fifth major event: Gold Rush, this time in Legionowo, in the Warsaw metropolitan area. The Underground shows were also moved to a new location. Initially announced as Gliwice, a historical city in the west of the Silesian metropolis, the actual location turned to be a venue in the neighboring village of Kozłów, about 9km west of the city. This made the Underground shows far less accessible, and sparked some criticism. The regular cadence of these shows was also dropped, with only one being announced for April.

The show was followed by Total Blast From The Past in May.

Pawłowski's solo run

On Monday, March 11th 2024, Marcin "Rzeźnik" Rzeźniczek, co-owner of PTW, officially confirmed on his social media that he left PTW and Pawłowski remains the sole owner. Breaking kayfabe (a recent storyline from Gold Rush revealed him as the mastermind behind Bad Bones and Longman shenanigans), he wished his former partner, and everyone in PTW the best of luck conquering the Polish and world wrestling scenes, and fondly recalled his time in PTW.

New YouTube show: "Gruby temat"

In March 2024, PTW launched a new format on YouTube, titled "Gruby Temat" (Fat Topic - jokingly referring to Pawłowski's rather large statue). With Pawłowski and Kacper "Ludwiczek" Bociański as hosts, and one special guest for each episode. While Ludwiczek was not previously affiliated with wrestling, he was an MMA fighter on Poland's freak fight scene. The first guest of this new show was Marcel Gawroński, a popular TikToker who covers Poland's freak fight scene. Another episode featured PTW's own Puncher, while Polish boxer and UFC women's champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk was the guest in episode 3. The format of this show was mostly an interview with the guest, including questions from the audience asked via chat.

The Lottery

At the Gold Rush event, Pawłowski revealed a new promotional scheme for PTW: a 2012 Nissan GTR car, the grand prize to be won in a lottery. To circumvent the legal age requirement, lottery tickets were not sold directly. Instead, fans were encouraged to purchase an ebook, which came with a free ticket. These ebooks were short PDF documents (e.g. "PTW Revolucja" at 16 pages), including results from PTW's shows, photos and a short narrative. It was apparent that they were not supposed to provide any useful content, but rather serve as a legal means for distributing lottery tickets. The car was claimed to be worth 600 thousand PLN, or about 140 thousand EUR at the time.

In the following months, leading to Underground 21 and Total Blast From The Past he promoted the lottery heavily on social media, and in collaboration with various online personalities, most of who had nothing to do with wrestling. One such personality was Ludwiczek, the co-host of Gruby temat at that time. Immediately after Underground 21, PTW's social media accounts continued to focus solely on the lottery, while promoting the next major show took a distant second place, restricting itself to revealing the card in a series of posts. The organization cared so little for promoting its own show, that it did not even try managing WrestleFans' accidental reveal of the full match card, which was leaked before PTW revealed the final match themselves. The leak was accidentally posted by Wrestlefans' newsman Piotr "Sabinq" Gilewski. Taras called him out on the mistake on Twitter/X, and in turn revealed that he also was on a lengthy break from PTW, although officially not released yet.

The Stonoga controversy

On May 8th, in a move mocked by fans and PTW wrestlers alike, notorious Polish businessman and whistleblower Zbigniew Stonoga announced that he bought 1500 tickets for PTW#6, and wants to distribute them for free to his supporters (who sent him money and received a numbered membership card). The next day, Stonoga posted photos of himself and the car, as well as short clips of himself on the passenger seat. Ludwiczek also posted a photo of himself and the controversial Stonoga in front of the car. Later, he announced handing out 50 tickets, free and for anyone, in person, at a McDonald's restaurant in Legionowo. This move prompted PTW wrestler Taras to seemingly cut his ties with the organization, declaring he's finally "quitting this circus".

Backlash

Other PTW personalities, like Disco Pablo, the already-mentioned ex-commentator Piotr Małecki, and current commentator Arek Paterek also addressed the situation. Their posts ranged from open critique to only vague references. After Pablo and Taras made their comments, fans speculated about Pablo leaving PTW as well, which Pablo strongly denied. Some fans also alleged that Taras' current frustration was a result of losing the PTW Tag Team Championship, which he also denied.

The two wrestlers' criticism of PTW was also met with backlash. On PTW's public Facebook group, an account named Jakub Tyczyński (presumably a PTW personality, current or former) accused them of using their good relations with Pawłowski against other wrestlers in the past, and trying to play martyrs now.

This string of PR flops, and apparent lack of interest from PTW, prompted Wrestlefans to pull out of promoting them with immediate effect, only 3 days before the show. And in another unexpected turn of events, some of the fans who received tickets from Stonoga turned out to be PpW wrestlers and personnel. This got them both a free ticket for the show, and some social media exposure, through photos and live video which Stonoga, unfamiliar with the wrestling scene, shared.

During this time, PTW remained silent, attempted to control the situation by deleting comments pertaining to the Stonoga situation from the fan group, and continuing to promote... the lottery.

The prize draw

On Sunday, May 12th, PTW held the lottery's prize draw, as a live-stream on YouTube. Despite PTW's stated goal to provide entertainment for the whole family, this show included controversial guests: Stonoga, cast of reality show "Królowe Życia", spouting distasteful, sexually-charged jokes. The lottery's overseeing committee was never shown by the cameras. The lottery failed to achieve its desired goal of popularising PTW - some prize winners, who were called on the phone live as per the lottery's regulations, had no idea who and why called them, and did not recognize the names Pawłowski or PTW. After it was finished, the prize draw show quickly went private on YouTube, and other lottery-related materials started to disappear from the Internet.

More high-profile exits

See also: PTW Exits.

Right after PTW#6, long-time PTW commentator Arkadiusz Paterek confirmed his departure in a tweet. On May 25 2024, Paterek and Łukasz "Balik" Baliński (who also does commentary for PTW's events) appeared on the relaunched WrestleOne Youtube channel. This channel is ran by wrestling influencer, and one-time freak fighter, Patryk "Patrykos" Domke. In a livestream originally focused on an upcoming WWE event in Saudi Arabia, both Paterek and Balik briefly mentioned their PTW tenures. Around the 13:50 timestamp, Balik confirms his departure from PTW as well. According to Paterek, this means that all original commentary team members have now left. Later he also stated that Pawłowski failed to even read his farewell message, and claims that Paterek has "stabbed him in the back".

On May 31st, PTW wrestler Dziedzic appeared on the first episode of "No Gimmick Zone", a new YouTube show by Błażej "Blaze" Pniewski. Blaze, who was a vocal supporter of PTW up to this point, expressed his disappointment at the Total Blast show, and slowly but surely turned against the project. Dziedzic openly appeared under his real name (Kacper Dziedzic), in a shoot-style interview. He discussed various backstage topics, from the creation of gimmicks, to issues in PTW and the wider Polish scene. He supported the vision of Polish Wrestling Without Boundaries, a phrase which Pawłowski coined but never truly committed to. This concept is about inter-promotional cooperation on the Polish scene. Dziedzic alleged that, even if Pawłowski disliked his remarks, he will stay loyal to PTW as that's where his heart is. He stated that he's going to attend PTW training on the upcoming Sunday, and face possible consequences.

On Sunday June 2nd, a rumor was posted on the PTW Facebook fan group - that Dziedzic, Sinister and Marcelito have been released by PTW. The fans quickly linked these departures with Dziedzic's shoot interview for Blaze. On the next day, Monday June 3rd, Dziedzic confirmed his departure from PTW in a heartfelt goodbye post on Instagram. After some teasing on his Instagram Stories, Sinister confirmed the speculations as well. On Wednesday, June 5th 2024, he shared a farewell post of his own. Shortly after that, referee Seweryn also confirmed his departure on his Instagram story.

On June 6th Boro added a set of stories on Instagram, titled "PTW Last Dance". It contained mostly photos of various moments in PTW he was part of, but also several photos with "the greens" (an insider term for wrestlers from MZW like himself), some of whom already quit PTW. The final image in this set was just a black background with text saying "Merci et au revoir" (Thank you and goodbye), strongly implying that he left as well.

Michał "Mutant" Świątkowski, an inactive PTW wrestler who got shelved just after his return at Gold Rush, seemingly confirmed his exit through Instagram stories. He posted a poll, asking fans whether he should continue wrestling in a "new" place, or return to an "old" place, with PpW marked as "new", and KPW as "old".

On June 8th, Legia Łysych, a tag team consisting of Marco Hammers and Olgierd, who never announced leaving PTW, made their surprise debut for PpW at Ledwo Legalne IV. For the latter it was also a return home - he is a PpW original known previously as Hades. They answered an open challenge laid out by Pure Gold (Gabriel Queen and Vic Golden). This was the culmination of a storyline started back in PTW, where the two teams joined forces to prevent PAKA from becoming the inaugural Tag Team Champions. That plan failed, and the two teams feuded bitterly over it.

On June 9th, Sambor posted a black and white photo of him and his valet Rusałka, on his Instagram profile. He thanked the organization, Pawłowski himself, the fans, for helping him on his path to becoming a wrestler. This was also interpreted as his exit from PTW.

On Thursday June 13th, PTW has taken down the roster section of their page.

Silence and confusion

As this post-Gold Rush crisis was developing, PTW's social media channels stayed silent.

PTW Champion Puncher's Instagram account posted a cryptic message stating "Chapter closed". This led to fans speculating that he may be the next one to leave PTW, but this turned out not to be the case. On May 17th 2024, he tweeted a long statement, comprising of 3 screenshots where he described his road to championship, all the sacrifices he made, and accepted the blame for PTW 6 and the lottery flop. However, he also included passive-aggressive remarks about "disloyal" members of the locker room, and excessive fan criticism halting the growth of wrestling in Poland. Reactions to that statement were mixed, ranging from praise to mockery. This launched a wave of similar, shorter statements from other roster members, claiming they're going to stay with PTW through thick and thin, and would rather go down together with the organization rather than leave it because of its problems.

PTW's fate was uncertain at that point, with multiple exits and nothing in the way of official announcements. With one exception: a tribute post commemorating John "Bad Bones" Klinger, who died from a heart attack on May 20th.

On May 29th, Ryucon, a manga themed fan meeting (which previously hosted PTW events in 2022 and 2023), announced that they're hosting a third PTW event. However, as of June 5th, not a single mention on the show was made on PTW's official social media channels. The only activity were wrestlers Marco Hammers and Vincent Caravaggio feuding online, building a potential match for that show.

Ludwiczek confronts PTW

On May 23, Ludwiczek (co-host of Gruby Temat) took direct shots at PTW in an instagram post promoting his upcoming match in Polish freak-fight organization Clout MMA (which Pawłowski was also affiliated with, and appeared as host on their shows). He claimed to "be ready for everything", and that "working with PTW and Arek [Pawłowski]" made him indestructible. In further comments, he bashed PTW, Pawłowski, their ring ("mouldy mat, far from white") and the locker room. In response to that, PTW personalities, such as Taras, Olgierd, Marco Hammers called out the hypocrisy in his words. According to them, Ludwiczek received a hefty paycheck, free rides in luxury cars, and enjoyed time with celebrities. Therefore, he had no rights to bash the promotion that only benefitted him, whatever internal problems they may have. Ludwiczek explained that he was never actually employed by PTW, but rather by an outside investor, and that the lottery was his main focus. According to him, "protecting the lottery" was the reason for not confronting Pawłowski and PTW earlier. Later, several ex-PTW personalities, e.g. Samson, Gabriel Queen and Justin Joy joined the thread to express their disdain of Pawłowski.

Eventually, both addressed the issue. Pawłowski, in an interview for the TVreklama Youtube channel, expressed his disappointment in Ludwiczek, and called out his laziness and hypocrisy. Ludwiczek, in a video of his own, retorted by also calling Pawłowski a lazy hypocrite.

On Monday June 3rd, Pawłowski was the host of Clout MMA's conference promoting an upcoming show, with competitors confronting each other before the event on Saturday. In a segment promoting a handicap match between Ludwiczek & Super Mario (Mariusz Sobczak) vs Albert Sosnowski, Ludwiczek cut a promo where he was holding a PTW T-shirt in his hand. He declared that he "had worn this gift with pride, until he realized that the person who gave it to him [Pawłowski] was just a fake bitch", spit on the T-shirt and threw it away, then plugged his callout video. Pawłowski retorted with "then why the fuck are you even speaking". The two continued to trash-talk each other, blaming each other, Pawłowski raising his voice to the point of yelling. Eventually, Pawłowski made his leave, while Ludwiczek remained in the panel he was invited to.

In a follow-up interview with Puncher, he called Ludwiczek a liar and asked about a potential fight between them. Puncher said that while some people find wrestling to be cringey, he actually finds freak fights cringey, adding "but who wouldn't like to punch Ludwiczek?".

Another follow-up interview with Pawłowski had Arkadiusz speaking in a trembling voice about a series of recent disasters in his life - health issue, his father's terminal illness, PTW business dwindling. He declared that he's not going to stay down on his knees, but instead rebuild his life and PTW, because it's in his nature. When discussing the events of the panel, Pawłowski dismissed Ludwiczek's challenge to fight him (presumably in Clout MMA's octagon). Asked whether he thought it was legitimate, he replied that it's probably legitimate in Ludwiczek's mind, but that he wants nothing more to do with him, and wants Ludwiczek out of his life forever. Answering a question on his future plans, he plugs the upcoming PTW x Ryucon show on July 7th 2024. This is the closest thing to an official announcement for this show that fans got so far. PTW's social media accounts were still silent.

Kanał Zero

On Thursday, June 13th, Pawłowski and Diana Strong appeared on Kanał Zero's morning show Pobudka (Wake-up Call). The show was hosted by Marcin "WuWunio" Sprusiński and Izabella Krzan. One of the show's segments was a wrestling-focused interview with the guests. Unexpectedly, the hosts were very well briefed about the Polish scene and PTW's recent problems. The first questions were for Diana, about her sports background and the way to pro wrestling, and later the focus moved to Pawłowski. WuWunio started inquiring about PTW's state, presenting a list of wrestlers who recently left and mentioned that some of them now wrestle for the competition - PpW. Pawłowski, his hand forced, acknowledged the crisis, and confirmed that the lottery and Total Blast From The Past were flops. He spoke about how reading fan's criticism was very painful, because he felt exactly the same. He acknowledged that the wrestlers leaving his organization were great performers and (mostly) very good people. Next, he declared that the organization plans to recover from the crisis, starting at the next show PTW x Ryucon 3. Pawłowski confirmed that the reason for leaving were disagreements about finances, booking and exclusivity. All the while, his words were countered by Puncher aggressively trolling the chat, even insulting the same ex-wrestlers Pawłowski was complimenting on screen.

When Pawłowski agreed that he was the main culprit of the downfall, Krzan pried harder, asking him about the organizations' near bankrupcy. A visibly upset Pawłowski declares he will make amends, but needs some time. The hosts cut him off with a joke, that the show's previous guest (a Mr Małecki, public officer in charge of bankrupcy and property claims) may be able to help. Pawłowski joins in on the joke, but is still visibly shaken. WuWunio inquires about Rzeźniczek's (PTW's cofounder) departure, which Pawłowski confirms but declines to reveal the reasons in his stead. In the wrap-up, Diana is asked about why she stayed, after so many others left. She answers that she has always believed in the project, still does and has no problems working with Arek, therefore she chooses to stay. More questions about wrestling's technicalities follow, but the live chat is pressing questions about the lottery, and the subject is brought up again. Once again, he confirms it was a spectacular fiasco, with the ticket money not even close to covering the prizes. He calls it a crucial error that started a domino effect for PTW and confirms that no lottery will be held ever again.

To wrap up the show, Pawłowski is asked what is the essence of wrestling (phrased as "Istota Wrestlingu" - possibly a namedrop for a small Youtube channel). He answers that connecting people, escapism, and emotional involvement are the key components of pro wrestling's appeal.

Polish wrestling scene

PTW's initial roster was built from wrestlers previously appearing in MZW, KPW or MCW, however PTW itself is known for its lack of interaction with other federations in Poland. Talent were strictly prohibited from appearing in any other Polish rings, and any form of cooperation, either as a performer or in a backstage role resulted in "firing" from PTW. One early example of that is Jacob Crane, ostensibly fired for "damaging the organization's image". That fact was one of the key factors leading to most of the PTW Exits, where the talent wanted to have more freedom, and to be able to take bookings from other Polish organizaitions. This is similar to KPW's approach. Fans theorize that this isolationist attitude was inherited from Don Roid's DDW, where Pawłowski learned the ropes. Their attitude towards "backyards" like PpW is also shared with KPW and DDW.

Foreign relations

One of the main selling points of PTW, differentiating them from their competition, was sponsors, an actual budget and the ability to bring in a lot of pro wrestlers from abroad. At PTW 3: Legends it was announced that Santino Marella, former long-time WWE star, will become one of the organization's co-owners. This, however, was only a short-lived storyline angle lacking any real payoff, leaving fans confused when Santino made his return at PTW 5: Gold Rush only as an English-language commentator, and suprise entrant in the Gold Rush Rumble.

Later, PTW entered into collaboration with Austrian wrestler Krampus and his new organization called "World Wrestling Austria". That was quickly renamed to PTW: WWA, and became a de facto "sister federation" ran by Krampus with assistance from Pawłowski. This cooperation allowed PTW talent to be booked at the PTW: WWA show on 2024-01-05. See the Expansion into Austria section above.

PTW also entered a deal with British Revolution Wrestling (BWR), which allowed BWR Champion Scotty Rawk to defend his championship in PTW. In return, Diana Strong and Puncher were booked at one of BWR's shows in the UK.

One remarkable deal, between PTW and a bigger promotion, was an agreement with Impact Wrestling, for Joe Hendry to defend his Digital Media Championship against Trent Seven at Legends.

Championships

ChampionshipCurrent champion(s)Notes
PTW ChampionshipPuncherInaugural champion, won the championship rumble match at Gold Rush.
PTW Tag Team ChampionshipBudapest Bastards: Renegade and NitroDefeated PAKA: Disco Pablo, Boro, Taras at Gold Rush.

Internet Presence

References

Events

2024

2023

2022

2021

All-time roster