Southpaw Regional Wrestling

Live

**Southpaw Regional Wrestling** is a fictional professional wrestling promotion featured in an online video series produced by WWE. Southpaw's online videos are a parody of real professional wrestling promotions that operated in the Southern United States in the 1980s.

WWE released four Southpaw Regional Wrestling videos on its website, YouTube and the WWE Network on March 17, 2017. These Season 1 videos, which to date have received more than 2.5 million views on YouTube, feature current WWE wrestlers portraying different Southpaw Regional Wrestling characters, but they contain no actual wrestling.

In May 2017, WWE wrestler John Cena said more Southpaw Regional Wrestling videos would be on the way. In July 2017, WWE wrestler A.J. Styles confirmed that WWE recorded new videos for Season 2 of Southpaw Regional Wrestling.

WWE released the trailer for Season 2 of Southpaw Regional Wrestling on Aug. 17, 2017, and the season debuted Aug. 18.

## Plot

The first episode of Season 1 begins by explaining the concept of the series, which is that WWE discovered a VHS tape of Southpaw Regional Wrestling, a long-lost promotion, in its archives. Season 2 follows the same premise, with the discovery of an even earlier VHS tape.

### Season 1

The 25 minutes of Season 1 footage feature backstage interviews and pre-recorded vignettes that promote Southpaw Regional Wrestling's Lethal Leap Year event, which is scheduled to take place Feb. 29, 1987.

There are two major feuds heading into Lethal Leap Year: Tex Ferguson vs. Chad 2 Badd and Big Bartholomew vs. Mr. Mackelroy. Ferguson and 2 Badd are former partners turned enemies. Mackelroy is an evil banker who buys Bartholomew's family farm out from under him. Mackelroy then recruits a mysterious masked wrestler, Sea Creature, to fight Bartholomew at Lethal Leap Year.

Lethal Leap Year is also scheduled to host a battle royal featuring champion John Johnson, luchador La Barba Grande and Elvis impersonator Impressive Pelvis Wesley. In addition, tag team Surf Dudes With Attitudes are to make their debut on the card.

In the final episode, however, commentator Lance Catamaran learns that February only has 28 days in 1987, leading him to announce on the air: "There is no leap year, which will put the future of Lethal Leap Year and Southpaw Regional Wrestling itself in jeopardy."

### Season 2

The six episodes of Season 2 footage feature backstage interviews and pre-recorded vignettes that promote Southpaw Regional Wrestling's Showdown at the Swamp event, which is scheduled to take place Aug. 16, 1986 in Shreveport, Louisiana. As such, Season 2 is a prequel to Season 1.

There are two major feuds heading into Showdown at the Swamp: The Butchers ("Dry Rub" Doug and Frantic Frank) vs. Tex2Badd (Tex Ferguson and Chad 2 Badd) and Mr. Mackelroy vs. "Astonishing" Adam Düng. Tex2Badd are set to challenge The Butchers for their Southpaw Regional Wrestling Tag Team Championship, but they get lost on their way to Shreveport. Mr. Mackelroy recruits two voodoo practitioners, Voo and Doo, to put a hex on Düng, who flees Southpaw Regional Wrestling and goes into hiding.

Showdown at the Swamp is also scheduled to host The Doing It For Dewey Tournament, which is held in honor of missing Southpaw wrestler Dewey Jackson. Confirmed participants in the tournament include Impressive Pelvis Wesley, John Johnson and cowboy Porkchop Jones.

In addition, Season Two chronicles the romantic relationship between studio host Chett Chetterfield and backstage interviewer Susan.

## Cast

There are 33 Southpaw Regional Wrestling characters, including 24 wrestlers. The videos also include mentions of two real professional wrestlers from the 1980s, Bad News Allen and Greg Valentine, but they do not appear.

## Sponsorship

Season 1 was sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken, which also appears in the videos as a sponsor of the Southpaw Regional Wrestling promotion. The in-video advertisements feature voice-overs by a Ric Flair impersonator, portrayed by Ric Flair. The use of an impersonator indicates that Southpaw may have been an outlaw wrestling promotion, as Flair himself would have been the spokesperson had Southpaw been affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance, which employed Flair at the time.

Season 2 was sponsored by Old Spice, which also appears in the videos as a sponsor of the promotion. The in-video advertisements feature voice-overs by Southpaw personnel Chett Chetterfield and Mr. Mackelroy. An additional sponsor in Season 2 is Malibu Al's Car Emporium. A.J. Styles, who disclosed his role in July 2017, portrays the titular Malibu Al and believes that "station wagons are the wave of the future" as opposed to minivans and DeLoreans, with no mention of SUVs.

## Critical reception

Season 1 of Southpaw Regional Wrestling gained generally positive feedback. Fox Sports praised the series as "a stellar, satirical version of the good ol' days," calling it "fun and smart." Uproxx pro wrestling editor Brandon Stroud said the videos are "WWE Network's crowning achievement" and Cageside Seats said "it’s something that you have to watch multiple times." Alfred Konuwa of Forbes.com claimed the series was a "critically acclaimed success... easily WWE's best original comedy series since the launch of the WWE Network."

## References

1. ↑ "Southpaw Regional Wrestling". *YouTube*. WWE. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
2. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher (May 11, 2017). "layback: John Cena on ‘The Wall,’ Favorite Films and Time Away From WWE". *Variety*.
3. ↑ "SRW 142: AJ Styles". *Stitcher*. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
4. ↑ "Southpaw Regional Wrestling season two trailer". *YouTube*. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
5. ↑ "The death of Southpaw". *WWE.com*. WWE. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
6. ↑ "SRW 142: AJ Styles". *Stitcher*. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
7. ↑ Werner, Barry (March 17, 2017). "WWE unleashes ‘Southpaw Regional Wrestling,’ a throwback to the old school". *FOX Sports*.
8. ↑ Stroud, Brandon. "‘Southpaw Regional Wrestling’ Might Be WWE Network’s Crowning Achievement". *Uproxx*. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
9. ↑ "Let’s Say Nice Things About... Southpaw Regional Wrestling". *Cageside Seats*. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
10. ↑ Konuwa, Alfred (March 20, 2017). "Southpaw Regional Wrestling Needs To Continue As An Original Series On WWE Network". *Forbes.com*.