SEA Wrestling - Wrap Up

As we come to the end of the year, I wanted to say some personal thank yous to the Southeast Asian wrestling community that has supported SEA Wrestling over the past 12 months.

I wrote this already but I’ll say it again. What started as a little side website to give me a pastime has already grown into something bigger. SEA Wrestling has become a brand and also a movement.

SEA Wrestling - The Brand

As a born and raised Brit, it isn’t easy to toot my own horn about accomplishments, but I am super proud of where SEA Wrestling has come in the past 12 months. Looking at the metrics and what I think has been accomplished, I do feel some pride.

• Building a website that attracts more than 1,000 visitors every month

• Almost 1,000 Instagram followers

• 6,000 Facebook followers

• Over 1 million views on social media

• Over 20,000 interactions on social media

• 6 magazines published over the year with better and better artwork, layout and content

• My first ever podcast appearance (sorry about the terrible audio, Benj)

• Being referenced by some of the biggest wrestling news outlets in the world

• Working with promotions to produce amazing printed media

Some of those feats might not seem like a lot, but I think considering the niche element of Southeast Asian wrestling and the fact a lot of the great audiences are made up of very casual fans, this is a tremendous success.

SEA Wrestling - The Community

If you’re reading this as a fan, I hope we’ve connected you to some of the fantastic wrestling in the region that you might not have known about. If you are a wrestler, I hope you have enjoyed the coverage for yourself and the region, the same sentiment goes for promoters, referees, agents, bookers, you name it.

I hope you also feel connected this year to something bigger. It might be my own perception, but at the end of last year when I was doing my research, I didn’t notice much online talk about Southeast Asian wrestling as a connected entity or a wrestling region. This definitely seems to have grown with more mentions from promotions, wrestlers and social media accounts. I doubt I have, but if I have had anything to do with that, then it was my honor.

So the question is: what’s next? Well, for starters SEA Wrestling is going to take a break for the next three weeks. It will be a soft break of sorts with perhaps the odd website post and social media story, but there won’t be any major content releases over the Christmas period. Unfortunately, this means there won’t be any coverage online of the remaining December shows, but I assure you the rest is very much needed. What I do promise is to return in January ready for the kick-off of the 2026 season including Issue 7 of SEA Wrestling.

However, there are going to be a few changes I would also like to talk about before signing off.

There may not be quite as many magazines next year. Publishing six was exceedingly time consuming, and it may come to pass that the original intended number of four will be in play with more content ending up online.

Content will be more regularly scheduled online and include a wider range. While results and previews have been fun, the former are time consuming and could be reduced. Instead I want to get back to exploring history, wrestlers, interviews and reintroducing more of the magazine style to the website.

This year there have been many print copies available, often given away to fans, wrestlers or promoters. Unfortunately, the cost has become quite high and we will be reducing the prints to a few requested copies for cover stars, photographers and the like.
Prints will still be available online.

You will still be able to read the latest issue online for free.

The online version of the magazine will start to offer some interactive features next year.

Then we have some bold plans for next year, some may come to fruition, some will likely be delayed and many I will deny ever mentioning. But you may see:

• SEA Wrestling in audio/video format.

• Merchandise.

• SEA Wrestling E-Books (definitely happening).

• My bold offer — if we get 10,000 Instagram followers, I will run an “Evening With…” event either in Vietnam or Singapore.

• Official working agreements.

• SEA Wrestling sponsoring events.

Will any of it come to pass? Maybe, or perhaps I will never come back online. You’ll need to keep following us to see.

But in the meantime I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who has supported SEA Wrestling this year. Whether you paid us for something, bought a magazine, shared our content or gave us a kind word at an event, thank you. If you celebrate Christmas then Merry Christmas, and if not, still have a Happy New Year.

Simon
SEA Wrestling