Skip to content

TV Production, Pro Wrestling, and Furious Editing

TV production with SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment in Finland, 2023. Two different TV series about professional wrestling for Finnish national television broadcast. Story and footage by Marko Simonen / Kayfabe Diary. Marko Simonen finds himself submerged in the high-pressure world of broadcast television in his article, "TV Production, Pro Wrestling, and Furious Editing." In this piece, he bridges the gap between the visceral, sweat-soaked energy of a live pro wrestling event and the polished, cinematic reality of a network series. His background as both a creative artist and a professional wrestling veteran allows him to navigate this space with a unique dual perspective. He understands the narrative beats and psychology of a match from the perspective of a performer, yet he possesses the technical vocabulary and aesthetic discipline of a professional editor to translate that action for a television audience. The narrative describes the "furious" pace required to transform raw footage into cohesive and compelling finished products, such as the SLAM! Boot Camp and Painin Otteessa series. Marko explains that in the fast-moving world of independent pro wrestling, the luxury of time is often a myth. He details the grueling hours spent at the editing desk, where every frame must be scrutinized to ensure the story told in the ring is captured with maximum impact. This is not merely a technical exercise; it is an act of narrative preservation. He describes his role as a multifaceted creator, taking responsibility for lighting, audio, and camera work, including a unique "one-take" bell-to-bell match shot from inside the ring. He also touches upon the technical infrastructure and psychological toll required for such a feat. Marko discusses the importance of meticulous organization and the mental stamina needed to manage fragmented segments that do not always seem to mesh together. He describes the editing process as a relentless struggle against the clock and the constraints of a predetermined runtime, a process so intense it led to moments of vocal frustration. His extensive experience in the creative arts provides the foundation of discipline needed to maintain high artistic standards even when the production timeline is severely compressed and the stakes involve national broadcast. Ultimately, the article serves as a tribute to the invisible labor that defines modern professional wrestling media. Marko argues that the magic of the "squared circle" is only half the battle; the other half is won in the edit suite through sharp cuts and rhythmic storytelling. He concludes by highlighting the unpredictable nature of the industry, recounting how a controversial match ended their run on the station. By combining his ring-tested instincts with his artistic expertise, Marko demonstrates that the most important moves in professional wrestling often happen on a keyboard rather than a canvas. For him, the story is only truly told once the final cut is made.

Some years ago, there was a brand new national TV channel starting out, and they needed programming. We ended up having talks, and one thing led to another. Before we knew it, we were producing two different series for them with SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment, each worth 6 episodes.

With just our own people and production gear, we were able to pull it off in a short amount of time. It was tons of work, but we did it. They were titled ‘SLAM! Boot Camp’ and ‘Painin Otteessa’, mostly in Finnish.

The Boot Camp one was easy; it was all about diving into pro wrestling holds and training. The idea was to share a glimpse of what goes into training and developing pro wrestling talent. This required very little scripting, especially with the direction of StarBuck, our head coach.

For me, it was taking care of lighting, audio, shooting the footage, and finally, editing the episodes to be broadcast-ready. The workflow was pretty much 1-2-3 and done.

At the end of this series, I shot a wrestling match bell-to-bell with one camera, from inside the ring, in one take. We didn’t plan anything, just ran with it. I noticed it can be reasonably done when you’re working with people you know well, and they know you. We were able to move and position ourselves smoothly, so that I was out of their way and they were able to perform to the camera. This was in our smaller ring, roughly 14×14 ft.

I have no idea if anyone has done that before, but at that particular moment, it felt unique.

 

Painin Otteessa, which roughly might translate to ‘In the grip of wrestling’, was a more detailed presentation of pro wrestling around the world. We did some research on wrestling history, wrote a script for each episode, planned the segments, and were soon ready for production. For this series, we had the help of our producer, Tuukka Kouri, which proved highly valuable.

The editing part was a painstaking process. The episodes included plenty of smaller parts that didn’t seem to mesh together. Trying to fit them smoothly into a predetermined amount of minutes was something that almost had me punching my fist through my computer monitor. And that’s no joke, I was clenching my fist on numerous occasions, literally screaming out loud.

If there was a lesson in there, I sure don’t know what it was.

 

Of course, my duties also included the logos, graphics, and promotional trailers. The series proved to be popular on the station, which we were very happy about.

Later on, we also sent them one of our recent events for broadcast, which just happened to include a barbed wire death match. Turns out, the viewers were not expecting anything of the sort. The TV station got plenty of angry phone calls and emails after the first airing, and that was the end of that.
Pro wrestling in Finland has been featured on national television numerous times. This is a story of how we produced two different series with SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment.

In 2023, Kayfabe Diary was involved in TV production with SLAM! Wrestling Entertainment in Finland. An entirety of two different pro wrestling tv shows – showpaini – were produced, totalling 12 episodes for Finnish television.