Black Entertainment Television is in discussions with professional-wrestling
outfit Urban Wrestling Alliance about telecasting a series of weekly UWA
shows.
BET officials confirmed that the network is talking with the south
Florida-based UWA -- which features a combination of pro-wrestling action and
rap music -- but they denied a report in the St. Petersburg Times that a
deal is imminent.
The outfit is run by Rocky Johnson, father of World Wrestling Federation
Entertainment Inc. star Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, according to the
paper.
'We've had some preliminary discussions about formalizing an agreement with
the UWA, but any reports of a completed deal are premature,' BET spokesman
Michael Lewellen said.
If completed, BET would be the first cable network to televise
non-WWF-produced wrestling shows since Turner Network Television distributed
World Championship Wrestling events. TNT dropped WCW programming when the
organization was disbanded in March and eventually sold to
WWFE.
