Our Story: Brian Fritz
The Between The Ropes founder has survived the media industry for over 20 years.
Colt Cabana gets credit for popularizing pro wrestling podcasts, and deservedly so.
But he wasn’t the first to record a discussion about suplexes and hot tags and then offer it online for listening anytime. Brian Fritz and his broadcast partner Brian Dickerman were one of the first (along with Live Audio Wrestling) to produce a wrestling podcast, years before the medium even had a name.
“We were ahead of the curve,” Fritz says, “but we weren’t able to fully capitalize on that.”
On August 25, 1998, Between The Ropes began airing on terrestrial radio in Florida, and it was later streamed live online and then uploaded. As a result of the widespread accessibility, there would be callers on a regular basis from Europe, Japan, Australia, pretty much all over the world. ECW stars like Jerry Lynn, Rob Van Dam and Steve Corino became good friends of the show. “Sinister Minister” James Mitchell called during a commercial break to say that he loved the show and offered to be a frequent guest.
Three weeks before an ECW pay-per-view in the Sunshine State, Joey Styles called and asked to come on to promote the event. Fritz actually told the “Voice of ECW” that somebody was already booked and he’d have to come on the week after.
An interview with Chris Jericho really put the show on the map, Fritz says. In the interim between leaving WCW and arriving in WWE, Jericho happened to be doing another radio show that broadcasted out of the same building as Between The Ropes. Fritz met him and invited him to come on the show anytime. Jericho gave his email, and every Monday for six weeks, Fritz sent him the hotline number to call in.
Finally, Y2J finally called one night while driving back from a hockey game with his friends. “He even joked that I couldn’t believe he called me,” Fritz says. “He didn’t say he was going to the WWF, but he did talk about a lot of things that happened with WCW. At the time, the biggest wrestling website was 1wrestling.com. I sent them the transcript of the interview and the top headline on their website was ‘Chris Jericho Breaks His Silence on Between The Ropes.’”
The show transitioned to a podcast in 2012 after airing for over a decade on WYGM 740 The Game and WHOO ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando. “I should have been more forthright in trying to syndicate the show,” Fritz says. “I should have pressed more to get us on a bigger platform like satellite radio. I was talking to different people to get the show on there, especially The Fight Channel, but for whatever reason, it just never happened.
Between The Ropes has always been my side job. I wish things had come along to where it could have been my main job and focus.”
Journeyman
Fritz actually has a lot in common with Cabana.
Both are journeymen in their respective fields, differentiating themselves in such crowded markets. Cabana helped revolutionize the independent wrestling scene, laying the groundwork for such a stable environment in 2019, in which more wrestlers than ever before are able to make decent livings without signing a contract to a major company. Cabana ushered in an era of unprecedented entrepreneurship, creating additional revenue streams through podcasting and merchandise. He also extended his sphere of influence to the comedy world, gaining exposure to a new audience that might never have discovered him inside the squared circle.
Meanwhile, Fritz has been hustling in the media since the mid-1990s. While pursuing a degree in communications from the University of Central Florida, he did stringer work for The Orlando Sentinel covering high school football. A decade later, he’d write columns and blogs for the newspaper’s website on mixed martial arts and pro wrestling. He also wrote for AOL’s FanHouse.com and FOX Sports. Additionally, Fritz has worked extensively in radio, covering sports for Clear Channel, Genesis Communications and Yahoo! Sports Radio. Filling in as an engineer, board op, promotions coordinator, producer, traffic reporter, you name it. Fritz has done it all.
“If you’re passionate about something, you have to work harder than everybody else,” he says. “You have to be ahead of the curve and do the work. Take advantage of every opportunity that you have earned and also make those opportunities for yourself. If you want to do a wrestling show or a sports podcast, you have to diversify and find a way to make yourself stand out. You have to learn video, social media, other things to add to your skill set. You have to be good in so many different areas now.”
As the wrestling industry has evolved over the past 20 years, so has the media. The digital age has changed everything: thousands of newspapers and weeklies have ceased printing, magazine racks have been cut in half, websites have been bought out and consolidated. Budgets have been slashed and staffs have been trimmed.
“I’ve had my moments of doubt,” Fritz says. “I don’t think I’m a bad writer, but I do think there are a lot more talented writers out there. I call myself a ‘nuts and bolts’ writer because I’m not writing anything that’s too creative. I’m not a wordsmith. But I can plan a good story, especially when I get an interview with somebody.”
Despite the turbulence, Fritz continues to write about wrestling as a freelance contributor to Sporting News. He’s also a helicopter reporter and photographer in the Raleigh – Durham area, providing coverage for WTVDABC 11.
“If you’re a fortunate enough to get a full-time job, that’s fantastic,” Fritz says. “It’s just that those are few and far between. It can be very frustrating, especially if you’re a freelance writer. They can get rid of you at any time. You’re getting paid off traffic that you generate. A lot of it is out of your hands – it depends on where you’re positioned on the website, how their social media pushes you, things like that.”
No matter what obstacles come in Fritz’ path, you can be rest assured that he – like Cabana – will survive. After decades of following the wacky, grueling world of wrasslin’, resiliency has rubbed off on him.
“If you work hard and you’re doing quality work and people are seeing it, then you’re going to get your big opportunity,” Fritz says.
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