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Who we are

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We are the Piledriver Television Network. A wholly owned and operated venture of Weyand Sports and Entertainment, founded by six time former PWC/AWF/UAW World Heavyweight Champion "Diamond" William Weyand.

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What we are

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We are a multimedia outlet similar to ESPN with a focus primarily on professional wrestling. We offer wrestling news as it happens, and also serve as a broadcast outlet for smaller independent promotions from inside and outside the United States in order to give them more exposure.

We also own the broadcast rights and tape libraries of several defunct promotions from the 1960s through the mid 1990s, to include Niagara Regional Wrestling, Empire State Wrestling, Tri-State Wrestling, Florida Sunshine Promotions, All-Star Carolina Wrestling, American Wrestling Federation, and Universal All-Star Wrestling: North America.

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Old libraries? How did you acquire those?

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When UAW owner and promoter Tom O'Hara was convicted of federal racketeering charges in 1993, he left longtime company hand and close friend "Diamond" William Weyand in charge of the promotion. With help of investors, Weyand founded Weyand Sports and Entertainment and assumed control of Universal All-Star Wrestling's flagship North American promotion and licenses after American Wrestling Federation, Inc., the former operator of UAW, was seized by the government. This initial takeover was only for all shows going forward from that moment, and did not include the library. That was in the hands of the Federal Government.

After O'Hara's appeals ran out and his prison term began in earnest, Weyand seized the opportunity to broker a deal with the government and negotiated the outright purchase of Universal All-Star Wrestling and its vast tape library, which included the aforementioned NRW, ESW, TSW, FSP, ACW, and AWF libraries at a bargain price in an effort to maintain the history of the damaged promotion, and hopefully grow the brand. As everyone knows, the damage to the UAW brand caused by O'Hara's conviction was too great and UAW:North America disbanded in early 1997.

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How did you make your money and launch a real TV Network?

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While maintaining UAW proved to be untenable, as the internet took off in the late 1990s and early 2000s, wrestling fans realized the wealth of wrestling history that was owned by Weyand's company. As a result, demand for copies of the tapes took off. Weyand Sports and Entertainment set up a subsidiary called Piledriver Video to copy and distribute videos as they were ordered from piledrivervideo.com. As more and more money came in, video editing equipment was upgraded, and Piledriver Video began conducting "shoot" interviews with wrestlers and managers from the various promotions, as well as compiling "Best of..." and documentary videos and offering those for sale as well. This proved to be a lucrative venture, as wrestling fans' appetite for old wrestling shows, shoot interviews, and modern takes on past events proved to be insatiable.

All of the money from this venture, combined with additional funds Weyand acquired through shrewd stock investments in spite of an overall downturn in the global economy made William Weyand a very wealthy man. In 2007, Piledriver Video began offering paid online video on demand services from its website at piledrivertv.com. This proved to be popular as well, and Weyand began shopping for investors in order to create a full fledged television network.

In late 2010, Weyand Sports and Entertainment, with the backing of several venture capitalists, purchased RugbyNet, a TV network that aimed to broadcast Rugby Union games in the United States. Included in the purchase were its broadcast facilities and channel placement on DISH, DirecTV, and Time Warner Cable. At 11:59PM on December 31, 2010, RugbyNet went off the air and the Piledriver Television Network debuted at 12:00AM on January 1, 2011 with an all day airing of "From Commission to Conviction: The Rise and Fall of Tom O'Hara."

As it began to partner with small but popular wrestling promotions throughout the United States and Canada, additional clearances and contracts were obtained throughout 2011, and 2012. As of June 2013, the Piledriver Television Network is now available in most North American markets.

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Original programming

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Our flagship program, Wrestling Insiders, airs Monday-Friday at 10PM. Hosted by former World Champions Nathan Young and Lou Saveo. Between them, they have over 60 years of professional wrestling experience and knowledge. They will tell you everything they know about the inner workings of various promotions around the wrestling world, and will not pull punches when it comes to what they think.

From 8-10PM Monday-Friday, we offer original wrestling programming from various promotions around the world. Every day of the week brings you another promotion. The widest variety in pro wrestling can only be seen on the Piledriver Television Network.

Our talk show, Behind the Curtain, is hosted on Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 7PM by Alexandra Duquesne. She conducts interviews with people in and around the sport of wrestling, and also occasionally has fans as guests on her show.

Our history show, Wrestling History Weekly, airs on Tuesday nights at 7PM and is hosted by Christian Meijer.

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On air personalities

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Nathan Young: Nathan is a 15 time former World Heavyweight Champion, having held on various occasions the PWC, AWF, UAW, and NWF World Championships, as well as various regional and tag team titles during his illustrious career. He is the father of wrestlers Shane Young, aka Quad, and Conor Young. He has also had his turn at the helm of wrestling promotions such as the United National Wrestling Federation as well as Sin City Championship Wrestling in the old National Wrestling Council. He also served for a short time as the Executive Director of the NWC.

Lou Saveo: Lou is a 4 time former World Heavyweight Champion in PWC, AWF, and UAW. He has also held various regional championships around the world. Lou is known to some people as the former color commentator of promotions like the Missouri Wrestling Alliance and Motor City Wrestling in the National Wrestling Council, as well as Premiere Wrestling Entertainment.

Alexandra Duquesne: Alexandra was trained as a professional wrestler in Idol Austin's Dynasty Dojo, but her career was tragically cut short following a freak neck injury during a match. Beautiful as well as passionate about pro wrestling, PTN is lucky to have her as part of the team.

Christian Meijer: Christian is the son of legendary wrestler and promoter Peter Meijer. A former wrestler himself, he never achieved the great heights in his career that his father did, and he is most remembered for being at the helm of North Star Wrestling when the promotion folded in 1996. He is the father of wrestler Lucas Meijer, and has an encyclopedia knowledge of professional wrestling history. His expertise proves invaluable for research on stories.