Professional wrestling will air live on Twitch

Twitch has video games, IRL, and politics—why not expand to wrestling? Austin-based independent wrestling company Wrestle Circus is launching a wrestling Twitch channel, the first of its kind for the livestreaming service. Fans who aren’t able to make it out to Austin, Texas on June 24 for the Dive Hard With A Vengeance event will be able to watch it live on Twitch. Wrestle Circus will continue to broadcast live events to the Twitch community from there. “It’s no secret that recent changes at one of the other major platforms have made it difficult for independent wrestling promotions to monetize their content,” Wrestle Circus owner Al Lenhart said in a statement. “By moving over to Twitch, it is a major step into uncharted and exciting territory that allows us to reach a global audience and monetize in both traditional and creative ways, without the hurdles we’ve experienced in the past.” Fans will be able to support Wrestle Circus using Twitch’s tools. Cheering, in particular, will be important to the wrestling channel. Twitch users are able to purchase Bits that allow them to “cheer” in chat; each Bit has its own monetary worth. One hundred percent of Bits spent in chat will go to the wrestlers and talent performing during the cheer, Wrestle Circus said. It was members of the Twitch community that rallied around Wrestle Circus to get the company on Twitch. “Since Wrestle Circus has the same passion for their fans and talent that we do for ours, it’s really cool seeing them lead the charge with this new vertical,” Twitch sports partnership lead Eric Brunner said. Wrestle Circus will be able to reach a larger audience and sustain its independent content a lot easier now that its on Twitch.