EventNewsDXB

Mohammad Al Shehhi: The Emirati Who Quit His Day Job To Start A Wrestling Revolution

• W4 Podcast Studio • Season 1 • Episode 10

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Mohammad Al Shehhi: The Emirati Who Quit His Day Job To Start A Wrestling Revolution

What happens when a young Emirati decides to ditch his conventional career path and dive headfirst into the high-flying world of professional wrestling? This week on EventNewsDXB, we're talking to Mohammed Al Shehhi, known to fans as "Shaheen" (Arabic for falcon), who traded 9-5 and office politics for suplexes and theatrical combat.​

Mohammad opens up about how he went against the expectations of both family and society and embarked on a remarkable double life: corporate professional by day, aspiring wrestler by night. 

His persistence paid off. Three years after founding WrestleFest DXB, Mohammed has transformed humble beginnings (the first show had just five audience members) into Dubai's most unique sporting spectacle with regular sold-out events.


Podcast Rundown

1️⃣ Mohammed's Journey into Wrestling 

2️⃣ Living a Double Life 

3️⃣ Building a Wrestling Promotion 

4️⃣ Creating a Community-Driven Event 

5️⃣ WWE Connections and Future Aspirations 

6️⃣ Television Dreams and Next Steps 

Production Credits:

Presented by: Ian Carless
Studio Engineer & Editor: Roy D'Monte
Executive Producers: Ian Carless & Joe Morrison
Produced by: EventNewsDXB & W4 Podcast Studio

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Ian Carless:

Welcome to Event News DXB. Before we begin, I've got a quick favour to ask. There's one simple way that you can support our podcast, and that's by hitting that follow or subscribe button on the app you're listening to the podcast on right now. It really does make a huge difference in helping us get the podcast out there to as many people as possible, so please give us a hand and click that button now. Thanks a bunch.

Ian Carless:

You're listening to the Event News DXB podcast. Your behind-the-scenes look into the world of events in Dubai, the UAE and the MENA region. I'm Ian Carlos and each week I'll bring you the latest news, industry trends and insider stories from the people shaping one of the world's most dynamic event markets. This week on Event News DXB, we're talking to a local Emirati who's responsible for organising one of Dubai's most unique series of events In 2023,. Mohammed Alshehi quit his office job to pursue his dream of becoming the UAE's first professional wrestler. That's right beneath the international glitz and glamour, Dubai has an up-and-coming wrestling scene. At the helm is the man now known to Dubai wrestling fans as Shaheen, which means falcon in Arabic. Fast forward two and a half years and, after heading to Japan to learn his craft, Mohamed returned and founded WrestleFest DXB. The WWE-styled wrestling events are now an established fixture on the sports and entertainment calendar, regularly pulling in sell-out crowds at their venue in Al-Quds, Mo. Welcome to the podcast.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Thank you for having me. It's an absolute pleasure.

Ian Carless:

Now for those listeners that don't know, you run WrestleFest DXB. That's right, you're a local Emirati. I'm going to go out on a limb here. Not very much of a limb, but what I am going to say is I think if you'd said there's a local ever arty running a wrestling venture in dubai I think a lot of people on the outside world, the western world, go, might say you what it's crazy I I always strive to follow the the offbeat track absolutely.

Ian Carless:

Tell us, then, let's, let's start the beginning. What began your journey into wrestling?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

I would say it's all started with an event, the. The wwe, which is the biggest pro wrestling organization, came into the UAE. They hosted an event back in 2018, 2019.

Ian Carless:

Yeah.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

And at the time I had gone with my friend and we were completely mind blown by the event. That's the kind of thing that we only watch on TV and for us to get to experience that live in person. You get to experience the energy of the crowd, the music, the lights, the atmosphere the whole experience in one package. I think that event on its own had left such an impression on me that not only did I want to run these events, but also I wanted to become a performer myself.

Ian Carless:

But that's what I was going to say. I mean, lots of people go to events, don't they? I mean, you know, I go to concerts, but it doesn't mean I want to be the next guy from guns and roses does it. You know, I don't suddenly run out and take a course in how to be a front man for a super band. You actually did. You. You went away and, as you said, you decided that not only do I want to watch these things, but I want to be. I want to be that guy in the ring exactly and exactly.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

that's uh. From the business aspect of things, I noticed that there's a gap and that there's a fan base. There's a community that is striving to be engaged. We're all hungry for these kinds of events and I wanted to be the person that people get to watch perform on those events.

Ian Carless:

Right, so not just being a promoter, then, because I mean most people would have just said, okay, yeah, forget being thrown around a ring by a bunch of people. Because I mean you know, look, I mean obviously this is an audio podcast, but if I tell you that when I'm sat across Mo right now, you're what? Five, seven, something like that, I don't know how many pounds, but you're pretty lean, it's all muscle, I mean you're not, you're not giant haystacks, you're not. You know the rock, or you're not. You know triple h, yeah.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So again, it's just like I'm just fascinated by what made you actually want to get in the ring. I would say, as you mentioned, there's a stereotype when it comes to wrestlers yeah, you gotta be big, you gotta be jacked, you gotta be a certain height. Yeah, but over here in dubai we have such a, I would say, a cosmopolitan roster. Yeah, people who are young, people who are old, people who are big people, people who are big, people who are small, all kinds of people from different parts of the community get to be part of this event, after long and grueling hours of training, of course.

Ian Carless:

But yeah, that's it. So what was your first step then? How did you go about making that transition from fan to wrestler?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

I would say I had traveled to the uk okay and that's where I uh participated in the first pro wrestling academy, first experience for myself. To, you know, dip my toes into that kind of thing and uh it's. It's kind of crazy to see how the scene has evolved so much locally just because of one person traveling abroad, getting to soak in all the experiences from different wrestlers, international wrestlers, experienced coaches, it was. It was very funny for me to to be in that environment to begin with, because you're talking to a person who was groomed to become a lawyer, a banker, a policeman, a military officer, and going on from that environment to being thrown around really got to instill discipline in me.

Ian Carless:

Well, I was going to ask that. I mean, you brought it up. Was it a tough sell for your family?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

It was in the beginning because, as I mentioned, there's a certain level of expectation.

Ian Carless:

how did you, how did you win them over?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

I would say five long years of doing wrestling and pursuing an office job at the same time. It wasn't hard, it wasn't easy. My bad it's it's. I lived the clark kent life to be able to, to be able to provide for my family, to be able to help out with all the financial matters at home. But when it came to wrestling, that was my escape, that was my passion, that was the place I felt home at.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So five years of doing that, of clocking out of the office at 6, 7 pm, still fighting my demons, to go to the gym, to finish at 9 pm, go to wrestle and then coach people all until 11 pm and then go back home and repeat. So I was living a double life. But it all paid off at the end of those five years, when I got the opportunity to train overseas at the number one pro wrestling academy in the states, I got an official invite. That was the moment my mom said you know what? Maybe this is your calling, you can quit your job. I could care less. For me it was a hard pill to swallow. I was just looking at my mom thinking like hello, is that my mom? Is that exactly? Was she possessed? What's going on, but it's very, very rewarding to feel that all those five years of balancing office job and training at the same time finally paid off.

Ian Carless:

So you went to that first event and I'm curious just to know sort of how your mind was working at the time. I mean, you've mentioned you not only wanted to get in the ring but you specifically wanted to organize events. So then obviously you know the training is one aspect of it. How then did you go around, go about putting the building blocks in place to actually start the events?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Okay. So for those who don't know, when it comes to training pro wrestling, there's a thing called an academy event, right, that's where people who worked hard finally get to showcase their talents, and with these academy events, they tend to be filmed. Some family and friends come in, some friends of friends come in, and my first experience was only in front of five people. And then the next show we've had 10, and then the next show we've had 15, and the next show we've had 20, and then it went all the way up to 70, up to 100, right, and I saw exponential growth and I realized, okay, there's an opportunity here, there's something that we can tap into. Yeah, that is when we finally decided to export our academy shows, to create a promotion and finally find the right place for it which was at warehouse 4, to accommodate to such a large number of people coming in.

Ian Carless:

Yeah, I have to say I remember distinctly the first time, I think the first event that you did in Warehouse 4. And I remember I don't know whether it was yourself that were booked in the event and I saw, you know, I saw WrestleFest, dxb and I thought what on earth is all that about? And, out of curiosity, came down that first night and was absolutely blown away. I mean, I think any look, I think you'll be the first one to acknowledge since those early days, the standard has got much, much better, et cetera, et cetera. But I think if you were going to be distracted, say, by a little bit of lack of finesse in that initial event, it was completely overcome by the audience.

Ian Carless:

I think that's what blew me away more than anything was just seeing, and it wasn't a huge crowd, it was maybe 70, 80 people, like you said, something like that, maybe a few more. But the energy of the crowd and the fact that they knew who all the wrestlers were. They'd had all the chants, you know, they knew everybody's, like nicknames and everything, and you know, and everybody's going hit the ref, hit the ref, you know, and everybody's going hit the ref, hit the ref, you know, and all the other chants that go with it. I think that's what blew me away.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

I don't actually have a question on the back of that, other than to say I think my expectations were somewhat, you know, probably down there, but they were exceeded beyond anything that I could imagine. And every other event I think the fans get to prove to us why we want to continue. Yeah, Whether I think the fans get to prove to us why we want to continue.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Whether we get only 50 or whether we get 200 people, it's the energy that keeps us going. It's their enthusiasm, their chants, the craziness that they bring, the rowdiness from both parents and kids and people who come in there for their first dates. I don't know who does that, but if you're listening to this, they bring in their first dates over there and then they get to. You know they're hooked to the event and they come every other event and it's just wild to see people getting married because of that. We've had a couple get married and their first date was at WrestleFest DXV. Listen.

Ian Carless:

I think they're onto something there, if you can go on a first date and survive that and either one of you is happy with the other one after that then you're onto something right.

Ian Carless:

So look, I mean on a serious note, I think most events, whether they're sporting or otherwise, there's usually obviously an element of finance to it and payoff. But I imagine in your case that would have been extremely difficult at the beginning and you were probably relying a lot on goodwill of others. Can you talk to us a bit about that, about those, certainly those early events, because I know you know you do have a big team of wrestlers now and also a team of people who, just who come in and help. Don't they literally put up the stage?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

take down the stage, yes, and do all the jobs behind the scenes for which you know, often there are no thanks, exactly, yeah, so, also for those who don't know the way pro wrestling events are ran locally and overseas, it's mainly driven by the focus, the goodwill, the fire and the passion of the talent that is on that show. Absolutely, you can be the main event on the main event and you could be the one who puts together the ring that night.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

You could be the one who does the lights, you could be the one who does together the ring that night you could be the one who does the lights, you could be the one who does the tickets at the door. It doesn't matter to us, because it's an experience that gets us humbled and value the organization, value the reason why we're here, which is the fans at the end of the day. So to go back to your point starting off with that wasn't easy because there was an expectation. Go back to your point starting off with that wasn't easy because there was an expectation. From moving to the academy to the warehouse, a lot of people thought it was an instant upgrade. They didn't know that there was gonna be a whole lot of different tornadoes and sandstorms and everything on the way for us. Starting from financing, because it was all self-financed. It was us not relying on pay because we wanted to just entertain the fans. It was us doing the photography, the videography, it was us setting up the ring ourselves, which we do to this day, because, at the end of the day, we value what we do. We value what we. We put our bodies on the line at the end of the day for the entertainment of the fans. It's just.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

It was a tough pill to swallow to begin with. The early days was completely self-financed and, as you know, something so new, something so fresh, reaching out to sponsors, to people who don't believe in your vision. You get shut down so many times, but it's a matter of going forward. Keep going. That's why I got my day job. I had the option of quitting so early on just to run these events, but I decided that if I had kept my day job just to finance these events, things are going to pay off.

Ian Carless:

It's interesting, is it? I think that's a perennial problem of a lot of event organizers and event promoters. I think you know Rome wasn't built in a day. Nobody starts out with events. Okay, some do, but if you're a huge band or something, but most people don't start out with events in 10,000 seat of venues and most events need help along the way. But sadly, I think there's not too many, let's just say, corporate entities that are willing to share the vision with you and share the growth. Many are willing to jump onto something that's already successful, but the large majority, you know, do not want to support something from the ground up, which is a real shame and creates, as you say, a real problem for you guys when you're trying to get something off the ground.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

But it still opened our eyes to how the events and how business are run in the UAE.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So every time we get shut down, I I don't take no for an answer. I'm a go-getter. I ask why? Tell me why it's fine. I don't want anything but your reasoning. And if it's something as simple as well, the marketing is not worth it, the impressions are not worth it, and I just look them in the eye and say, okay, I'm going to work on it in the future. So in my free time I go back home, I study, I analyze. How do I get to reach that person's level? I want my events to hit these people's marketing targets. What initiatives can I do? Who can I collaborate with so many different pieces that come together for me to be able, as a promotion, to hit the sponsor's marketing targets and marketing objectives and sponsorship objectives, which helps you to scale? At the end of the day, if I'm being honest, no, absolutely yeah.

Ian Carless:

I mean, how do you approach that then? Because I think you know I've run events in the past. For example, we organized the Dubai Motorcycle Film Festival and I think obviously you know these are, in the grand scheme of things, these aren't 10,000 seat events, you know. So I think there's got to be a certain cognizance there in terms of what you go in and ask for. It's no good me going and asking for a million dollars for an event for which 150 people are going to turn up for I mean it's just not going to happen. So you do have to have a level of realism.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Yes, and that that level of realism really aligns with what we do as pro wrestlers with with professional wrestling. The more matches we have under our belts, the more, I would say. The more experienced we are, the more knowledge, the more respected we are by our peers. So if you put that together with what the sponsors want in such a small place, we look at it and say you know what, maybe in that case, since it's not a 10,000 theater venue, we can do 12 events in one year. That way, as a wrestler, I do get in 12 matches, just that locally in Dubai, and at the same time I can make the sponsors happy. You've got the long-term objectives, you've got the long-term vision and got the long-term vision, and to them it seems like a one-year campaign which really helped us in our benefit so talk us through a typical event.

Ian Carless:

I mean, I think you just alluded to it there. You do. You do at the moment one main event every month. Yes, um, talk us through that, talk us through the sort of format of that event.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So when it comes to formatting the events. Our academy runs five days a week where most of the people come in and basically fight for an opportunity. They showcase their best performances. They work on their in-ring stuff, they work on their cardio, they work on their weightlifting, they work on their characters. They work on their in-ring stuff. They work on their cardio cardio. They work on their weightlifting, they work on their characters. They work on their gear. There's a lot of different things that come into play and then from that we get to nominate who becomes who gets on the shows who gets on the card?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

yes, who gets on the card basically, I know my link and then and then we align that together with, if there's any interest, from overseas wrestlers who are flooding our social media profiles. Everybody gets to see the level of quality, the content, I would say, the professionalism and the setup. Because, ian, if I'm being honest, I'm going to show you our direct competitors from different parts of the world how their venues are being set up. It's not as professional as Warehouse Four, especially with the lighting, the camera work, the seating. It's usually done in bingo halls or music venues that are too big and that basketball courts. So we're very lucky to have found a place or a space like Warehouse Four so that really gets in a lot of international interest and a lot of the international names and stars that you get to see on our shows are people reaching out to want to be part of this. I don't reach out to them with a big check saying, hey, I want you at Warehouse 4.

Ian Carless:

I was going to ask that. I mean how does that? Where does I mean? Because you would imagine that most people think oh great, free holiday to Dubai.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Because you would imagine that most people think, oh great, free holiday to Dubai Exactly All I have to do is jump in the ring for 20 minutes Exactly, so they're basically paying their own way. Most of the time. Yes, because it's a holiday. It's a holiday destination and you've got the name Dubai. You've got sunshine. Most of them come in from the UK, where it's cloudy and dark and gloomy. So it's a two-in-one it's a free holiday and it's a 20-minute match yeah, how do you make that work for you then?

Ian Carless:

obviously, because how, how, how informed is your, is your audience here.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So a lot of them actually just watch the big leagues, right? Okay, which are divided into three big promotions so you got wwe and then you've WWE and then you've got AW and then you've got New Japan Pro Wrestling Right. Anything below that is the independent circuits Right. With the independents, there's also levels. There's high, there's medium and there's low. Yeah, I would put WrestleFest DXB on the high to medium threshold for sure. Right, Comparing us to all the high level promotions around the world. Yeah, it's just crazy how people perceive our product.

Ian Carless:

So, in terms of your own roster, you mentioned the Academy. How does that work? So it's open to anybody that wants to come in and give it a go. And then let's just say, for example, I'm never going to do this. But let's just say, for example, I'm never going to do this. But let's just say, in some, in a moment of insanity, I decided I wanted to be a pro wrestler. Okay, and came through your academy door and said mo, I want to be a wrestler.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So starts off with a physical assessment. We see all that. We see how tough you are. We see, uh, cardio your, your strength level, your speed, your agility, and we work on your weaknesses. That's how it is. It's not a do or die situation where we have a gun to your head and say, oh, you're not a pro wrestler, just leave the academy. Yeah, it's showcasing your strengths, it's working on your weaknesses. Right, that is our utmost pride at the academy. If you're someone who can't make it, we make sure by the end of these six months, you're closer to the goal of making it.

Ian Carless:

Now, again going back to stereotypes, I am aware that one of the wrestlers that you've got through the door is probably the least looking like a wrestler, the Filipino girl. I've forgotten her name off the top of my head Roxy Roxy. Probably the least looking like a wrestler, the filipina girl. I've forgotten her name off the top of my head roxy, roxy. There you go, but I mean, there's someone. If you met in the street and you said to what do you do for a living, wrestling wouldn't be the first thing on the top of your mind.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So she's the youngest we have on the roster. She is the only female we have currently at the roster who, uh, is getting a lot of interest from female fans at the moment to want to become pro wrestlers. A lot of the females in attendance at our events just go up to Roxy and say "'Can I train with you? "'can I be doing what you're doing right now'. And she's doing great at that right now.

Ian Carless:

And again just for the benefit of our listeners. I mean, roxy is what she's five foot.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

She's five foot five, yeah, weighs what Like three pounds, 50 kgs, but she moves like a rocket. Just see her in the ring. She's jumping up and down left and right. Absolute pleasure to watch in the ring.

Ian Carless:

And, as you say, a fantastic role model for girls out there who, perhaps you know, would look at that and go, oh, that's not for me. And then they look at her and go, oh, hold on a minute.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

It is for me yeah, yep, yeah. So that is one big point that we like to focus on on our events is inspiring the audience. At the end of the day, no matter where you come from, what your background is, what your, size is.

Ian Carless:

We're welcoming to to have more people on our roster to showcase that anybody can be a wrestler right now. You've been going for quite a few years now, so, in terms of being able to actually sustain the events without always having to dip into your own pocket, how difficult has that been and are you at at the moment with that?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

So we just celebrated our third anniversary last weekend, which is insane to see how time has flown. But looking at the output, I just can't wait to see where we'll be at the next three years. So in those three years, a lot of those fans who came in were people who actually like to help and fund the business, whether it's through doing merchandise for us, whether it's a ticket organizer. We've had someone who come in, was a marketing manager at the Virgin Megastore and said I love this event, can you just showcase your events on our ticketing website? And that's how things have been running for us events on our ticketing website, and that's just that's how things have been running for us. It's insane to see how these events bring people and professionals from different backgrounds, from different workplaces, from different offices, from different jobs for them to come up to us and say I wanna help, I wanna grow this place, and so far in these three years we've got because of that.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

We got someone from Virgin Megastore. We had our PR. Pr agent is a fan, right. We've got our host. He was a fan. We've got, uh, people who are selling our merchandise. They were fans. We've got people doing tickets at the door. They're our fans. We've got our merchandise suppliers, our fans, so it's just crazy to see how it's so community focused and it's not the vision that I had initially, but 10 years later, I'm just glad that it grew this to a community focused event. At the end of the day, if there's no community engagement, there's no impact, and that's the word we're looking for impact.

Ian Carless:

Now, in terms of sort of outside help, I know that you've been given a bit of a leg up, if you like, from Dubai Sports Council. How have they helped your?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

journey. So when it comes to the Dubai Sports Council, it's mostly access to their network or access to their logistics. Nothing financial, unfortunately for us, because when people look at our product they see it as a sports product, but to others it's an entertainment product. So how do you put the two together? It's not called WWE, Exactly right. So it's a sports entertainment product and it was so difficult at the beginning to explain to the legislators, to explain to the council, to the tourism board, that what we do is, in essence, it's a sport and it's an entertainment event and we intend on putting those two and keeping those two together.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

We have kids coming in nagging their parents that they wanna see their favorite wrestlers in attendance. They don't watch it because of the sport, they watch it because of the entertainment. And then you have the adults who come in for both. So back to my point about the sports council support. It's providing us with medical team to help if, God forbid, something happens. They help us out with permits. They help us out with the minor things that give us admin headaches, which I'm so, so grateful for. Especially with things like these, they get to suck the energy out of you, if you know what I mean.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Oh, absolutely it comes to admin work, paperwork applying and waiting for a few days, then you know you have to do it again if there was a minor error. So they do help us out a lot and I'm so, so grateful to them for for for helping us in that aspect yeah, and what about?

Ian Carless:

I mean, obviously, the big elephant in the room for me is what about wwe? What have they noticed? Are they across the smaller independent events and promotions that are going on? And if so, do they get involved? I mean, you know, even for me, sitting in your shoes, I would think, oh, it'd be nice, just to you know, get mentioned. I mean, imagine if they gave us a little plug on their Instagram page. Do you know what I mean? I mean, even that could.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Two points. There is a WWE signed an exclusive contract to run Middle East shows in Saudi Arabia. Right, I think that's running up until 2033, 2034. Right, all the events running in the region are exclusive to that country.

Ian Carless:

Right.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Which had given us the benefit to run our shows here locally. Now that started with a vision, with a lot of roadblocks, but with our passion and our focus we were able to push within these three years to create the product. The Rest of Us DXV product, and from gaining international attention to getting eyes from people working in the WWE is for us, is a seal of approval. We hadn't gotten any mention on socials yet or any mention on any press releases, but I know people who work there who tell me that they do have an eye on the area, they do have an eye on the talent and they just want us to keep going. They just want us to be able to engage the fans, to grow our fan base, to improve our own skill set, because, you never know, one day they would want to scout talent from the region or scout talent from Dubai, because they did host tryouts five years ago. You never know when they might come back.

Ian Carless:

It's interesting, isn't it? Because you know, thinking about it now, you would hope, like many other sports, you know, certainly at the professional level, there is a trickle down of funds down to the grassroots of each sport. I mean, and let's face it, you know, wrestling is no different to football, golf, cricket or whatever. You've got to have a talent pool coming through. Yeah, I mean, if they didn't have the talent pool, they wouldn't have a product, Exactly.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Okay. So it's funny that you mentioned that because they had just launched an initiative this year which is called the WWE ID. So, as a talent, in any location across the globe, you can get ID'd by WWE. That gives you credibility, gives the promotion you come from credibility, it gives the academy that you come from a sense of credibility as well, and they announce a new talent for WWE ID every single month. We hope for one of us to be chosen just to get that seal of approval.

Ian Carless:

So explain to me, how does that work? So when you say ID, so they're going to appear on an undercard somewhere, or how does that?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

work. So the way WWE works is that you've got the main product, which is on Netflix right now, and then you've got their developmental, which is NXT, and then, below that, they've got the WWE ID. The WWE ID is basically you get scouted either online or you could be on a show in the States an independent show and there's a WWE official there and you get WWE ID'd. So you get acknowledged by the WWE and you can keep going and doing your own thing, but that's a seal of approval of them saying that we're watching you and we hope to get you to our developmental brand, for you to get ready to be on netflix right does that make sense?

Ian Carless:

it does, yeah, absolutely so, from the grassroots all the way up so before we wrap up, a couple couple more just on on the event itself. You've been at a certain level now for the last couple of years. What is the next level and how do you get there? Tv.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

We would absolutely love to get a TV spot, either in Dubai or an international TV, because that is what gets us, as performers, to the next level. I had just come in from a show in Delhi, india, and I had low expectations, because I've traveled, I've done a lot of shows overseas and this is like my 19th or 20th country that I've performed in. So to me it felt like another day at the office. And the moment I landed and got driven all the way to the venue, I noticed something different. There's security check, there's this, there's that, there's a form you need to sign, there's barbers on set, there's lights, there's cameras, there's costume makers on set, and I thought to myself what is going on here? This is next level. And they said yeah, we're filming for tv for the next two months. That's why you're here for five days. We're going to shoot episodes on the daily, right? So to me, that was a very eye-opening experience, not only as a performer, but also as a promoter would that be for a netflix or for an amazon or for a local?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

for local tv and the reason being is because Der Der WI got a Netflix deal all across the globe, so you can see that there's an opportunity now, in the slot that Der Der WI was, for different promotions to be on that spot. You're talking millions of viewers, so for anyone who can step up, that would be the spot for them and just being in that environment and soaking in all the knowledge from the promoters to the producers, to the television team, to the filming team. I, just on the way back to dubai on the plane, I was just thinking it's, it's a capability that dubai has, it's a capability that we see on boxing events, that we see on basketball events and we see this insane production for these grassroots sports like boxing and and volleyball and basketball. Why can't the same be done for wrestling?

Ian Carless:

so that is, that is what's next right and then, before we wrap up, so looking ahead, we're what we're in march, now are we april, so we April already. Yeah, what's in place for the rest of the year?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

More events, more craziness, more rowdiness, more big names coming in from overseas and definitely a plan to do bigger venues, sold out venues and the chance to meet more fans.

Ian Carless:

Well, you've definitely been selling out hours. You've definitely been selling out Warehouse 4. And if people want to find out more about you, where can they go?

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

WrestleFestDXB on Instagram, wrestlefestdxbcom, and if you want to see more of my stuff, it's at Shaheen of the Sky.

Ian Carless:

Shaheen of the Sky. There you have it. Well, shaheen of the Sky, I've got one last question to ask you before we go. We've been asking everybody this I'm a music fan, I'm sure you are too.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

You've got your walk in music Number one. What's your walk in music Of Mice and Men?

Ian Carless:

Of Mice and Men.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

And secondly, what's on your playlist right now? Right now, yeah, I'd say a lot of the TikTok music's popping on into my playlist. Okay, I've really been digging the neighborhood recently.

Ian Carless:

The neighborhood Right. Okay, Mo wish you the best of luck for the future.

Mohammad Al Shehhi:

Thank you so much for having me.

Ian Carless:

Thanks for joining us on the podcast. Thank you, event News. Dxb was presented by myself, ian Carlos, the studio engineer and editor was Roy DeMonte, the executive producer was myself and Joe Morrison, and this podcast is a co-production between Warehouse 4 and W4 Podcast Studio Dubai. And if you haven't done so already, please do click that follow or subscribe button. See you next time.