Marty Lurie

Wrestling Society X was a short-lived professional wrestling-based television series produced in 2006 by Big Vision Entertainment. The weekly television series formerly aired on MTV, MTV2, MTV Tr3s, and over a dozen other MTV outlets throughout the world. WSXtra, an extra program featuring WSX matches and interviews not broadcast on television, was available on the promotion's MTV website and Video on Demand. WSX was presented as a secret society of wrestling that used a venue referred to as the WSX Bunker, complete with an artificially worn-out looking ring for its matchups. In matches held within this venue, falls count anywhere was the stipulation. The program also stood out due to its unorthodox approach to pro wrestling; this included frequent use of highly expressive plants, crowd sound effects, electrical sound effects, visual effects, and camera shaking when a wrestler would fall prey to electrical weapons. Along with wrestling, WSX featured musical guests playing at the start of each television broadcast, with some band members joining the broadcast team after the performance.

We know a lot about how major league baseball was strictly segregated before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. But strangely, few of us know much about the decade-long, fierce, organized efforts to bring that about. Lester Rodney, sports editor and writer for New York’s Communist Party newspaper The Daily Worker, made it his crusade beginning in 1936. This riveting 10-minute film, much of it in Lester Rodney’s own words, tells about the man, his passion for baseball, why he fought for equal treatment of “Negro” ball players, and his perspective on the far reaching impact of baseball’s desegregation. Enjoy this eye-opening mini-documentary about Lester Rodney (1911-2009), the unsung hero who helped desegregate Major League Baseball, narrated by baseball legends Vida Blue and Marty Lurie.