Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Addresses Exit From Resistance Pro Wrestling

Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is a man of many interests, with one of the more intriguing things on his resume in recent years being his involvement as the creative director for Resistance Pro Wrestling. Corgan recently surprised many by stepping away from the organization, offering a vague statement but promising more information in the future.

That information has now come as Corgan has penned a detailed missive about his decision to leave Resistance Pro, but he also stated his support of wrestling, his confidence in the Resistance Pro reality series that is still being shopped to networks and his fondness for those he worked with.

You can read Corgan's full explanation below:

Wrestling. Resistance Pro. Let's start here: I was asked the other day, 'do you worry about what people will think because you are involved with BLANK? (Blank being pro wrestling, synthesizer music, or CHARITY animal shelter magazines).

Answer: NO. Because if those things make someone dislike my musical life/output then they are marks FOR THEMSELVES.
Answer: I am not here to serve anyone but G-O-D. (Happiness being but one way by which 'to serve')

Love abounds, always. So let me say for those of you that don't know those in my life, I love them all. And if you don't know Jacques and Gabriel Baron, you should. Family men. Love their kith and kin. Beautiful children. And my brothers through and through.

Around Resistance Pro Wrestling Jacques would always say to the roster, 'we are family'; and I believed that. Still do.

But there's a time where you might split too from the family home because you disagree with what's going on. Just as I did when I was kid from my own. And you don't always have to know 'why' or even define what it is that's bugging you out. You just know something's amiss.

It's hard leaving, I'll admit. For I put more into the company than I should have, so strong was my belief. And perhaps that blinded me. But I am forever grateful for the opportunity to lead, to share, to execute a vision which it would be easy to argue was not successful where it mattered most: at the gate. Yet my focus was to build a futuristic promotion that could run on every level in the 21st century. And that got us as far as a contract with the vaunted AMC Network.

All things come with a cost, and the cost of that commitment was watching a decently balanced company with a dream devolve into something I considered beneath my place in the world. For it isn't wise to make someone like me the foil when the upside is so unseen, and small, and counter-intuitive to that future as planned. And it wasn't like this disintegration wasn't transparent, for there were cameras everywhere.

So when the show was cast into purgatory by AMC's decision to cut the majority of their unscripted (nice word for reality) programming, many (and I heard this) felt relief, while others celebrated as if it was any other day in the life of a circus; our greatest opportunity possibly squandered with the stroke of a pen.

Personally, I didn't see much accountability on the part of those who'd fallen off the company mantra, and I found this puzzling. And so began an investigation as to those 'whys and wherefores.'

Some suggested that there were other intentions afoot, which may or may not have involved my being used, or worked, or manipulated to create short-sighted opportunities for the company even should those efforts harm me in a number of ways; with the biggest victim, beside my 'name' being so readily used and abused, a diminishing enthusiasm. But still, this made no sense; for why would anyone want me out of the company when all I'd ever been told was how welcome I was? Or even the simple idea that my presence opened doors that wouldn't have been otherwise opened?

Make no mistake, I've committed a tremendous amount of time to R Pro and the advancement of the roster in particular. For we had a lot of talent under the roof; all of which deserve a call and more open explanation from me than I'd offer here. So don't let anyone tell you I wasn't in all the way.

And the additive of what I heard, saw, learned was that my partners didn't have my back in the way I thought they should; and by extension, were working against what I saw as their once-in-a lifetime lottery ticket for success in television. BUT: not everyone wants to win the lottery.

What's this really mean? That the company will soldier on without me. Perhaps they'll thrive, or survive? I hope they do. And the best thing I hope for is that The Baron's as a family get out of their promotion what they think is best. It's clear to me now that's probably what they wanted all along.

Remember, I was never an owner in any capacity. This was by my suggestion. Even though under various circumstances and guises it was offered. I simply headed up the creative focus in story-lines and in some cases developed characters.

But wait, there's a swerve! The tv show is still being shopped, with 4 shows in the can. AMC having given their assistance with the possibility that what's there can be picked up by an interested network. And I for one believe that the show AS CONCEIVED would draw fantastic ratings. Should that happen, I'd deal with how to pick up from where it all left off: by telling the story of these various implosions from those who lived it, and who'd carry on as well. And that, my friends, IS wrestling….

As an executive producer, would I include R Pro management in that? That'd depend. But the trust where it's needed (in business) is long gone.

How about anyone from the roster? Absolutely. Whether or not it's this as-yet-unfinished TV show, or a new version of it, or the new promotion I'd start forthwith, I believe-believe-believe in the talent of that roster. And as anybody who is in wrestling knows, there are some incredible souls out there who deserve a different kind of shot, and I aim to be one of those people building to something different for that exact purpose.

For as with someone like me, the business often overlooks talent in seeking the obvious. See every pop-singer-blah blah show for evidence of that.

So, to be clear: I left because Resistance Pro was no longer the company I thought I'd helped build from the ground up. And maybe, one might say, it never was...

The shows, the fans, the wrestling injuries, the heartaches, those I know were all real. The rest, I couldn't say. Time will tell who's friend or foe, and who thought me another easy touch.

Last thing: don't let anyone tell you wrestling's fake. The world is no more real.

W.P.C.

While Resistance Pro is no longer on his to-do list, Corgan is quite busy preparing for the release of his 'Monuments to an Elegy' album on Dec. 9 and working on his 'Day for Night' album, which is expected next year.

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