The Last Match is shaping up to be a legendary show.
WrestleZone recently spoke with Jeremiah James, lead producer and co-book writer on The Last Match: A Pro Wrestling Rock Musical. James is a Broadway actor and lifelong wrestling fan, and he spoke about what it’s like being able to work on the show with some of the legends he grew up watching like Brutus Beefcake, Tito Santana and Demolition.
“Listen, this is going to make me sound like a total mark, but it’s just the truth. I can’t lie, it’s been surreal. It’s been surreal. The first time I got on the phone with Brutus [Beefcake], I was like, ‘you got to keep it together, man. You have to be professional here. You can’t all of a sudden fanboy out over one of your heroes’, you know? And he’s such a wonderful man, and his wife, Missy, is such a wonderful woman. We had a really great conversation. Same thing with Tito [Santana],” James shared, “explaining the process to Tito and what it is I’d like him to be as a part of the show and how I would love them to lend their knowledge and help us bring this show to the fans. And at the very end of the call, Tito went, ‘Arriba!’ I was like, ‘that didn’t just happen. Come on.’”
“So, as a ridiculous wrestling fan my whole life, it’s been surreal. Then having him at a launch party for that album and the listening party, it’s incredible,” James added. “It humbles me, man, that they all are willing to be a part of it. I’m excited to show them the full version of the show because I think it’s really going to connect with not only our wrestling fans and theater fans in general, but really to these wrestlers.”
James went on to explain that The Last Match is a love letter to the pro wrestling world and wanted to honor it the right way.
“And that was the thing that was important to me when I started writing this piece with my writing partner, Jason Hueso, who really pushed through that first script, was that we got that right, that people that were wrestling fans and the wrestlers, actual pro wrestlers, the golden era of wrestling, all that sort of thing that we did it. We did right by them that they understood that this was not a mockery of their world, that this was not us just trying to profit off the backs of wrestling fans and a world that we all love and respect. Because to me, pro wrestling is an art form and it’s its own unique art form that has existed for over 100 years. I really want people to leave this show,” James noted, “whether they’ve ever been a wrestling fan or not, to go, ‘I get it. I get why people love this world. I get why people think that this is amazing, and the storytelling is its own unique art form.’ So it’s surreal, is all I can do is say that having them all a part of it and talking to them is a trip.”
Stay up to date on The Last Match, learn more about the upcoming preview event and hear music from the production here and check out our full video interview with Jeremiah James at the top of this page.
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