Today we’d like to introduce you to Alfred Konuwa
Hi Alfred , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I started a sports blog in 2010 called Big-Nasty.com. I would update it every day with little-to-no traction, but I kept posting. I started to gain an audience as I continued to land interviews with higher profile athletes and wrestlers.
At the time, Bleacher Report had a model where anybody could writer for them, so I started posting articles to Bleacher Report to promote my blog. One of the editors of B/R liked my writing and hired me for a position as a writer/contributor. This led to me working with the B/R Digital media team to produce online content, and later I was hired at Forbes when my B/R editor left the site and hired me to cover pro wrestling. I’ve always been able to adapt my coverage of sports to both a written and on-camera platform, so I worked with the Forbes Digital media team to write, produce and create content. I later created my own YouTube Channel, Pro Wrestling Bits, which now has around 25,000 subscribers.
I’ve always had a comedic slant to how I cover pro wrestling, and I try not to take myself seriously. Since 2015, I’ve been writing and performing standup comedy and I’ve been able to blend comedy and pro wrestling as part of my social media brand to create truly unique content in the space. I have a DIY mentality, and always pride myself on having the autonomy to create quality content whether or not I’m working under the umbrella of a major company. It has served me well in today’s environment, where you’re now seeing stars of legacy companies like Stephen A. Smith (ESPN) and Bill Simmons (formerly of ESPN) create their own media platforms online. This creates leverage for their own personal brand, which makes them more marketable and less reliant on conglomerates.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
To me, it’s been a smooth road, even during the times when I had a small following or struggled to gain traction, but I think it’s because I’ve enjoyed the ride. I try not to take anything for granted and appreciate the journey. When I look at where I’m at now and look back to how things were when I started, I now realize how much I was struggling but that’s now how I felt then.
When I wrote my blog, I just had fun entertaining myself while slowly gaining an audience. There was a time when my Aunt was the only person who read and/or commented on my blog. So I’d have some 1,200 thinkpiece on why Aaron Rodgers is better at football when he’s angry, and the one comment would be “The LORD is your SHEPHARD!”
But I enjoyed it. I’m proud of my work and, delusional or not, I was always confident it was going to work out in my favor as long as I didn’t quit. I think it’s easier to enjoy the journey when you’re not comparing yourself to others. Social media has made that difficult, but my approach to social media has always been to “post and ghost.” I post constantly to social media, and while I do check in to respond to comments in order to engage my audience, I try not to spend too much time looking at other people’s journeys because inevitably you’ll start comparing and judging your success to others.
They’re on a completely different path than me with an entirely different set of circumstances and goals, so to try to compare where anybody is to you me would be a waste of time, I like to worry about what’s ahead of me, what I want and how I can get it. If I find myself jealous of what somebody else has (which is natural), I remind myself that jealousy is curiosity disguised as anger. So maybe reach out and collaborate. Ask for advice. Chances are, if you’re in a certain industry or space and you notice feelings of jealousy/admiration for a top creator, talent, etc, they could have those same feelings for you once they see what you’re all about. So instead of seething quietly and stressing yourself out. Reach out.
If I were to point out one of the biggest struggles along the way, it’s insecurity about my content and whether I should post it. A lot of creatives deal with getting in their own head about whether or not their content is good. “How will this post be received? Is it even good?” This is particularly a problem when posting on Platforms like IG where a lot of my friends and people I know are following me. YouTube gave me the confidence to know I could consistently post great content, because I started at 0 on YouTube where everybody was a stranger. So I felt more free and didn’t care about how my content was received. I didn’t know these people, therefore I didn’t care about their judgment. I was free, and it led to great content which grew my YouTube channel quickly. I now use this same mentality for any content I post anywhere. This is the beauty of posting and ghosting because If I were to look at each individual post and what traction it’s getting, it’ll be easier for me to get in my head when a post doesn’t do well. So I’ll just post a handful of times and check in every few weeks. Chances are, more posts do well then not, and that has helped me build the confidence to just lean into any idea I have because I’m often surprised by what connects.
Personally I actually overcame a very serious health struggle after having brain surgery at the beginning of the year. After experiencing headaches, I was rushed to the hospital and all I remember was waking up and the doctor saying “the surgery was a success.” I was like WHAT surgery? Turns out I had a brain abscess. It was a rare instance and they still don’t know the cause. I just got back from Maui, so I’m guessing it was the tropical fish. One of them was so many different colors that when we locked eyes I could almost see the poison in its pupils. I blame that fish for my brain abscess, I don’t care what anybody says.
But I’m fully healed and while I was in the hospital I essentially had to re-learn how to speak and gradually my memory came back over the course of a week or two. I really worked hard on speech therapy because, before the surgery, I was working on a video so I really wanted to put it out after having some extra time. Recovery was the priority though.
I have a lot of pretty funny stories about that experience, which obviously was difficult at times, and I’m still trying to figure out how to tell them without sounding too dark.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a standup comedian and a content creator with an expertise in professional wrestling. I was able to land a job covering pro wrestling for Forbes, a position I’ve had for about 10 years now. What sets me apart is my irreverence toward controversial topics like racism in wrestling and unionization, which I cover with a comedic twist.
There is a lot of sameness in the wrestling space. A lot of people who cover wrestling are terrified of offending fans and wrestlers, and they take a cookie-cutter approach as if they’re trying to cover wrestling in a way that will make the wrestlers like them. It’s a “Daytime Talk” energy and I grew up a fan of late night talk shows like David Letterman and Arsenio Hall.
Reading pro wrestling coverage often comes off like I’m reading a glorified subreddit where everybody takes themselves too seriously and doesn’t see the obvious comedy in the daily musings of the over-the-top pro wrestling business. I create a lot of narratives about topics that most people in our space are afraid to touch, but I make it funny because A. Comedy is the language I speak and B. Presenting content in the form of a joke makes it easier to digest. It also leads to people better understanding the given topic after having laughed at it.
You’d be surprised how many people in pro wrestling media fancy themselves as serious journalists. I’d like to consider myself a handsome columnist who gets paid for his opinion. I’ve enjoyed pro wrestling all my life because of what makes it fun. The pageantry, the drama, the characters, the stories. Those who cover wrestling from a behind-the-scenes standpoint like I do often focus too much on match quality and who is the best wrestler. They like what’s called “workrate.” You know? Incel stuff.
None of that means anything without a proper storyline. I built my brand on laughing in the face of technical wrestling and openly mocking those who “grade” wrestling matches based on how much two grown men are able to sweat on each other and exchange holds with no storyline to speak of.
I’m known for pushing the envelope and making edgy jokes about this art that often go viral because of how polarizing they become. I’m one of the first—if not the first—people to fashion my coverage of wrestling into sketches and bits. That’s why I call my YouTube channel Pro Wrestling Bits. Every video is basically a standup set of me telling jokes about a pro wrestling subject, but in a way that informs. I’m closer to a Jon Stewart or W. Kamau Bell than a Walter Cronkite or a Tom Brokaw. Anybody can do research and tell you the news about wrestling. Literally anybody can do that.
It’s more challenging to present coverage in an engaging way that also entertains, and that is a challenge that I will always be happy to embrace.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
COVID-19 taught me the value of independence and the power of digital media. Even though digital media is an ever-changing business, there will always be a value in being literate in content creation. Once upon a time, that meant blogging. Then came social media. Now AI has entered the group chat. COVID is when I truly realized that having a presence online could be monetized in a way where content creation could be a full-time job. Social Media has evened the playing field when it comes to gatekeepers. You no longer need to be anointed in order to “make it.” You don’t even necessarily need an agent. As much as agents and gatekeepers can help your career, if you build it, they will come.
I’m often asked by my friends “won’t it be cool if you got a Netflix special one day?” And, yes, it absolutely would, but my plan is not to wait to be selected for anything. I’m in the DIY (Do it Yourself) Era, so my plan is build my own brand, brick by brick. If Netflix, Hulu or any other streaming/distribution platform can afford me, then of course I’d love to partner with them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alfredkonuwa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akonuwa
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bignasty247
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thisisnasty
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ProWrestlingBits
- Other: https://linktr.ee/akonuwa
Image Credits
Comedy Heights Photos (Hawaiian Shirt) by Byron Morton
