Maxim Bunea-Jivanescu
Stand By Wrestling’s Legacy Finale 2026 is a 30-minute live multi-camera wrestling broadcast blending live sport with scripted storytelling, real performance, and fictional narratives.
Produced live on March 5th 2026 in Studio 1 at IADT with a live audience, it used professional multi-camera production with a seven-camera setup, live entrances, commentary, promo segments, pre-recorded hype packages, replays, and real-time graphics within a fully branded SBW ring and set design.
The story follows an underground Dublin wrestling promotion threatened by corporate control, where a central match decides the company’s future, using the live broadcast format to escalate and resolve the central conflict.
The objective of the project was to develop a professional live multi-camera wrestling broadcast format that enhances student skills in live television production and sports entertainment storytelling. It aimed to simulate a real-world broadcast environment, providing experience in live TV gallery production across various technical departments and pre-recorded VT hype packages and promotional segments.
It also sought to encourage collaboration across multiple production departments, replicating a professional live television and film workflow while expanding networking opportunities. Each department was to contribute to a cohesive broadcast that integrated technical execution with narrative storytelling into a unified vision.
The project aimed to explore professional wrestling as a medium for social commentary, addressing social class inequality in Ireland and reflecting how class divisions influence opportunity, identity, and power structures.
Moreover, it attempted to examine the impact of corporate influence on wrestling entertainment, exploring how authenticity, community, and in-ring storytelling can be diminished through commercialisation and spectacle, raising questions about cultural and creative integrity.
Finally, it aimed to establish a format capable of functioning as a recurring weekly broadcast, positioning SBW as a sustainable model for independent Irish wrestling combining live production, storytelling, and sports entertainment.
The project resulted in a successful live multi-camera wrestling broadcast combining live television production, storytelling, and sports entertainment performance. This fully realised live show filmed in front of a live audience, integrated live gallery production, pre-recorded segments, commercial breaks, and professional TV broadcast standards.
The project was received positively by IADT lecturers, with feedback indicating it was one of the most ambitious TV graduate live productions to date.
All departments contributed to building the world of Stand By Wrestling, supporting the event theme of Legacy Finale 2026 and the identity of the characters.
The project was a platform for wider social themes representing social inequalities in Ireland, promoting Irish wrestling and providing wrestlers with live TV experience.
A key learning outcome was understanding the gap between expectations and production realities, particularly in planning, logistics, and live execution, especially in managing the €6,000 production budget. The production highlighted the importance of insurance, health and safety in wrestling and live performance environments, reinforcing risk awareness and safe working practices.
The project significantly improved my live television and film production skills, particularly in live transitions, timing, rehearsals, and cross-department communication. It reinforced the importance of preparation, coordination, and teamwork in delivering a live broadcast.
The thesis examines how WWE promo segments featuring Mr. McMahon construct class-based ideologies through verbal conflict and authority figures. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Fairclough’s model, it analyses institutional power, hierarchy, and resistance across the Attitude, Ruthless Aggression, and P.G. eras.
Findings show WWE consistently reinforces elite authority, with resistance remaining symbolic. The shift into the P.G. Era reflects a more controlled, corporate media approach, reducing explicit aggression while maintaining dominant power structures.
This directly informs Stand By Wrestling, reflecting WWE’s transition from independent-style wrestling to a corporate-influenced promotion. SBW mirrors this shift through an Irish wrestling company being shaped by corporate control, exploring how commercialisation impacts authenticity, storytelling, and resistance while still allowing narrative conflict within a structured system.
I’m a television producer with experience across live broadcast, documentary, short film, branded content, and immersive training productions. Currently completing a BA in Television Production at IADT Dublin, I’ve produced large-scale live shows, including Ireland’s first student-led live wrestling broadcast, alongside award-winning documentary projects such as Fire & Spirits: The Story of the 1875 Dublin Whiskey Fire and branded content work for Kodak. I’m passionate about storytelling, live sports entertainment, and creating visually engaging productions across film and television, with additional experience in multi-camera broadcast operation and editing in DaVinci Resolve, AVID Media Composer, and Adobe Premiere Pro.
