Billy Corgan Honored for Wrestling Outreach Program in Chicago
The Illinois State Crime Commission recently presented Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan with the Jesse White Award for a wrestling-focused outreach program he helped create as an outreach program for Chicago children. Corgan posted a picture taken at the award ceremony in Oak Brook, Illinois, of himself proudly holding the award in hand, along with fellow recipients Gabriel Baron, Jacques Baron and the creator of the outreach program, Sean “C. Red” Young.
The Barons formed the pro-wrestling company, Resistance Pro, in 2011 and enlisted Corgan as its creative director. Many of the company’s members are former students and current employees of the Chicago Public School district. They later built on that by creating the “positive outreach program,” RPro POP, with the intention of boosting the morale of Chicago children, NBC Chicago reports.
“RPro POP represents everything that Resistance Pro stands for: community, teamwork, erasing boundaries that separate us as people, reaching out to lend a hand to those who need a little extra love in life, and celebrating that moment,” Corgan said of the company on its website. “I’m so proud that our commitment to these values is as important as making our promotion the newest voice in professional wrestling.”
In related Billy Corgan wrestling news, AMC has ordered eight one-hour, unscripted episodes of an “Untitled Billy Corgan Wrestling Project.” The series will focus on his work as the creative director for Resistance Pro. In 2012, Corgan said the show would spotlight “the struggles independent wrestlers go through to try to find work.” With any luck, it will be as awesome as the wild, furniture-highlighting commercial he made with Resistance Pro wrestlers in 2013.
Outside of wrestling, Corgan is working on two new Smashing Pumpkins records, one of which will feature Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee on all nine of its tracks. Corgan wrote on his website that he met Lee in 1991 and that the “coupling was not as odd as some might assume.” “He is a wonderful, warm person to be around, and I wouldn’t have come to him with this proposition if I didn’t trust that this was something we’d both be proud of,” Corgan wrote.