The celebrity wrestling project that Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Jason Hervey are producing for CMT is already the subject of controversy. Reports surfaced earlier this week that casting calls are taking place for the reality show. However, this was news to two people who registered a very similar project and later discussed it with Hogan's management team.

Pro Wrestling Dot Net has learned that the production team of Julie Caitlin Brown and Steve Church registered a show called “Wrestling with Reality” with the Writers Guild of America and the Library of Congress. Although there have been reports that a similar show aired in the U.K., the copyright was approved without incident in January 2007.

A pair of sources close to the situation report that the co-producers initially pitched the idea to Judy McGrath, the CEO of MTV Networks—which includes CMT, Spike TV, Comedy Central, and other Viacom cable properties. McGrath was receptive and passed the project off to Kevin Kay of Spike TV, and Jenn Levy from VH1.

The producers also pitched the concept to Hogan’s agent Peter Young and manager Darren Prince with the intent of getting Hogan involved as a cohost or judge.

The “Wrestling with Reality” concept was still being shopped around when Hogan started telling the media about a similar project that he, Bischoff and Hervey are producing for CMT.

“I’m not quite clear as to what is going on,” Church told Prowrestling.net on Wednesday. “I would love an explanation. I’m sure this can all be cleared up in a simple conversation. I’m also a believer that there’s no such thing as a coincidence, but I am not sweating it.” Attempts to reach Brown for comment were not successful.

Church, who declined further comment, is currently producing a television show for FOX called “Baseball Bunch,” according to IMDB.com. Brown was a regular cast member on “Babylon 5,” and also has a long list of acting and producing credentials.

Powell’s POV: To summarize, Church and Brown met with the CEO of MTV Networks and with Hogan’s people, only to watch Hogan, Bischoff, and Hervey strike a deal on a similarly described reality show concept with one of Viacom's cable networks. Based on Church’s comment, one can assume that he has yet to discuss the matter with anyone from Hogan’s camp, so it’s possible this could all be settled. I'll have more on this story later today.

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