Here’s a hypothetical scenario to think about. Assume for a bit that you inherit a large sum of money. It doesn’t have to be insane amounts of money, like Bill Gates would have. For the sake of discussion, let’s assume it’s $15 mil. For the average person, that’s a lot of money to inherit.
Well….since this is one large hypothetical, let’s assume the $15 mil is after all taxes, any lawyers fees, etc. Since this is a wrestling blog, I have to ask a few basics. With some money available to you and assuming you’re still an active wrestling fan, would you consider trying to run your own company? If so, would you start from scratch? Would you prefer to try and buy a small company, essentially taking over? Would you try to become a partner in an existing company? Perhaps you’d use the money to have a blast at some major wrestling events, instead. I know I could have a blast going to one of WWE’s Big 4 shows with all the extra stuff that they like to hype up, along with as many indy show that typically like to follow the big 4 shows.
For me, I’d like to run my own promotion. Since I have a lack of knowledge of wrestling’s inner workings, I’d have to rely heavily on people who’ve been around the block a few times, in a manner of speaking. No two ways around it. I’d need people that know what they’re doing. This would involve bringing people on that have connections to various talent, which will include managers/valets, as well as ring announcers, bookers, road agents, so on and so forth. Any potential job that could be filled, I’d need people that could help me fill those positions with competent people.
Well….since this is one large hypothetical, let’s assume the $15 mil is after all taxes, any lawyers fees, etc. Since this is a wrestling blog, I have to ask a few basics. With some money available to you and assuming you’re still an active wrestling fan, would you consider trying to run your own company? If so, would you start from scratch? Would you prefer to try and buy a small company, essentially taking over? Would you try to become a partner in an existing company? Perhaps you’d use the money to have a blast at some major wrestling events, instead. I know I could have a blast going to one of WWE’s Big 4 shows with all the extra stuff that they like to hype up, along with as many indy show that typically like to follow the big 4 shows.
For me, I’d like to run my own promotion. Since I have a lack of knowledge of wrestling’s inner workings, I’d have to rely heavily on people who’ve been around the block a few times, in a manner of speaking. No two ways around it. I’d need people that know what they’re doing. This would involve bringing people on that have connections to various talent, which will include managers/valets, as well as ring announcers, bookers, road agents, so on and so forth. Any potential job that could be filled, I’d need people that could help me fill those positions with competent people.
With that said, I’d name my promotion Dakota Championship Wrestling. I’d run shows in North & South Dakota and surrounding communities. Since Minnesota is considered over saturated with Independent promotions, currently speaking, I would limit what I would do in Minnesota. I’d try to get a few shows done in places like Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska. That would likely be done sporadically, as I would prefer to keep the promotion within a set area. Shows in Minnesota would be possible, assuming they were in towns that weren’t frequented often by other Indy promotions. I likely wouldn’t go too far into Minnesota….towns that are within reasonable driving distance of either Dakota. Most of the Minnesota promotions don’t do much business near the Dakotas, so it would be easy to make money off some of these shows.
For the most part, a large majority of shows will be held in the Dakotas. Both states should be large enough to hold regular shows without over-staying your welcome in any one community.
Obviously, I’ll need a way of airing the events. It’s like any other promotion in this regards. Not everyone is going to make it to every show. Since this would be impossible, even for the biggest super fan, getting the shows aired is a major necessity. If fans can watch the action on a regular basis, they can keep their interest up, thus wanting to show up to more shows and whatnot.
The biggest problem? Getting a TV slot is harder then most people would realize. I’ve seen some people get the late night/early morning slots, typically used for the infomercials. There was a time, several years ago, where I was able to catch NWA: Anarcy (if I’m not mistaken) around 2-3 AM, local time. This was done during the usual infomercial timeframe. I’m sure it cost them some serious cash, especially if they were able to get timeslots in enough markets.
The biggest problem? Getting a TV slot is harder then most people would realize. I’ve seen some people get the late night/early morning slots, typically used for the infomercials. There was a time, several years ago, where I was able to catch NWA: Anarcy (if I’m not mistaken) around 2-3 AM, local time. This was done during the usual infomercial timeframe. I’m sure it cost them some serious cash, especially if they were able to get timeslots in enough markets.
However, this sort of arrangement is typically cost promoters money. If I were to run a promotion, the last thing I’d want to do, if possible, is pay for television time. I believe paying for air time was a major factor in ECW’s downfall. I think it had to do with spending more money on the airtime then they were earning from merch, ticket sales and whatnot.
Plus, if you’re programming is run at a time of day that most people are going to be asleep, doesn’t do you any favors to pay for certain time slots. Since a new wrestling company would be an untested product, nobody would just give the promoter a time slot without wanting something in return. An arrangement with a smaller, regional stations or independent stations (assuming that’s a possibility) would be the best route, if TV is desired enough.
Plus, if you’re programming is run at a time of day that most people are going to be asleep, doesn’t do you any favors to pay for certain time slots. Since a new wrestling company would be an untested product, nobody would just give the promoter a time slot without wanting something in return. An arrangement with a smaller, regional stations or independent stations (assuming that’s a possibility) would be the best route, if TV is desired enough.
If the cost of getting onto TV is too much, the next best option would be having a YouTube channel, at the very least. I’d most likely work with the FITE App as well. Maximum exposure for little to no cost. Hopefully working with YouTube would still allow some sort of AdSense money. I wouldn’t turn down a source of revenue, if it wasn’t necessary.
By the looks of it, the FITE App does have Pay-Per-Views on their site. From what I saw, most of them range from $9.99 for the smaller promotions to $34.99 for the larger promotions (ROH, TNA, etc). Realistically, anyone hosting Pay-Per-Views are going to charge X Amount of money to air the shows. I don’t know how much cable or satellite companies typically charge, but I can’t imagine it’s cheap. FITE App might make it more realistic for smaller companies to do this.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that I had an arrangement with FITE, I’d do Pay-Per-Views from time to time. Considering the cost of producing such events and the smaller size of the company, I’d only want to do a few in a year.
Weekly episodic shows will be aired in approximately 60-90 minute increments. To save on expenses, I’d tape a few shows at a time. I’d do 2 tapings a day, at most. This will allow me to keep shows current, save some money on production, travel, and other expenses. I wouldn’t want to wear the fans, wrestlers, or employees out too much with too much action in one night.
While I’m at it, I’d do several house shows as well. These would be done in traditionally small venues, such as high school gyms, bingo halls, VFWs, or American Legions. Like a lot of companies, this would be done to test out certain ideas, see if it’s something I’d like to keep using. At the same time, this would help bring some of the action to the towns that otherwise wouldn’t get any of the action.
Since I’d do shows of 60-90 minutes, I’d like to air it once a week, preferably on Wednesdays. The show would be named Wednesday Warfare.
Once in awhile, I’d like to do Television Specials, much like a Clash of the Champions or Saturday Night’s Main Event. The TV Specials will have a different name/theme to them, depending on where the shows are being held. DVD copies of these shows would likely be sold, much like the supercards. In this case, they’d likely sell for $5-6.50 a DVD.
While I’m at it, I’d do several house shows as well. These would be done in traditionally small venues, such as high school gyms, bingo halls, VFWs, or American Legions. Like a lot of companies, this would be done to test out certain ideas, see if it’s something I’d like to keep using. At the same time, this would help bring some of the action to the towns that otherwise wouldn’t get any of the action.
Since I’d do shows of 60-90 minutes, I’d like to air it once a week, preferably on Wednesdays. The show would be named Wednesday Warfare.
Once in awhile, I’d like to do Television Specials, much like a Clash of the Champions or Saturday Night’s Main Event. The TV Specials will have a different name/theme to them, depending on where the shows are being held. DVD copies of these shows would likely be sold, much like the supercards. In this case, they’d likely sell for $5-6.50 a DVD.
On the Youtube channel specifically, I’d have smaller “shows”, which would act more like hype segments, in a manner of speaking. I’d have a staffer of one sort or another (commentator, interviewer, etc) do quick segments hyping major events, post show segments (such as brawls or reactions to winning/losing huge matches) and other small things. These small video segments would be used to hype feuds, specific matches, and whatnot.
Mostly, these type of videos would used to help advance storylines and help hype up angles, as much as possible. This would help to avoid wasting time on the actual wrestling shows.
Mostly, these type of videos would used to help advance storylines and help hype up angles, as much as possible. This would help to avoid wasting time on the actual wrestling shows.
Since the weekly shows would be taped in advance, I’d want to give more encouragement to the performers for all that work in such a short amount of time. To make sure they’d be willing, I’d at least insist on giving them their appearance fees for every show they appear on. Do both tapings, get paid for both shows that they’re actually showing up for.
Since many promotions do their share of supercards/major events, as well as Pay-Per-Views, I’d want to do stuff like this as well. In both cases, more money could be asked for on tickets alone, especially since promotions generally do more for the fans. More matches, longer shows, so on and whatnot. Pay-per-views could be charged $9.99 for each event, since we’re talking a small promotion. If the company does well enough for a few years, I would increase that rate to $14.99. That really depends on how popular the shows are.
Supercards would be approximately 3 hours long. This would be treated simply as smaller versions of Pay-Per-Views. I’d air it on the YouTube/FITE sites before putting these shows on DVD. To encourage people to buy the DVDs, I’d put on some extras to make it worth the money. Having dark matches on the DVDs would be one such option. One option I would even consider is having a pre-show for the supercards/Pay-Per-Views that would go straight to DVD or Blu-Ray. Stuff like that would likely justify charging a little bit more money, I would think.
Sales of DVDs for the generic supercard would likely be somewhere in $7.50 price range. If a pre-show is added with enough extras, I’d charge closer to $10. Pay-per-views that eventually make it to DVD would be around $12.50-15, depending on what kind of extras are added. All of this is assuming that I’m doing the traditional shows. If enough is added, the price would be bumped up accordingly.
If, and only if, the promotion did well enough, I would expand my wrestling interests further. This would depend heavily on how well on how well I was doing with Dakota Championship Wrestling. Assuming best case scenario, what I’d prefer doing is opening separate and independent brands. The first I would go with is Big Sky Wrestling, which would cover Montana and Wyoming. Depending on the level of success, I would start local/regional promotions as I felt appropriate…..preferably in areas that I felt were under-served by Indy promotions.
If, and only if, the promotion did well enough, I would expand my wrestling interests further. This would depend heavily on how well on how well I was doing with Dakota Championship Wrestling. Assuming best case scenario, what I’d prefer doing is opening separate and independent brands. The first I would go with is Big Sky Wrestling, which would cover Montana and Wyoming. Depending on the level of success, I would start local/regional promotions as I felt appropriate…..preferably in areas that I felt were under-served by Indy promotions.
Any and all titles that my promotions controlled could be defended in the other promotions I would operate.
Speaking of championships, the titles I’d operate for this particular scenario would go as follows:
- DCW Heavyweight
- DCW Television
- DCW Rough Rider
- DCW Badlands
- DCW Tag Team
The Heavyweight Title, as one would expect, would be the top title for the company.
The Television Title would be treated as the secondary title, much like the US Title in WCW/old NWA or the IC/US Titles in WWE.
The Rough Rider and Badlands Titles would be midcard titles. Both championships would see more risks taken for them (nothing insanely crazy, though). The Rough Rider Championship would be viewed in a similar capacity as TNA’s X-Division title, as an example. You could see a few ladder matches for the belt or Ultimate X matches, as examples. I wouldn’t go with insane bumps off of balconies on a daily basis, by any means. If it was for “special” moments, then I’d be more inclined for something like that.
The Rough Rider and Badlands Titles would be midcard titles. Both championships would see more risks taken for them (nothing insanely crazy, though). The Rough Rider Championship would be viewed in a similar capacity as TNA’s X-Division title, as an example. You could see a few ladder matches for the belt or Ultimate X matches, as examples. I wouldn’t go with insane bumps off of balconies on a daily basis, by any means. If it was for “special” moments, then I’d be more inclined for something like that.
The Badlands Championship would likely see more bad ass scenarios. As examples, competitors would likely be allowed to compete in street fight scenarios, parking lot brawls and whatnot. I wouldn’t go as far as death matches or anything insanely dangerous like that. I’d mostly go with the matches that gave a more freedoms to the competitors while trying to maintain safety.
Personally, I grew up in a time where certain types of matches were only done if it was a bigger match scenario. Cage matches were usually considered the biggest match you could do, at the time. I wouldn’t expect people to do stupid or unneeded stunts unless there was huge money involved for them……and only if a reasonable amount of protection for the performers could be reasonably guaranteed.
Personally, I grew up in a time where certain types of matches were only done if it was a bigger match scenario. Cage matches were usually considered the biggest match you could do, at the time. I wouldn’t expect people to do stupid or unneeded stunts unless there was huge money involved for them……and only if a reasonable amount of protection for the performers could be reasonably guaranteed.
Sponsors would be an absolute must, if I were turn any kind of profit. Depending on where I’m running events, I’d have to work with local and regional companies to make sure that I could guarantee revenue. I would ask for sponsors from local gas stations to any business that operates in either Dakota. Makes sense since even WWE has sponsorship deals with major national companies. This would be a source of serious money, at least enough to keep the bills paid in the short term.
I realize there's more to running a wrestling company then what I mentioned. This is just a few basics of what I'd at least try to do.
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