Put YOURSELF Over…Brother
Sometimes I question the commitment of some wrestlers. Not just to wrestling in general, but to the promotions they work for as well as to their fans. My good buddy Twitter.com/PocketVolcano brought this point up on Twitter recently and it’s also something that John Thorne (from AIW) had referenced on Twitter as well. If wrestlers truly want to succeed, why then do so many of them fail to advertise themselves for their upcoming events?
John Thorne was referring to the fact that wrestlers who don’t even work for PWG, were going out of their way to talk about how great PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles was. Essentially, he felt like they were pandering to get themselves booked in Reseda. His actual quote was this:
“It would be cool if wrestlers promoted companies they did work for as much as they promote PWG a company they do not work for”
Before the PWG fans come out to crush me, understand that I love PWG. In fact, gun to my head, I’d admit that PWG is probably my favorite indy promotion right now. That being said, John Thorne was right. Why can’t wrestlers let the fans know where they’re going to be on a weekly basis, or even further ahead of time? If so many wrestlers get paid based “on the house” for the evening, don’t they play a key role (ideally) in how much they’re getting paid?
Joey Ryan seems to understand better than anyone that his name is a draw. What does he do? He goes on social media every single week and plugs his appearances. Why? Because if you build it…they will come. Or rather, if you advertise it, they will come.
Field of Dreams quotes aside, what happened to the days when wrestlers had websites that advertised their upcoming appearances? I realize there’s a lot of reasons why certain wrestlers don’t have their own websites, but at the end of the day, just like a promotion needs a website, it helps a wrestler to have a website as well. Some wrestlers (Slyck Wagner Brown for instance) realize the fact that their fans want to know where they are every week so what do they do? They have an upcoming appearances tab on their website (www.ThisIsSWB.com).
So assuming not all wrestlers are interested in trying to maintain a website, I KNOW that 99% of wrestlers have Twitter and Facebook. What’s the point of these devices? Just to shoot out silly rants and such? Sure, but at the end of the day it’s one of the best advertising tools they have available to them. Think about how many wrestlers have become a bigger deal just because of Twitter’s long reaching arms (Zack Ryder, anyone?). In fact, it’s likely that a fan may become a fan of a local promotion simply because they hear that one of their favorite wrestlers will be. What a service that would provide to wrestling as a whole. Even a retweet of a promotion’s plug of your appearance could make a world of difference.
There’s something else to think about as I delve into story time with Travis. Social media has the unique ability to grab the attention of someone who might not even be actively looking for where you might be. Case in point: After Bryan Danielson was released from the WWE following the infamous “tie incident”, I had no idea that a local promotion called “IPW” (now defunct) was booking him. Not only that, they were booking him vs. Drake Younger! I immediately contacted all my friends and we made the trek up to IPW to see this awesome match. After the match, we were so impressed with this Indianapolis based promotion that we ventured up there every single month. THIS is how promotions draw fans, draw money, and wrestlers get paid MORE (again, ideally).
Indy wrestlers, former WWE stars, former TNA stars, and legends…let people know where you’re going to be. If you do, they just might come see you. I’ll close with a quote from an informed fan:
“You promote the show you’re on, they gain more fans. More fans show up at the next show, you sell more merchandise. It’s really not a hard concept to understand. Why would you actively NOT promote something you’re involved with?”
Want to discuss this article? Tweet me @PhenomenalTLD or email me at PhenomenalTLD@gmail.com
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Indy Power Rankings for the Week of September 30th, 2013:
1. Adam Cole
2. Benjamin Kimera
3. Eddie Kingston
4. Biff Busick
5. Michael Elgin
6. reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish)
7. Uhaa Nation
8. Drew Gulak
9. Candice LeRae
10. Isys Ephex