The Greatest Article Ever Written

the-gaffer wrote:The next wrestling boom must be a product of independent restructuring. I am talking about the need for grassroots change in the wrestling industry. Ring of Honor is slowly but successfully branching out geographically. What began in Philadelphia has added a great many cities to its market in the past seven years. The northeastern quarter of the country has ROH as its territory. But there aren't the necessary corollaries in the rest of the country, and if anything Ring of Honor's progress will turn it into a national promotion competing with TNA and, potentially, WWE for dollars and fans.

There is still a large market for wrestling throughout the United States. A return to an organized territorial system ought to be the goal. Part of the problem with the independent scene is that there are many small promotions running in the same area competing for the same fanbase. These companies will trot out a handful of recognizable talents alongside many young, poorly trained or inexperienced workers. With so much competition and so many workers, there isn’t enough money for the young talent to make a living through the business alone. Thus, young workers with potential but poor training have to stay local, with their day job, rather than moving to a new territory where they can earn a livable wage and hone their craft.

Major metropolitan areas (I know Chicago and San Antonio from online communication with American fans) are filled to the brim with competing promotions. According to the Upcoming Shows forum at the Chicago Pro Wrestling proboards, there are between 15 and 25 active independent promotions running in the greater Metro/Tri-State area. As much as I love to see guys chasing the dream I think it’s fair to say that this is a bit much. And needless to say, there is no way for a casual fan to find a good promotion. One bad experience might sour them on the whole scene. Potential fans are lost because of undercards devoid of proper training or skill precede a main event whose talent commanded the majority of the gate. People have no choice but to sit through mediocre-at-best wrestling while waiting for something good. It is unfair to the fans and unfair to the talent that deserves better.

Imagine, if you can, the following scenario. WWE, the major company, comes through the Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, and Champaign-Urbana areas twice each per year (e.g., RAW from Chicago/Rosemont, house shows in Hammond, Rockford, Lafayette). Ring of Honor continues to grow its market, making trips to Chicago four times per year and building its fan base through pay per view and tv. (correct me if my geography is off US fans)

(going from the sites I am on I'll use the dollar instead of the pound since its the figures I'm looking at)

And then another independent steps up to the plate, bringing in the top midwestern talent for a Chicago-based territory. Starting out by touring every weekend, along the same junket, this promotion only employs the top independent talents. Let this promotion run in Hammond, IN; Merrillville, IN; Joliet, IL; Cicero, IL; Waukegan, IL; Kenosha, WI; Chicago Ridge, IL; Chicago proper. Eight shows, four weekends, same schedule every month, and the fans mark it on their calendar. From there comes local television, which starts in Chicago, but spreads to Milwaukee and Rockford and Champaign-Urbana and Indianapolis. From local television come bigger houses and the ability to add in Sunday afternoon shows. Over the summer, when the kids are out of school, run five days a week, testing new locations with shorter shows that end earlier and give talent the occasional night off. As summer winds to a close, try to bring families in to a Thursday night television taping, guaranteed to end early enough to get the kids in bed for school. Two slices of pizza and a can of Pepsi for $3.00. Give the wrestling fans something to talk about. Build a website and sell DVDs of hot feuds, hot house shows, and monthly digests featuring the best of the best. Instead of growing the market, grow the fanbase. Fill up family-friendly venues with 100, then 300, then 400 devoted fans at $15 a ticket, $5 off for kids who wear their school’s logo on their shirt. They won’t know why, but parents and grandparents will start coming back to a product that long ago alienated them, and kids will have something to talk about when the guy they’ve known since second grade shows up on RAW when they’re in seventh. The fans will come back.

And the smaller indies will compete with one another for the other places, giving the kids a chance to shine and earn their place. The best-run promotions with the best-trained workers will survive, and the garbage will disappear. The smaller promotions will feed off of this resurgence, seeing larger gates when they deserve it. There will be a collective recognition that skilled trainers will produce the talent necessary to keep a small promotion alive. The wheat will be separated from the chaff. And the fans will come back.

And as the lower rung gets more organized and more recognition, that Chicago promotion can maybe grow to include Milwaukee or Indianapolis, with the best of the lower tier moving up to fill the void. The territory stretches out to bigger money and bigger houses, while staying committed to a territorial model. Talent can come and go, learning how to work crowds in different areas and being seen by whole new groups of people. The niche products will still have space, especially those like CHIKARA that consistently train outstanding young talent. And the fans will come back, and bring along new recruits.

There are many, many people out there who are wrestling fans not being served. They haven’t been served since the mid-1990s, before mainstream wrestling became “edgy” and too adult for school kids. An entire generation of wrestling fans has been lost. WWE’s targeting of kids is a good start. But the entire atmosphere of independent wrestling needs to be, generally, friendly to families. Kids buy merchandise and concessions. Kids want autographs and DVDs. Kids grow up with something and learn to love it. And kids watch the commercials that air during the local hour-long Saturday morning wrestling show. And they will come back.

Wrestling needs a top-tier territory system with feeder indies underneath, all of whom look to pay talent top dollar for continuity’s sake. Wrestling needs promoters who can market the product consistently and bookers who can save blood and guts for the rare blowoff. Wrestling needs local television for local promotions. Wrestling needs to fill the gaps created by WWE’s dominance. Wrestling needs to worry about itself as a collective industry by forcing quack promoters and quack trainers out and supporting the efforts of the best of both. The best minds need to come together for a $7500 gate rather than fighting each other for $2500. Turning the workers into professionals again, rather than weekend warriors, will do wonders to improve the product and separate the quality workers from the poorly trained, the untrained, and the untalented. And through this, fans will come back.

Wrestling provides an escape from the real world. Drama, athleticism, emotional connections, and cathartic release are all part of wrestling. And they all rely on the willing suspension of disbelief. To be successful, wrestling has to promise the drama that a “real” sport can only hope for day in and day out. It has to provide characters and stories that resonate with the crowd. Underdog anthems and heroic comebacks wage war with crazed villainy and shameless cheating. Wrestling has the potential to fulfill a need. It must seize the opportunity to do so.