It’s been quite the year in the greater Pittsburgh area with our partners at IndyWrestling.us and I wanted to look back at the year. I’ve had the pleasure to work on the production and distribution of these shows.  

Victory Championship Wrestling 

This company consistently surprises me with their booking decisions, featuring talent not typically seen in Pittsburgh. I often question whether the unusual cards will draw or resonate with fans. However, I’m usually proven wrong – solid crowds turn out and enjoy the matches. Backstage, the vibe reminds me of a Peanuts gang putting on a talent show: participants band together with a “let’s put on a show” attitude. It’s been a great place for wrestling fans in a small town just south of Wheeling, West Virginia to experience some quality wrestling on a regular basis.

Renegade Wrestling Alliance

I have been with this promotion for the majority of his 15 years of existence. It gets to celebrate that milestone in Janyary, and with the help of one of our amazing talents, I’ve gotten to see 15 years of something I’ve worked on summed up in an amazing way. I never would’ve guessed that this would’ve been the most consistent fan base show monthly product for the most of its 15 years learning from the people that come through it and showcasing talents of amazing people on TV formally on TV in such a surprising place. 

Prospect Pro Wrestling 

It really feels like this promotion hit its stride this year. Benefiting from “less is more” the shows have been more focused than ever the crowds responding and it has hit records in attendance for their five year history. I love a lot of the old school vibes from my early days of going to independent wrestling with the people I got to see in the ring in those days mixing it up with the newer talent. And they let Chest Flexor light things on fire every once in a while.

880 Wrestling

I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited about a new project. I’m so thankful for MV Young for letting me experiment and train in his space and try to build something up. It’s shocking to see how these wrestlers and our productions looked in February of this year versus what we just pulled off at the last big Friday show of the year. It is the most different feeling Wrestling promotion than almost anybody I’ve worked with and I think people are noticing. The crowds are crazy. It’s a new difficulty to try to film the shows in this environment. But it’s a lot to us testing things to be used on bigger shows or bringing things from bigger shows and trying them on this level and we’ve already gotten a number of very good videographer that are regularly working with us out of this. The interconnectedness with the current pro wrestling scene in the area has been crazy. Inever know who’s gonna show up next from this city or others it’s punk rock it’s dirty it’s amazing.

Trends Behind the Scenes

10 years ago, I felt like I was dragging wrestling companies into this century by attempting to provide as much production and promotion work as I could muster. These days, these companies have dedicated Social Media, interview videographers and video editors that can concentrate on taking the shows we’re producing to better push stories and promote shows. No one can do all of this themselves and it’s such an important part of creating the excitement that sells tickets.

Thank you everyone we’ve worked with in 2023 and continuing with us in 2024.

All of these promotions can be experienced at www.IndyWrestling.us.

One night in Long Beach, CA, I was able to fly in the morning of the show off of another event in Michigan to help Tech Direct New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Resurgence PPV featuring the crowning of the first NJPW Strong Women’s Champion with a very surprising ending.  

Working with this crew in our small way over the last two years has been a tremendous learning experience, and it’s been amazing to see some great moments with the promotion, whether from behind the switcher, doing tech support, or stream support from afar.  

But seeing Missy grow in confidence in her production work with the group has been the true highlight.

#VideoProduction #liveproduction 

In 2022, I had a chance to come and assist in bringing DEFY Wrestling to live streaming for the first time with “Wild Ones” on Pluto TV.

It was such an experience to work with the crew and help deliver the “Defy Style” to live as the Technical Director and Streaming Advisor for a group that typically post edits all of their shows.

This was the bloody main event between AEW’s Jon Moxley and New Japan’s Tom Lawlor that became my favorite match to work on in my career.

The match is now available for free on YouTube. BE ADVISED this is a BLOODY match.

#videoproduction#liveproduction

Recently The Scarehouse released a 360 video we were experimenting with. This was one of a long line of uses for the new technology, in this case, we had on hand the Samsung Gear 360 and Ricoh Theta.

The first issue that we had was lighting.  The room was rather dark.  Hey, it’s a haunted house. Working with the staff, we determined a pretty nice lighting that came up from below the camera in the middle of the Room of Doors, lighting the subjects with a chilling effect.

After determining the sequence, we ran through with each camera a couple of times.  The Ricoh Theta won out with lighting, and ability to edit.  (Samsung gets funny when you don’t have the software installed, and there are no Mac options as of the time).  We added logos to cover up the tripod and to fade in to finish it off.

While I have some issues with some of the video quality with the hardware we used, one has to remember these videos are typically being seen in the stream on Facebook or on smartphones rather than an Oculus Rift or full screen, making the low end perfect for these scenarios.

What do you think of our scary 360?  Check out the Facebook or the Youtube version! (You can use Google Cardboard with your Youtube app!)

Last week, we talked about how one company was using Facebook Live around an event to create some engagement and serve their customers.  This week, I wanted to talk a little about considering the platform over YouTube Live.

When YouTube Live became available to the masses, it was a chance for all of us to tap into YouTube’s crazy massive audience directly.

But then Facebook did video.

When video came to the blue brand, it was clear using it to post your videos gave you a little bit of a boost, since Facebook wanted everyone to see more videos.  We’ve seen an exponential growth in Wrestling Mayhem Show’s likes and views since starting the strategy.  Facebook Live is seeing the same trend.

Right now, if you use systems like OBS or Wirecast, you can tap into Facebook for live content just as easily (ok, you may want to learn what a stream key if you haven’t yet).  In recent weeks, we’ve moved our Wrestling Mayhem Show and AwesomeCast live streams over.  The untreated, lower resolution streams of our raw interviews with pro wrestler Britt Baker or WMS episode with announcer Burt LeGrande are now trending higher than their fully edited and cleaned counterparts.

This won’t last.  Something else will be not he crest of Facebook’s new feature wave you’ll have to take advantage of, but maybe it’s time to give the Facebook Live a spin and see how far it goes.

The number of people who use thunderclap proves the relevance of social media platforms today. This week, we endeavored to use Facebook Live for a client to cover the in office going ons during their biggest day: Registration.  In this instance, for events that span March through June in 2017, most sell out within the first hour, if not minutes, from going online.  This is day where their servers get taxed to the point of shut down because the flux like a late night Apple iPhone pre-order.

The first day: We had a good number of live viewers for the Aero competition.  Students were interacting, sharing what was and wasn’t working on the registration page, and and even touch base to confirm their registration since they couldn’t see the list with the slammed servers.

Day two was a little different.  We started having web site problems a whole hour before registration even opened. An odd event that early.  In the end, there was a major server issue and the registration didn’t happen.  With over 500 streamers watching, we were able to have a dialog with the waiting signups to explain the situation, and let them in on the ride as decisions were being made as to what would happen next. The responses were overwhelmingly positive.  Even more so than the day before when things were working (if slowly).  After, we considered what the response could have been if we weren’t talking directly with all of those people out there left with a 404 page.

Day three was smooth.  And quick. The first of two events usually sells out quickly.  We were able to capture that happen with a smashing record of just over 2 minutes for 120 teams to be signed up.  An exciting way to end the week’s signups.

In the end, the staff was able to have unprecedented communication during the most tense time of their entire season.

You can find the results and interaction yourself by following the pages here, here, and here.

This week, AwesomeCast is hitting the road to join some fellow casters with the Millvale Podcrawl.  This is an event put together by our friends at The River’s Edge in celebration of International Podcast Day.

A live Podcast?  Why would you want to attend that?  It seems almost counter intuitive at first. We create these Podcasts that we intend to talk to the entire world, but then have these Podcast events in our back yards. But with many of the shows showcased, Ya Jagoff, Drinking Partners, and our host’s run of shows, are fairly localized.

If you have that luck that you have a local fan base, these shows can be a nice chance to build your audience stronger.  Remember, if you even have a small handful of people listening to their show, that’s some dedication. Maybe they’re already friends.  Maybe they stumbled on you. It means something to be able to connect.  Or you can look at it as a way to find a new audience.  Even our friend Buzzy Torek from Epicast Network recently talked about holding events with their personalities and comedians that would trick people into attending Podcast recordings live.  YaJagoff (pictured with Mayor Bill Peduto) does a great job of getting out there on Light Up Night with a big banner at Fifth Avenue Place and special events with fans and sponsors for their Summer Porch Tour.  It’s a little more than just booking a venue and hoping your listeners show up sometimes.

But you also have to be careful.  Sometimes a live podcast can be disruptive to your audience.  If you are trying to do an episode of your show, it may come off with an entirely different vibe, or may not be the same audio quality.  Some shows lean into it and completely change the format.  So judge your audience and take your shots lightly.  And make sure that audio holds up above all else!

How will we fair?  What cone of beer related tech will AwesomeCast discuss as Doug Derda of Should I Drink That joins our panel?  Drop in and find out!