Fans Aren't Marks

Part 3: What can Ring Of Honor do to survive?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Now it is time for the fun part of this series, where I can talk about the numerous positives the company has and some ideas to help focus on these positives. Ring Of Honor has been known as the promotion that features a lot of technical and unique styles of professional wrestling. Not every wrestler is a Bryan Danielson or Davey Richards, but I will be damned if you can name me many ROH guys who can't work. This promotion has an amazing amount of talent and it is unfortunate they are in the position where it is so easy to lose said talent, in the past 3 years they have lost Nigel McGuinness, Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero. Even with these losses they still have Kevin Steen, The Briscoes (The most entertaining tag team in 20+ years easy), Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, El Generico, Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels, Shelton Benjamin, Steve Corino and the hottest WWE Diva of all time Maria Kanellis. Now that is a stacked roster.

Not bad Ring of Honor, not bad

The most impressive thing I can say about that roster is that more guys went from ROH to WWE than went from WWE to ROH. The only Ex-WWE talent currently on the roster would be Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Maria Kanellis and Jim Cornette (if he even counts) which means a total of two active wrestlers and two non-wrestling performers. Compare that to the guys who get offers from the WWE; CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne (Matt Sydal in ROH), MVP (Antonio Banks in ROH), Kaval (Low-Ki in ROH), Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Claudio, Chris Hero and Tyler Black. Not to also mention the guys who went to ROH and "found themselves" before going straight back up like Eddie Guerrero, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Yang and we should add Lance Storm to that list, if it ever happens!

ROH has a great history and has had arguably the best decade creatively of the large companies in existence. The success that so many alumni have had in the industry also adds to this rich history, earlier I didn't even mention Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Nigel McGuinness, Motor City Machine Guns, Austin Aries, Doug Williams, Colt Cabana, Jerry Lynn and Steve Corino. Consistently amazing.

Another important asset that they possess is the best broadcast team in professional wrestling. Kevin Kelly and Nigel work great together and really remind you of an old school team if they existed in today's environment. It never feels boring but is always right on the mark.

The biggest obstacle that the company faces is it's television production, I truly do not believe any person who may at one point been a wrestling fan, will watch that show and thing anything but poorly of it. The matches could be flawless and the interviews could knock each segment out of the park, but with the presentation given, it is like serving a steak on a garbage lid. What puzzles me the most is that a television broadcasting company bought Ring of Honor and the show production is terrible? Why isn't someone in the Sinclair office watching this show and seeing what we are seeing? If you want this product to succeed then just give it a chance to, you don't have to pour out millions of dollars for washed up talent like TNA, just spend some money on production quality, hire the best people possible.

A few things I would like to point out, watch an episode of any WWE television product, any TNA television product, Ring Ka King's Indian wrestling product even Lucha Libre USA. After you watch them, realize that this is what American wrestling fans are used to in production quality, so when we see something less it just screams minor league.

There is also a suggestion that I feel could help the production issue greatly, that would be to shoot television in a studio similar to the Impact Zone. Although the tapings at the Impact Zone have been lacking serious energy, the use of the Impact Zone in TNA's growth was essential. It provided them with a huge soundstage once used for the somewhat unforgettable television show Nickelodeon's GUTS, before becoming the studio that was used to film WCW Worldwide (First video) and WCW Pro (Second Video).

From the Aggro Crag infested Impact Zone it's WCW Worldwide from November 23rd, 1997:

From the Impact Zone it's WCW Pro from March 9th, 1996:

Notice how fantastic everything in the building looks at all times? ROH would never be lucky enough to get the Impact Zone, but they have in the past used a "studio environment" for television filming. When ROH on HDNet aired it had a distinct production quality that made it stand out from other wrestling shows, at the time I thought it was a negative but after seeing the current television show, it definitely feels like it had much higher production quality.

From The Arena (I think) it's ROH on HDNet from April 4th, 2009:

There is no reason this show shouldn't be seen by everyone on digital platforms, it is 2012 and the methods of distribution are so numerous. My last suggestion/plea to Sinclair would be to attempt to license ROH content to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or any other digital subscription service. It doesn't have to be the entire tape library, but releasing those DVD compilations that came out in stores a few years ago would be a great start. Other than WWE not one wrestling company has successfully licensed any content out to these services that are immensely popular. Since those DVDs were released by a third party distributor, there would be a much better chance that Netflix would be interested in picking it up. It would be smart to market the "Stars of Honor" disc the most as it has the most mainstream star power of any ROH releases.

Part 2: What can Ring Of Honor do to survive?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

The age old formula of using television to drive house show business may be long gone when it seems the two major companies generate much of their revenue through television rights fees. Ring of Honor is definitely in no position to have valuable rights fees, but they are in a situation where they could reassess the current business model and make some changes to see how they work.

Ring of Honor's biggest problem is it's television show. The weekly product suffers from low production values and difficult distribution methods in an era where either is unacceptable. I recently watched the April 7th ROH television show and noticed a few things that were terrible and came across poorly on television, so here is another one of my awesome lists of what's wrong with the show.

1.Why is it so hard to find?

I understand that Sinclair only covers 25% of the country, but the only other way for the rest to access it is by watching it on a computer with flash on the official website. Since the debut of this show no one at Sinclair or ROH has tried to find a method to get this streaming on iPads, iPhones, Android devices, Roku, Boxee and of course on Smart TVs. It seems that many at Sinclair and ROH fail to realize that you no longer need a network to get your content out to televisions around the world.

The end goal of all this is getting the product seen, which is not happening now. Something as simple as changing the video format used on ROH.com would enable many more devices to play the show. There is also the other profit generating option of creating an app that would allow access to the episodes on a mobile device, the price could be something simple like $4.99 which would likely not scare fans away and also help the product get seen more.

2. Production Changes.
Why do I feel like I'm watching an episode of 120 Minutes whenever Kevin Kelly is doing a backstage interview?

Hideous, absolutely hideous

What would make anyone in production think that using an ugly rust-looking frame around the shot would be a good idea? I feel like I'm playing an FMV Sega CD game like Sewer Shark where the screen for the full motion video takes up a small area in the middle of the screen. This effect annoys the hell out of me. The rather Attitude-Era background of askew fences seems a bit unnecessary too, although not a big deal.

Another annoying visual effect can be seen in this following shot of Jay Lethal (apologies for the blurriness but I took a screenshot from the internet stream)

Because when I think of on screen graphics, I think of giant rusty turds

Why would ROH use this style for all on screen graphics in the show? Do they know how terrible and unprofessional this looks? It reeks of 1996! Almost any graphic design or film major currently in school could do a better job than this in next to no time, for probably an extremely low sum too.

The final gripe I have for now regarding production issues would be the fans banging on the steel dividers. This is something that works very well in a live setting, but comes across as low rent and annoying on television. It's hard to take something seriously while hearing that constant noise and then being reminded of the environment the show is in. These have to go, at least for TV tapings.

4. The music has to change.

The opening theme comes across as a rip off of UFC, which isn't a good thing because I think the UFC intro is incredibly lame too. One great thing about 2012 is it is easier than ever to get awesome music by talented bands for use in things like this, bands want exposure and many will allow you to use the music free for that exposure. The trick is to contact independent bands who actually understand how to get their music heard.

None of the companies do this and considering musicians such as Billy Corgan, Damian Abraham from Fucked Up!, Rick Ross, Clipse, ICP, The Misfits and the most famous producer of all time Rick Rubin are huge fans, there would be a wide variety to choose from. Hell Rick Rubin FUNDED Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling, there is no reason Cornette couldn't ask for a favor and have Rubin try to get a huge star down there for a free appearance. Imagine how big of a deal a Metallica, Jay-Z, RHCP, Weezer or Linkin Park would make if they showed up for just a 5 minute appearance talking about what they think about Ring of Honor.

There are all kinds of ways to get celebrities to support you and speak out on your behalf, it is all about choosing the right celebrities that appreciate the independent spirit put forth by Ring of Honor throughout the years. Don't go after old and hard to reach people, go after guys like Skrillex and The Weeknd. Try to gain some credibility off of theirs.

5. Showcase social media a little more.

This was hard to write because of how tired I am hearing about this on the other two shows. All ROH did to mention their social media outlets was a small 30 second commercial in the middle of the episode. This does an average job of getting the word out there, but it doesn't do anything to get any of the talent over. Ideally, ROH would use the idea of simply putting the wrestler's Twitter information below his name on the entrance graphic. The other thing that should be considered is on the upper left hand corner putting #ROH, this may not be ideal because the show is taped and airs at different times, but it is a good way to get that hashtag out there.

Okay part 3 will be further recommendations going forward for Ring of Honor.

How WWE Confused Priorities on Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:33:00 +0000

There is nothing I am sick of more than hearing about social media and how great it is, yeah it has it's uses, so shut up and use it.

That first sentence describes how World Wrestling Entertainment bungled their social media by going over the top, and by completely missing the point. With the non-stop references to Twitter, the company comes across as one that thinks "trending worldwide" will bring in revenue. The funniest part is that they focus almost all of their attention on Twitter, which seems odd considering how much larger Facebook is. The story I have heard is that Vince McMahon saw Twitter trends and flipped his shit, which is why someone needs to make sure that guy never sees Klout.

The CM Punk storyline last year was one of the few ways that WWE actually used social media correctly, and even in this circumstance it seems that it was more CM Punk's doing than WWE. The use of the comic-con video and posting pictures of him with the belt at cool places worked perfectly and didn't seem overdone.

The WWE's YouTube Channel that launched on February 1st of this year brought them in a million dollars and has been a quiet success story going unnoticed. 11 weeks into this channel and almost every video has at least 100,000 views. Seven different shows are shown weekly, with a new video added every day (Are You Serious is definitely my favorite). These shows really run the gamut from interesting (Backstage Fallout, Inbox, Outside The Ring and Are You Serious?) to character driven (Download, Santino's Foreign Exchange and Z! True Long Island Story) and they all do a decent to great job of getting their point across. The key is that the episodes are about 5 to 10 minutes long, which results in many more views than episodes of NXT or Superstars on the same channel (Although, the other two shows are also distributed on Hulu and WWE.com which should be taken into consideration).

Most interesting is that WWE spends a lot of time every Monday talking about Twitter and what is trending, they also sometimes show a single 30 second commercial for the YouTube channel. YouTube actually brings money to the company in another important way, it provides media channel full of FREE content to the 3rd largest website in the world. The problem is that they use too many on-air resources to promote what's trending worldwide when the audience that cares can see that on their Twitter feed. The extent of WWE's Twitter promotion should be showing the performer's Twitter handle under his name, using the #RAW bug on the upper left corner and possibly showing a short 30 second commercial highlighting it, it should never be mentioned in storylines.

An article on Mashable discusses the Wrestlemania social media statistics that were such a big deal to the company, it fails to mention how this will bring in revenue. It seems business websites and magazines consider using social media to be a business, it isn't it's just a tool. Business involves making money!!

Part 1: What can Ring Of Honor do to survive?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

Over 6 months have passed since Sinclair Broadcasting purchased Ring Of Honor and it feels like not much has been reported about the level of success the program is having on Sinclair stations. Since the sale, Sinclair has acquired 12 television channels from various markets including:

Salt Lake City, Utah - Population: 183,102

Austin, Texas - Population: 786,386

West Palm Beach, Florida - Population: 99,504

Medford, Oregon - Population: 73,485

Providence, Rhode Island - Population: 171,909

Beaumont, Texas - Population: 110,110

Albany, New York - Population: 93,836

Chattanooga, Tennessee - Population: 171,350

Grand Rapids, Michigan - Population: 193,710

Lansing, Michigan - Population: 113,802

The important thing to note is the population of some of these markets, the fact that some aren't above 100,000 would prove disastrous if ROH decided to do a house show in those markets. Of these acquisition the only market that looks extremely promising for live shows would be Texas as Austin's high population rate along with Beaumont's relatively short distance to San Antonio (already a market with television) and Houston could lead to success.

Some of the largest markets where Ring of Honor currently has a Sinclair Affiliate:

San Antonio, Texas - 2,194,927* (This seemed high and heavily disputed)

Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, North Carolina - Combined Metro Population: 1,599,477

Columbus, Ohio - 769,332

Baltimore, Maryland - 637,418

Nashville, Tennessee - 605,473

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 605,013

Peoria/Bloomington, Illinois - Combined Metro Population: 585,000

Las Vegas, Nevada - 567,641

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - 560,333

Raleigh, North Carolina - 405,612

Minneapolis, Minnesota - 385,378

Cincinnati, Ohio - 333,012

St. Louis, Missouri - 356,587

Ring of Honor did live events in these Sinclair markets since the buyout, the number next to each city is the amount of tickets sold to the event:

Baltimore, MD (800 for January 7th show - Sellout, 700 for February 4th show, 450 for March 3rd show) (It should be noted this is Sinclair Broadcasting's Corporate Headquarters)

Norfolk, WV (350)

Cincinnati, OH (500)

Greensboro, NC (375)

Spartanburg, SC (350)

Dayton, OH (450)

Collinsville, IL (325) (Considered a suburb of St. Louis, MO).

These numbers do not look encouraging for the company's future hopes of having profitable tours that grow. Contrasting this, the only ROH show I ever attended was in November of 2010, the attendance was 665 which made the venue feel somewhat full. The bright side of this is that these cities were all in the Midwest or Mid-Atlantic area so travel expenses were somewhat lower and they managed to expose the product to new faces. Ring of Honor does have the fortune of drawing dependable houses in their major markets such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit.

The company's biggest problem is exposure and the quality of the product. Ring of Honor is designed to tour based off of television in local markets as their primary method of generating money. If I was in a position of power that Jim Cornette or Joe Koff are currently in, I would consider the possibility that this method of business for this industry is dying.

This will lead to part two, where I discuss the company's television output and the highest hurdles it still must face. To check out Ring of Honor in your area check out their TV Listings or go to ROHWrestling.com to watch online

NOTE: The population figures used were from recent census data and some media industry resources to determine the population of a given metro area. The attendance figures were found in Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

BarberShopWindow.com: Wrestling Merchandise I'd Actually Wear

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:32:00 +0000

In all my years of fandom, I have purchased a total of 5 shirts: NWO, NWO Wolfpac, Andre The Giant, EC F'N W and the yellow CM Punk Nexus shirt.

Am I embarassed to admit I like wrestling in public? No, although I do feel that way at times while watching something particularly horrible. The reason I never purchase wrestling t-shirts is that they are consistently some of the worst designs I have ever seen. Browse WWEShop.com sometime and it's easy to notice that most shirts had very little time put into them, with Sin Cara's famous penis shirt being a good example.

But don't fret! In a case where someone had a good idea and went with it, they made a success out of what a giant corporate entity doesn't have the business sense to even see. While I would love to go on a rant about how Corporate America ruined Professional Wrestling on a national level, this isn't about that. This is about a fantastic upstart company by the clever name of BarberShopWindow.com.

Just one look at the "Overstock Bin" section will clearly display that these guys are top notch designers. It also becomes obvious that they are actually die-hard wrestling fans as well, which makes me want these guys to succeed even more. After the jump look at some of these shirts and tell me they wouldn't sell well if sold at Hot Topic:

I spend a lot of time on this blog pointing out the shortcomings of those in power at the major companies, so it is refreshing when someone sees how they are failing their fan base and utilizes that to their benefit.

Most of my friends who enjoy professional wrestling are really smart, I would usually put them in the top 25% of intelligence in the country, defying the oft told stereotype. THIS is the audience WWE neglects and ignores, the intelligent "smart" fan who wants to enjoy a product that doesn't insult their intelligence. It would be difficult and stupid to cater to this audience exclusively on the television properties. It would be easy and smart to cater to this audience on the merchandising front.

It should't be long before someone in WWE, TNA, ROH or hell maybe even UFC offers these guys a lot of money to join their team. BarberShopWindow.com are presently selling some shirts for ROH and indie talent, but these seem to be items that were created upon the request of the talent and not from the company itself. It says something when unsigned independent talent are bright enough to get a t-shirt made that people will actually wear, but none of the high paid executives in any of the companies ever contemplated this.

iPPV: Is YouTube the future?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:29:00 +0000

Ring of Honor recently had technical difficulties ruin both of their annual Wrestlemania weekend Internet Pay-Per-View events. This led them to splitting ways with their iPPV distributor GoFightLive earlier this week. The most peculiar thing about severing ties is that ROH have their Border Wars event scheduled in less than a month on May 12th.

The best possible option would be YouTube, which announced this week they are now offering live pay-per-view as an option for YouTube Partners who also offer YouTube Rentals (Which makes me wonder, why hasn't ROH already taken advantage of this service? They have an insane amount of content and utilizing YouTube would increase their search engine results too. I have a feeling ROH has never been the most forward thinking company in technology). Although I was unable to find any information about the monetization of this program, I did find YouTube's Live Stream Partner Guide which explains a bit of the program. Along with this new service, YouTube also launched WireCast, an application designed so that live events can be produces directly from any desktop. While I question the features and level of quality used in this program, it does offer some other features that are incredibly unique including real time analytics.

YouTube is the most visited media site and third most visited site in the entire world, add to this that they are owned by the most visited website in the world. ROH has a bit of a SEO problem, as the first page of responses after searching Ring of Honor into Google contains links to the Dallas Cowboys, some fantasy RPG game about wizards or something and the Phoenix Suns. The second page doesn't get any better with more irrelevant links. Now it's obvious that a lot of sports teams have something called a "Ring of Honor" for exceptional players, but this term is generic and should not take precedence over a corporate owned BRAND in a Google search. YouTube also is trusted and well known by people, looking for an event on the site won't be difficult as many are extremely familiar with it.

The other benefit of using YouTube would be their ubiquity on smartphones, tablets, smart tvs, set-top boxes and video game consoles. There is now many different ways to watch YouTube content, some of which are much more desirable for a product like professional wrestling. Since device support is an ongoing process, many of the apps currently used do not support the one-year-old YouTube Live content. This is something that will inevitably be fixed by the company. Ring of Honor also would have the ability to stream in 720p HD, which they never seemed to reach while with GFL.

It feels that they will choose World Wrestling Network, the Internet Pay-Per-View company started by former Ring of Honor co-founder and booker Gabe Sapolsky, who has had previous experience in the media end from his time in ECW and RF Video. Gabe was fired from Ring of Honor to everyone's shock in 2008. At the time he was widely considered by those in the industry as one of (if not) the best bookers of the past decade. During his tenure CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness and countless others were brought to prominence because of good storylines and even better matches. Since ROH is no longer owned by Cary Silkin (who fired Sapolsky), Gabe has stated that it is an entirely new company and it seems like there could be a working relationship if the interest is there.

Another option mentioned by some would be HybridEnt.TV, best known for streaming Combat Zone Wrestling and other small wrestling organizations. Honestly, I feel this is the worst option by far. The website design is hideous, it actually hurts to look at the screen and navigate the page. It also may not be the best for a corporate entity to associate themselves with a company who thought it would be a good idea to hang someone from the ceiling with meat hooks. I know very little about this site and really don't think it will be something I will ever use, it does not seem to have any method of watching the product other than on a computer which is a bigger deal than most people seem to realize.

There are of course other options such as UStream or Justin.TV, but none of them bring the benefits that will come along if Ring of Honor were to use YouTube Live for their iPPV content in the future.

Vince Russo is doing a Live YouShoot Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:30:00 +0000

The good folks over at Kayfabe Commentaries are doing another YouShoot Live, this time with none other than Vince Russo himself. The last live YouShoot was with TNA President Dixie Carter and some of the questions that were asked were pretty brutal, although you could still tell the questions were heavily screened.

Here is a short teaser that was released to YouTube where Vince makes a point to knock Bryan Alvarez's fantastic Death of WCW book:

I predict that the Russo YouShoot will be a spectacle no matter what happens on that day. There is no one person more hated, reviled and bashed among hardcore wrestling fans than Vince Russo, so giving that same audience an open mic to ask questions will most likely be hilarious and probably awkward.

Personally, I never cared much for Russo's booking much, whenever he was the head writer of a show it just seemed to have a vibe of apathy. His reign in TNA reminded very similar to his reign in WCW, although after around 2008 I stopped watching Impact most weeks. That is my way of dealing with Vince's booking, just don't watch.

As for the Vince Russo YouShoot WATCH!

3F2EWFJMPM5D

A Message to WWE: 10 Reasons you are out of Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:28:00 +0000

Here are some things Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn, Stephanie and Creative seem to be missing:

1. No one likes watching humongous guys wrestle anymore.

In the 1970s when Andre The Giant made infinity dollars, the spectacle of seeing someone that big on TV or in person in a fight made it a "must see". In 2012 however we now have the NBA, UFC and more importantly the internet. How often does a crowd pop for a Great Khali match? How often does a crowd truly pop for a Big Show match (besides when the ring breaks)? How often does the crowd pop during a Kane match?

Things move fast in 2012, way too fucking fast, so in order to keep our attention the wrestling matches have to be exciting. The fans know immediately when a big guy comes out that odds are the match will be a snorefest. The real question is, why is this still going on?

2. Musclehead guys aren't nearly as impressive as they used to be.

Don't get me wrong physiques matter, but the over the top, "must be on steroids" look is far away from it's heyday of the 80's and early 90's. In 2012 guys with physiques like Ryback and Mason Ryan are at the level of well Ryback and Mason Ryan, which is the exact point. Fans have seen enough terrible matches with steroid freaks along with the fact that UFC made it obvious that physiques mean very little in combat. This will never go away because of Vince's huge hard on for steroids, which is bad for his business because the normal guys usually get over more.

3. Talent shines through pushes, burials and stupid gimmicks but should still be PUSHED.

Daniel Bryan has been getting some nice press lately appearing in a fantastic interview with GQ and on my favorite sports site Grantland as well. While trying not to sound like the stereotypical "internet fan", I want to explain why someone like Daniel Bryan is someone you want to keep pushing until you can't push anymore.

First, the traditional WWE fanbase can obviously tell that the guy never has a bad match, and almost always has the best match on the card. Second, he actually seems like someone I know and would hang out with. I don't know many people whose personality matches the gimmicks on WWE's roster, but I know plenty of bookish vegan record nerds who have other weird passions. This same explanation can be used for why CM Punk rose to prominence in the last year, he became someone you could relate to.

Vince clearly doesn't know the under 35 demographic at all, because the world to them looks a lot more like Daniel Bryan, CM Punk and Kofi Kingston than Cody Rhodes, Kane and Brodus Clay.

4. Start listening to your fans more.

The best kind of turns are the ones made by the crowd, this is a way to make stars that has worked in the past with Stone Cold, The Rock and John Cena. These turns are incredibly difficult to pull off though because it really depends more on the talent of the person in the ring than the creative direction given to him. It boggles my mind why the WWE would not change course if someone is being turned by the crowd, this is Wrestling 101.

5. STOP HATING THE INDIES!

WWE has always had this superiority complex about the indies and would often claim how terrible the wrestlers were coming out of those organizations. The WWE failed to realize things have changed since they originally stated a similar claim in the late 90's. Due to the lagging wrestling scene in America, the indies are currently overstocked with talent that exceed most of WWE's roster in match quality, promo ability and charisma. It's hard to believe The Briscoes, Prince Devitt, Low-Ki, Colt Cabana, Chuck Taylor, Shelton Benjamin, Kevin Steen, Davey Richards and a ton more aren't in one of the two big companies. The Briscoes are begging to make money on a national stage, one of the few gimmicks that is real and believable in this ridiculous world and very few are embracing it.

6. Let wrestlers keep their names when coming in from the indies

Remember CM Punk's debut on ECW at the Hammerstein Ballroom? If you don't then here. In my opinion, that is the best debut of a wrestler in the history of WWE. Paul Heyman understood that this guy meant something to a lot of people in Ring of Honor, so that changing his name would be a terrible idea because it would lose the momentum that the character already had. Heyman was also smart enough to debut Punk at the Hammerstein Ballroom for an early, yet to be too watered down ECW taping. Counting on a crowd full of indie fans and supporters, CM Punk came out and INSTANTLY felt like a star.

While I did always feel CM Punk could be a star in WWE, it seemed to me very unlikely until it actually happened. Punk himself has admitted that Paul Heyman saved his career on at least one occasion (I believe it may have been more). If Heyman wouldn't have protected Punk, the WWE would be significantly worse off now.

The point of all this is that when a wrestler builds his name on the indies, it is stupid to not let him try to use what he's worked his whole career for. There is also the advantage of awareness, when a guy gets big enough on the indies then the mainstream will start to notice in some way. Not every person in that ECW crowd knew who CM Punk was, but because he was in the right setting, majority of them did.

WWE's obvious reasoning for not allowing wrestlers to keep their names is due to the ownership of the character and gimmick, which I feel is petty and useless on the WWE's part. The "independent contractor" status of wrestlers sure doesn't leave them with much after they leave the company, they lose their name, gimmick, merchandise, marketing, etc. The WWE has really nothing to gain in retaining ownership of these gimmicks for use on the indies, the fact that they still do is a baffling dick move. The end result of allowing (successful) indie wrestlers to keep their name would be well worth the possible financial issues they may have with it in the future.

7. Improve the music.

The music across shows has been terrible for a long time. It's hard for me to convince any of my friends that this isn't the lamest thing on earth with Nickelback on all the time. There is no time better than now to get an awesome iconic theme for this show on the cheap, stop being lame and do it, Raw deserves it.

8. Stop talking/bragging about yourself.

Did you know facts, constant mentions of Twitter trends on screen and on audio, hypocritical "Be A Star" commercials and Michael Cole's nonstop bragging about Raw all happen on a weekly basis. What should be reserved for a special occasion (900th episode, 10th anniversary) is something that happens all the damn time. This comes off as extremely tacky and shitty on WWE's part, not to mention even more extremely fucking annoying. The casual viewer hears this and groans, every time.

9. I'm sick of everyone on the roster, and I shouldn't be.

WWE's roster is currently much better than the business they are generating seems to represent. There are many talented guys who have consistently great matches on every show, along with many terrible guys too but that is expected. My problem with this is that I am tired of seeing the same guys every week for years on end. Why doesn't the company rotate the roster? The fact that I have had to see Big Show matches for 15 years should provide a good enough reason for this. 3 months on, 3 months off for some guys, some could have other rotations in many different ways, the point being some guys would go away for a while. I'm sure the wrestlers could use an "off-season" break to rest and heal while knowing they will be secure in coming back with something fresh.

This could also work to the company's advantage creatively as well. If WWE assigned certain writers to a certain rotation, it would create an off season for the writers that would allow them time to develop deeper and more detailed storylines with the wrestler, rather than having them rushed for Monday's live show.

It seems this could be an answer to a lot of their problems. Although it's possible they may have to pick up talent to make this work efficiently with the live schedule, it seems with NXT and Superstars guys, along with the FCW crew they would have enough.

Just the idea of this makes me wish for something fresh, even if it's a Yoshi Tatsu/Kofi feud on Raw, at least it's not the same shit we see every week.

10. Put the Divas divison out of it's misery.

Why is this still around? Wouldn't the company be better off just keeping the hottest girls (Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox, Layla) and the best wrestlers (Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Kharma, Tamina) and AJ just because I want to go on a date with her more than any other girl in WWE history. They can have the hot girls just be hot girls because eye candy is always fantastic and then have the talented wrestlers actually wrestle matches with each other that aren't shitty. They could always bring in the occasional talent but it isn't like they need a huge division for the regular 2 minute match on Raw.

Vince reportedly has said he does not like the Divas segments but he feels the need to do them because they attract a certain demographic. My simple response to that, WHAT DEMOGRAPHIC! No one watches these matches, I will bet Vince my balls that if you did a show without a Divas segment, no one would notice. I further this bet by saying that if you did a month's worth of shows without a Divas segment, barely anyone would notice, and the ratings would stay the absolute same (or quite possibly go up). See even wrestling fans don't like to watch shit so fake that it insults us as viewers of the show, and that is what is given to us. There is no reason with the talent out there that a woman's division needs to suck in such a fashion that they do now. Here is a small breakdown of the Divas division and my perception on April 13th, 2012:

Raw:
Beth Phoenix - She looks weird, but her matches always suck because they are with terrible wrestlers, she's definitely good enough to be in there but not good enough to carry a Kelly Kelly (but who really is?)
Bella Twins - They can't really wrestle, but they are twins! There should be a use for them somewhere, just not in matches.
Eve - Her heel turn saved her ass, too bad she's the only good thing in the angle. I'd keep her in the ring but only occasionally.
Kelly Kelly - She should be the Sable of WWE in 2012, the hottest woman on earth that doesn't wrestle but always looks stunning. Think Arianny Celeste more than Sable.
Kharma (Inactive) - The biggest keep in the company, Kong looks and feels different to anything anyone in WWE has ever seen. Her character was gaining a huge amount of steam before the pregnancy and then the Rumble return showed a ton of fire. Whenever she comes back, she should have the division built completely around her.

Smackdown:
AJ - The cutest girl on the roster by a long mile, the best actor on the roster and the best personality of almost any of the girls as well. With the whole gamer/comic nerd thing going on she goes for a different thing than all the other girls, which will honestly appeal to a certain type of guy (me) of which there are a lot of in the WWE fanbase. She stands out for sure, I'm not positive if her size is going to be a hindrance because she's a Diva and everything, it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

She's even adorable in public domain wikipedia photos

Aksana - She looks hot in the whole dominatrix outfit but I really don't see a point to her existing on the show.
Alicia Fox - Okay she's near the top of my "all time hottest black chick" list, which I'm not sure is racist or not, but I can assure you I don't mean it in a racist way so it's definitely not. She's a 10 and only one girl that I actually know is above her, and the one I know is married to a white guy named Tony who I consider to be the luckiest guy to ever walk the earth. Either way, Alicia Fox stays because I would love to make out with her.
Kaitlyn - She won NXT or something right? She's really hot but serves no purpose on the show.
Natalya - WHY DOES THE BEST DIVA WRESTLER IN THE WWE HAVE A FARTING GIMMICK?
Rosa Mendes - She's in her perfect role shaking her ass for Primo & Epico.
Tamina Snuka - Getting better in the ring and has her own unique style, get more like her.

Other:
Maxine - Who?
Naomi - Nice ass, she was athletic on NXT and it's too bad she's a dancer now.
Cameron Lynn - Her favorite match in the history of wrestling was a Divas match with Alicia Fox, someone who earlier I said should not wrestle anymore, so that says something.
Vickie Guerrero - Okay I'm way into older chicks and Vickie as she looks right now is hot to me, I'm not even kidding. She gets great heat and I want to make out with her more than any diva on the roster other than AJ (legit). So Vickie, if you ever read this and are into younger guys who are intelligent and interesting please hit me up!

Theobaud Bauer - Allen & Ginter

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:14:00 +0000

Earlier today I purchased this 1888 Allen & Ginter Wrestling Card of a gentleman by the name of Theobaud Bauer. There doesn't seem to be much known about Theobaud, but it is known that he is a relative of former WWE writer Court Bauer, who is also currently working on the best show on TV, Eastbound & Down. This fact was confirmed to me by an exchange of Tweets Court and I had about Theobaud. Another interesting fact about Theo. is this article from the April 11, 1887 edition of The New York Times. The article sparked my interest even more because the match they were reporting on took place in Detroit at the Whitney! (Unfortunately Theo. lost)

The actual 1888 Theobaud Bauer card

So today I decided to purchase my first Allen & Ginter card, after thinking of the discussion we had it seemed perfect to start my collection off with Theobaud's 1888 card which was on eBay for an extremely moderate price. I can definitely tell that my end goal will be to own every wrestling card in these sets.

First though, here is a very quick rundown on what exactly Allen & Ginter was and why trading cards from the late 1880s had professional wrestlers on them in the first place. Alan & Ginter were a tobacco company that were the very first to include collectible cards with cigarette purchases. The sets were known as "The World's Champions" and featured Baseball, Oarsmen, Wrestlers, Pugilists (Boxers), Rifle Shooters, Billiard Players, Pool Players and those are just the sports represented in the 1887 set. The 87 set had 50 cards and other than the obvious Baseball players in the set, the most sought after cards is are the Annie Oakley and "Buffalo Bill" Cody Rookie Cards!

The 1888 set contained also 50 cards but expanded the sports represented by adding Track & Field, Swimming, Tricycling, Cycling, Tennis, Club Swinging, Speed Skating and Figure Skating. This set was followed by the final installment of "The World's Champions" cards in 1889. The sport additions to the 89 set were rather odd, with some sporting names requiring me to use Google to find them (who knew Go As You Please meant a Walker?). The additions were as follows: All Around Athletes, Hammer Thrower, High Jumper, Runners, Go As You Please, Pole Vaulter and Weight Lifting.

The final breakdown of wrestling cards in these sets would be 7 in 1887, 7 in 1888 and 2 in 1889. With a total of 16 cards, collecting them all does not seem like an overly daunting task.

As a sports card collector since early childhood, it should be fair to state how amazing, important and interesting this set is. Most view trading cards as a hobby for a select few nerdy enough to get a cheap high out of opening up a back, but this set exists in a completely different realm, this set exists as American cultural history! Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill! These are huge names that actually had a trading card made of them in their time of relevance! How many people have any idea these exist? Baseball Cards are everything right about America, they make me feel 10 again and relive experiences I had with my dad, trading cards on the corner with David Borders and ripping off Alan Knapp in seemingly every trade we ever made. This hobby has existed for at least 125 years, and it is my goal in this blog to keep it going for another 125 with posts like this.

1908 George Hackenschmidt Match Found (Oldest surviving match)

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

A few days ago while scouring the internet for any information on George Hackenschmidt films, I came across this on WrestlingClassics mentioning that a 1908 Hackendschmidt match has been found in the collection of the New Zealand Film Archive.The video is in rough shape and it appears to be pending a possible transfer to the United Kingdom.

George Hackenschmidt

This match is EXTREMELY important for historical purposes, so after hearing about this I dropped an e-mail to the good folks at Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Weekly, the issue was then discussed on the latest podcast featuring Bryan Alvarez and Karl Stern. who had a fascinating discussion on the earliest wrestling videos known (the earliest isn't a full match but is posted below).

This match is immensely important for historical reasons and this is also the type of project that will not be followed through upon without vigilance over time. I want to encourage anyone who cares about this to contact the New Zealand Film Archive through this form so they know what they have on their hands and ensure the film remains in everyone's attention span.

YES YES YES YES YES

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:15:00 +0000

The fan reaction to Daniel Bryan’s 20 second WrestleMania match was the most notable event of Monday’s Raw. According to some attendee reports, Bryan received the second biggest reaction of the night (said to be less than Brock Lesnar but bigger than The Rock). This reaction happened because the Raw after Mania usually has many “smart” fans who were upset at not seeing a Daniel Bryan match the night before.

This unique reaction including the YES, NO and SI chants may have cemented Daniel Bryan’s role in the WWE going forward. Instead of the slimy heel who is a terrible boyfriend, Daniel Bryan could be portrayed as someone who let the title go to his head and now realizes this.

The potential for Daniel Bryan is huge right now, it is up to the WWE to capitalize on this.

Building Wrestlemania 28

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 21:35:00 +0000

Yesterday’s Raw proved that WWE still has it in them to promote a match and make it seem like a huge deal. Even though it went on a little too long and lost its point near the end, the opening segment with Chris Jericho and CM Punk was phenomenal. The build for this program has been somewhat non-existent so this segment was necessary. The most refreshing aspect of this program is that is simply being built around the championship and who is the “best wrestler in the world”. With this built I hope that their match at Wrestlemania is long and exciting, which it definitely has the ability to be.

The major downside of this Raw was the lack of development for the Bryan/Sheamus program, this isn’t a huge deal as there is plenty time before the show to promote this match. Either way it says a lot for two performers who were on Wrestlemania’s dark match last year, and now are wrestling for the second most important title in the company.

The most talked about part of the show was The Rock’s promo and Cena’s confronting him on it. The Rock was fantastic as usual and John Cena was somehow better than that. John Cena’s performances have been so strong over the past two weeks that it seems like a completely different character. Cena is now serious and passionate, not cracking terrible jokes and trying to be funny. Cena’s post-match reaction on last week’s Raw (February 20^th) immediately caused many in the crowd to switch sides from booing Cena to cheering him. This is a testament to the talent of John Cena.

So far the build to Wrestlemania has been spotty, with some parts being great and some being lackluster. It will be a fun month to see where these programs go!

Ring Ka King and Wrestling's Global Reach

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:03:00 +0000

On January 28th a new wrestling company debuted on The Colors Network in India by the name of Ring Ka King. This project is the first professional wrestling company to run in India (besides a few ill fated WWE shows about a decade ago) and the early success seems high, with the debut episode being the most watched wrestling show in history! This was followed up by an excellent article in GQ

Debut Episode of Ring Ka King

The Ring Ka King product is unique,it is written and created for the Indian audience, this is made obvious with the long dance number that opens the first episode. The production of this show is absolutely top notch, at times looking significantly better than Monday Night Raw. Ratings for Ring Ka King have been good with Colors even adjusting the show's schedule to increase viewership. Most interestingly about this situation will be the company's further actions if the show remains successful. TNA had an opportunity to enter in to a completely new and untapped market, allowing them to define the norm for professional wrestling in this huge country. Products like Ring Ka King are integral to the long-term success of TNA and professional wrestling as a global sport.

TNA utilizing a brand new IP in an emerging market created an interesting scenario for the brand. It will be interesting to look at the future of the company and how or if they integrate the Impact Wrestling brand in to the Ring Ka King product.

Although this form of professional wrestling is not for everyone, I encourage anyone who is a fan to check out the show, which can be seen on YouTube for free!

Watch Ring Ka King on Colors YouTube Channel here
Follow Ring Ka King on Twitter here

The Biggest Wrestlemania Ever?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Wrestlemania 28 is shaping up to be the biggest Wrestlemania of all time and it will be interesting to see what the final lineup will be. As of February 21st, here is the speculated lineup for the show:

The Rock vs. John Cena
Triple H vs. The Undertaker (Hell in a Cell)
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship
Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Championship
The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal

In addition we will have appearances by Mike Tyson, Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen and Edge. There is also heavy speculation of Metallica performing a song at the show too. Even if that does not happen, this will be the most star-studded Wrestlemania in history.

WWE have done a fantastic job making this event seem like a huge deal all year long. Since the PPV is over a month away, speculation on a domestic buyrate would be presumptuous, but as of now everyone feels optimistic on this being the all time biggest. The most important issue WWE will have is that their biggest stars are only part-time performers. Unfortunately the event's card seems designed to utilize past stars rather than getting any current stars over. The biggest opportunities at mania will be for CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Sheamus, all of which former champions.

In order for future successful Wrestlemanias, WWE must prioritize the building of new stars!

Shaquille O’Neal at Wrestlemania 28!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:57:00 +0000

Hollywood Life has reported that Shaq will be at Wrestlemania 28, this is of course huge as he will be one of three very popular celebrities attending this year's Wrestlemania event. It is speculated he will have Big Show as an opponent, which should make for an interesting head to head face off in the middle of the ring.

The business opportunities for this are huge and should not be taken lightly. Shaq is someone who is popular with the sports crowd but also has made a large impact for himself in mainstream pop culture. The interesting part of this news will be seeing his effect on the ultimate buy-rate of this event.

Making More Money on The Road to Wrestlemania

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:56:00 +0000

Every year the "Road to Wrestlemania" starts in January around the beginning of the yearly big push for Royal Rumble. The build to Wrestlemania is almost always good as they never fail to make it feel like a big deal. My issue is with the money that could be made in between these two large events. After last night's lackluster Elimination Chamber PPV, it stood out that the Chamber really makes little sense in it's current spot in the calendar.

For the past few years there has been a lot of talk about using the Elimination Chamber winner to face the "other" champion at Wrestlemania. Since Wrestlemania is clearly the biggest event of the year, utilizing the chamber match for this makes perfect sense. This reduces burnout from having two chamber matches and also makes the Wrestlemania title match much more special. This idea is hardly new but it is proven that the Royal Rumble has an increased buyrate due to the Wrestlemania ramifications, ideally the Elimination Chamber could be another step and money could be maximized.

The other issue with the Elimination Chamber is the super funky match order which made little sense. Why was the United States Championship match between Superstars-level performers on after BOTH title matches in the chamber? Why did the match for the most prestigious WWE title kick off the show? Why was there an in ring segment on a PPV?

The biggest illustration representing the failure of this PPV would be the fact that only Santino came out of the PPV more over than before. Unfortunately, it is unknown as to what plans the company has for him during Wrestlemania, although now whatever role he may have had will change.

What Are the Best Wrestling Podcasts?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Discussing the use of podcasts in developing talent inspired me to make a post dedicated to what I feel are the best of the best in this field. Since WWE doesn't have a podcast, that doesn't mean that you can't get an amazing audio wrestling fix from other places daily! The coverage that some of these shows give to the business side of things are usually the highest profile stories to come out of the wrestling world. If I were a serious investor or in management in WWE, the podcast scene would be my first place to get instant reactions, opinions and actual experiences in the company. Twitter is instant reactionary feedback, podcasts provide thought out feedback that can go into much greater detail as to the feelings of the fan.

Live Audio Wrestling/Review-A-Wai - This wins my vote for best podcast on the net. Live Audio Wrestling has been around since 1997 on terrestrial radio and the success of this show's witty and smart style led to a series of podcasts dedicated to reviewing retro events (usually events that sucked, so the podcast is even better), Monday Night Raw (broadcast live after Raw on Stickam) and TNA Impact. The LAW is live every Sunday night and always features the most insane and interesting callers that exist on sports radio. The only thing better than the callers would be the reactions of hosts John Pollock, Jason Agnew and Dan Lovranski, all of which present a distinct and interesting style. The shows with John Pollock and Wai Ting provide a different type of show that simply reviews the topic at hand, they are always excellent and are all worth listening to weekly. There is way more stuff the LAW guys do and it is all 100% free with no subscription, the quality and price of the content makes this the top gun right now. It currently can be found on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto or online at www.liveaudiowrestling.com, www.reviewawai.com and www.stickam.com/reviewawai

Wrestling Observer Live/Figure Four Weekly - If you know about MMA and wrestling then you know about the history, quality and importance of the Observer. The content is subscription based at $10.99 a month, and is worth every penny. Tons of radio shows weekly with a variety of hosts including Lance Storm co-hosting two excellent shows a month. Along with the Observer (in the most obtuse and difficult to read format ever) and the Figure Four Weekly (in a very eye pleasing format) it is the only pay site on the net actually worth it. Dave Meltzer is the Walter Cronkite of journalism in this field, hands down the most respected, honest and knowledgeable person to ever analyze the business. His partner on the site, Bryan Alvarez is the reason to pay your monthly fee though, Alvarez is witty and has odd vocal expressions that somehow increase the entertainment level. The Bryan & Vinny Show from the website brought us this clip that was recently shown on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

If you consider yourself a true wrestling or MMA geek, you owe it to yourself to at least try it for one month, just remember to stay the hell off the board. Check them out at www.wrestlingobserver.com

Colt Cabana's Art Of Wrestling Podcast - I glanced over the true genius of this podcast in my last post but I will elaborate more. Colt sells and plugs stuff, plays a fun wrestling related song, interviews someone in a very relaxed atmosphere and then wraps it up. To be honest, before the podcast I felt that Cabana was overrated and he never really clicked with me, but it was clear he had talent. This podcast is the PERFECT platform for his talent, Cabana seems like a nice guy that has a little smartass in him ready to come out at any moment. In my eyes this podcast has given him a much higher level of stardom and fandom than he had at any time in his career (including his horribly horribly unlucky WWE run). The final and most important part of the podcast is the quality of guests, which is very high. Interviews with the previously mentioned Cliff "Domino" Compton, Luke Gallows, Insane Clown Posse and MVP stand out as some classics. Check out Art Of Wrestling at http://tsmradio.com/coltcabana/

Some other excellent wrestling podcasts worth checking out:

Dave Lagana's I Want Wrestling - This podcast unfortunately no longer exists as Lagana is currently employed by TNA Wrestling, but the insight this former Friends (Yes the TV show) and WWE writer gives on some of the older podcasts is fascinating. Backstage stories of Vince McMahon and other WWE Executives are riveting and ridiculous. The archives are still up and it's worth checking out if you are at all interested in the creative process of a wrestling company. Check out I Want Wrestling at www.iwantwrestling.com

Aftermath Radio - Hosted by Arda Ocal and former WWE Ref Jimmy Korderas, Aftermath is on directly after Raw to give an instant reaction to what happened. The shows are entertaining and interesting but the real gem is the weekly "Ask A Ref" podcast that is completely questions answered by Jimmy Korderas. Check out Aftermath at http://radio.thescore.com/programs/aftermath

Between The Ropes - This was formerly a radio show that slowly became an infrequently updated podcast. Recently it has been updated more so it is a good place to hear some wrestling audio. Check out Between The Ropes at www.betweentheropes.com

So there you go, hundreds of hours of wrestling audio at your fingertips.

Podcasting and talent development

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:04:00 +0000

WWE's success with social media has helped the company greatly within the past 5 years, it provides another distribution channel for content along with instant interaction between fans and the talent. The one area of digital media they haven't attempted would be podcasts (Unless you count the early Byte This shows, which were at the time groundbreaking and probably one of the most influential web series in sports)

Podcasts have already proven successful in professional wrestling, with Colt Cabana's Art Of Wrestling, Live Audio Wrestling/Review-A-Wai, Aftermath and Wrestling Observer being just a few of the many podcasts to become fairly popular. Why WWE management or WWE talent hasn't used this platform to gain an audience is beyond me, the only justification I can state is that they may not feel comfortable with having talent be themselves for over an hour. The reason for the success of Zack Ryder's Z True Long Island Story show on YouTube is clearly the fact that WWE had no influence whatsoever in the creative process. This allowed for Zack's personality to show and with it he gained fans week by week the old fashioned way. Of course the result of that was an increase of merchandise sales that was nowhere near proportional to the amount of television time he had (which was zero) at the time. By utilizing a fresh platform, a flip cam, creativity and entertaining friends, Zack was able to literally save his entire career while making his employer tons of money.
The use of alternative mediums in which to showcase talent has proven successful on the indie level by the success of Cliff "Domino" Compton, a former WWE talent that appeared on Colt Cabana's Art Of Wrestling podcast to explain his recent situation of being stranded in Nigeria. To understand why this is an important moment is to first understand Mr. Compton's first "character" on WWE television, which was as part of a 1950's greaser themed tag team named Deuce 'n Domino who came out to the ring completely stuck in a cold war era time warp.

Deuce 'n Domino did have a great entrance and even greater theme music

This portion of his career was moderately successful, but ultimately led to him being released by the WWE in August of 2008. At the time I remember my personal opinion of the tag team being tepid and apathetic, they weren't anything groundbreaking that made me want to rush to my TV to watch Smackdown, last year that all changed.

Cliff Compton's appearance on the Art of Wrestling to tell the entire story of being stranded in Nigeria in vivid detail. During this podcast an extremely popular-in-his-homeland Nigerian professional wrestler by the name of Great Power Uti rose to internet fame, how you ask? The answer lies in Cliff Compton's astounding storytelling ability, he is one of the most entertaining and charismatic performers I have ever heard in any sport. I know next to nothing about Domino other than the fact he liked every stereotypical 1950's thing that was out there, but after one podcast I know enough about Cliff Compton to realize he would be a blast just to hang out with. That emotional feeling I have now about the performer makes me want him to succeed, which is something WWE hasn't done in at least 7 years. He may not be selling out 10,000 seat arenas every night, but he is winning over fans with his talent and personality using the tools he currently has available, which is something WWE, TNA and ROH should take note of if they wish to develop the next generation of talent.

Listen to Colt Cabana's podcast with Cliff Compton here
Follow Cliff Compton on Twitter here

Wrestling & MMA Video Game Sales Data

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:36:00 +0000

With today's release of UFC Undisputed 3, it is an opportune time to discuss global sales of MMA and wrestling video games. Video games have become an integral source of revenue for both MMA and professional wrestling organizations, here are global sales numbers to compare for some recent releases (if released on multiple consoles, totals are added for one grand total, portables are not included):

UFC:
Undisputed 2010 - 2.44 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Undisputed 2009 - 3.61 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)

WWE:
WWE '12 - 1.91 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
WWE All Stars - 0.66 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 - 2.54 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 - 3.8 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 - 3.76 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Legends of Wrestlemania - 0.75 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 - 5.96 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 - 3.04 million (Xbox 360 & PS2)

Other:
TNA Impact - 1.12 million (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii & PS2)
EA MMA - 0.49 million (PS3 & Xbox 360)
Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes del Ring - 0.08 million (PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii)
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - 0.09 million (PS2)

Considering the business downturn of the past decade, the video game boom has grown enough to overcome the decline in popularity of the WWE product. The core yearly release (from Smackdown vs. Raw to WWE '12) consistently sells better than the "special" releases such as WWE All Stars or Legends of Wrestlemania. One possibility to the reasoning of this is the EA Sports tradition of releasing yearly updates to each of it's sports franchises. Popularity levels of the company's games have slightly dipped as this generation of consoles has aged, this can be seen as a correlation to the popularity of the product.

The most important data to note is the lack of success of a game unless it is an official release of WWE, UFC or TNA. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns was a cult hit, following up on a series that had an extremely loyal cult fanbase so the figure of around 90,000 units sold is a bit of a surprise. This year there will be a relaunch of the Fire Pro series on the Xbox 360, this relaunch looks to have changed the entire engine and game from previous versions, so it will be interesting to see if the fanbase sticks around.

The ideal situation for the Fire Pro series would be to create a downloadable title that has characters from TNA, ROH, Chikara, etc.... The lack of physical distribution would balance out the small cult fanbase that would purchase the product. Cooperating with indie wrestling federations would increase the awareness of the talent which is a bonus for both sides of the coin.

Source: http://www.vgchartz.com/

WWE Talent-Exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Throughout the early 1990's, WWF participated in a variety of talent exchanges with other regional territories in the United States. WWF talent appeared on Smoky Mountain Wrestling, USWA and ECW television shows and talent from those organizations appeared on WWF television. This led to fantastic angles like the oft forgotten "McMemphis" angle, where Vince debuted his heel character in 1993.

The aftermath of the SMW and USWA working relationships led to new talent being used in the WWF to freshen up the product. This was followed up by the agreement with ECW that has been talked about a lot throughout the years.
There is absolutely no reason that WWE shouldn't work with Ring Of Honor or even TNA! The mindset of keeping everything in house for the WWE has made the product stale and predictable, working with other companies would increase match quality and create a stir/surprise that would have potential to drastically increase business. TNA and ROH are nowhere near the level to be considered any sort of a threat to WWE, the only thing that could come of this is success for the wrestling industry as a whole.

It's clear the landscape and popularity for professional wrestling in America has changed much since the end of the Attitude Era. The reason NWO, Stone Cold and The Rock made the industry boom is because it was new, different and innovative at the time, which is truly the key to gaining popularity. Here is a breakdown of the possibilities:

TNA

The draw of top TNA talent working with WWE guys would create a buzz that could significantly elevate the status and perceptions of both companies. Fans of often said there isn't a talent discrepancy between the two, but rather a creative discrepancy, this could be remedied considering the WWE experience that TNA's head office currently has. Much of TNA's talent is instantly recognizable to the WWE fan base so use of Kurt Angle, RVD, Jeff Hardy, Hogan, Bully Ray and Steiner would work. I find it odd that no one in power within either company has seen the potential massive benefit to this occurring.

ROH

For many reasons a working agreement with ROH and WWE seems much more likely than one with TNA. ROH talent has been successful within the WWE, therefore the perception of their talent is likely higher within the power structure of the company. The fact that CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Evan Bourne and MVP have had financial and creative success in the company is a good point in favor of a talent exchange. WWE would also then have a place for under-utilized but massively over talent to work and scout new talent (think William Regal, Jamie Noble, Tyson Kidd). The goal shouldn't be to make ROH another "developmental" organization, but rather it's own entity that just has a business relationship with the fed. The failure of FCW to develop unique and interesting characters is a symptom that may be fixed with an action such as this.

Chikara

This would make no sense and probably shouldn't happen, even though Chikara is the best fed currently in North America.

Nick Diaz drama

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:13:00 +0000

After his loss at UFC 143, Nick Diaz tested positive for Marijuana Metabolites, this may result in up to a year suspension! This should be a sign to the athletic commissions and even the UFC officials as to the necessity to change the rules of drug testing.

Diaz had a legit medical marijuana card and has tried to be honest about his use but commisions won't have it, yet Dan Henderson is okay to use testosterone because of a "medical condition". This wouldn't bother me so much if it wasn't for the fact that marijuana is in no way a PED, so there is no cheating at all. Yes, this is Diaz fault for being stupid and smoking before a fight, I'm not excusing his actions at all.

UFC will be losing what would be one of the biggest matches of the year (maybe two if Diaz won the rematch and got to fight GSP) over a dirty pot test. In the WWE a positive pot test will net you a $2500 fine and that's it, this would be a much better way for MMA to police this issue.

Russo's Gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:46:00 +0000

Vince Russo has apparently stepped down as the head of creative for Impact Wrestling and according to the good folks at Wrestling Observer, this change occurred a few weeks ago so they should be reflected in the product. This is obviously good news for fans, as Russo is seen to have done more to hurt TNA than anyone else (I argue this, and think Hogan did more to harm TNA). The new head booker is Bruce Richard (AKA Brother Love) and since his tenure has started, one wonders if the stellar Roode/Angle build is due to this?

Russo's face is matching the entire internet's reaction to his creative career

I have never been a Vince Russo fan, and probably not for the reasons that most would state. A few years ago I watched a shoot interview of his which made some surprisingly good points, it is too bad that the man just didn't sound very smart. Writing professional wrestling has to be a difficult job, so I always assumed he was competent but not very good...after hearing him talk, I can honestly say he isn't competent. Listen to Cornette, Heyman, Sapolsky, Lagana or Watts and you will hear something in common, a love for character driven storylines that are based around a series of matches. Russo clearly has no need for matches, in fact he has such little need for them that stipulations MUST be added in order for them to matter to him. Someone has needed to tell Russo that angles and storylines are the most memorable, but the reason they are memorable is because of the story built around it and the competition to win a match.

Like it or not Impact Wrestling is mostly an unwatchable mess. Stories that hop from person to person without ever explaining who is who and what the hell is going on. How can a new fan watch this and understand everything necessary to understand who this person is and what he is doing? I don't watch Impact, I hear about what happened and if something seems necessary I will check it out, but I get too bored too easily watching something that has zero depth. This is all the Russo bashing I am going to do right now, it's too easy and the entire internet does it anyways, so adding to that is useless. This however may end up being the biggest story of the year for TNA, so a comment on it from myself seemed necessary.

The success of themed Pay-Per-Views

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:52:00 +0000

Last night's Hell In A Cell PPV was the third that WWE has done to what appears to be diminishing returns. The themed PPV experiment seems to be failing, with buyrates dropping and the meaning of specialty matches being lost. Hell In A Cell actually has a chance to be the lowest purchased WWE PPV of all time, which considering the hype and history of the events namesake, is proof that things need to change.

WWE Pay-Per-Views cost $55 each (HD) which in 2011 is entirely too much money for a "B" PPV. I and many other wrestling fans find it difficult to budget $700+ yearly just to watch WWE events, especially when I can get a month's subscription to Netflix and Hulu Plus for about 1/3 the price. The pay-per-view model for professional wrestling needs to change, either the amount of shows needs to come down or the price needs to come down for the long term growth and prosperity of the product.

Ring Of Honor on Sinclair Broadcasting Network

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:41:00 +0000

The first episode of Ring Of Honor television debuted on Sinclair stations last weekend and they also unveiled the new company website along with options on how to view the weekly television show online. The television show is decently produced, has great in ring action and easily understandable storylines. The largest fault I found with the weekly television show was the ringside fan interviews, these were ill timed and fit awkwardly into an otherwise jam packed 1 hour show.

Majority of the discussion about ROH in the wrestling world has been on the sustainability and success of this new product. Sinclair Broadcasting covers 24% of American households with a total of 57 stations. This method of distribution is similar to the territory days when syndication ruled the roost, in fact, this is how I was able to enjoy ECW, Smoky Mountain Wrestling and Memphis' USWA in Detroit on WADL. These shows were all shown on a rather unwatched UHF station and the only way to know they were on was through extremely sparse commercials (lucky for me I was a Shop At Home sports card show addict so WADL and Mr. Don West were staples of my childhood).

These examples were from 1995 to 2000, which begs the question, can a product distributed this way survive in the 1000+ channel universe? Each Sinclair Network station airs the show at a different time based on local scheduling, therefore nationwide advertising is impossible. Adding to this the already dismal state of the wrestling industry, it will be a very uphill climb for Ring Of Honor to survive, much less grow.

The other more interesting side to the product will be the internet distribution. ROH have instituted a unique way for fans not in Sinclair Markets to check out the show. It will be made available to premium Ringside members the Monday after the original airing for a monthly subscription of $7.99, for those who choose not to pay it can be streamed for free 3 days later with a basic registration to the site. It is important to note that the $7.99 monthly subscription also features other benefits such as discounts, merchandise and legacy content.

This two tiered approach should be supplemented with other content delivery systems to maximize the viewership of the program. Adding free internet availability is fantastic and also allows Ring Of Honor to gather contact information for those who watch the show, making promotion of events much easier. The downside to this is the difficulty for many to enjoy a product on their computer rather than on the big screen. Adding distribution via a popular streaming video service is something that should be viewed as a necessity for Ring Of Honor.

In order for this company's product to succeed, it needs to embrace the "content now" philosophy of distribution. Netflix, Hulu Plus and iTunes come to mind as just a few widely embraced content delivery systems. Jeff Katz' Wrestling Revolution Project seem to be utilizing this method of distribution and it will be interesting to see the levels of success it can attain. Netflix currently has 9.8 million subscribers and Hulu Plus has about 1 million subscribers, these are extremely large audiences that would benefit from an easier and higher quality way to watch the show. The ability for all video game consoles, most smartphones and tablets, portable video game consoles and any computer to watch Netflix content is a huge benefit as the target demographic for Ring Of Honor would also be the most likely to have a device such as this. The major issue with this model is that a monthly subscription for Netflix is very similar in price to the monthly subscription fee for Ring Of Honor on their official website.

It is my hope for ROH's success that they embrace various digital streaming methods for the product. Releasing the weekly show on Netflix the same day as it is released for free online would be a great idea as it will do little to cannibalize Ringside subscriptions, enable fans to watch in higher quality and increase the likelihood of casual viewership. It will be interesting to see the next few months and how this model will work, it is my hope that Dave Lagana who seems to understand modern distribution methods, will convince the company to pursue this route.

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WWE Network, a recipe for disaster?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Sakich) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:12:00 +0000

The greatest minds in the history of wrestling have always stated that the industry is cyclical, which means the current state of the business is said to be normal. I personally do not believe this is the case and that there will not be another peak similar to the era's surrounding Hogan and Austin in the future. My reasoning behind this? Even during the previous seemingly successful times, the attendance and employment levels of professional wrestling in America have consistently went downhill since the 1980's.

In the mid 1980's and before, the territory system ruled North America and ensured that regional territories were able to run shows on a monthly and weekly basis throughout their designated area. An excellent example of this would be the Mid South Coliseum in Memphis which ran weekly shows that often sold out a venue with the capacity of 10,085. These weekly shows were supplemented by "spot shows" in other medium to large venues throughout the Tennessee and Kentucky areas. While I do not have easy access to attendance figures, it would not be a stretch to state that the Memphis Territory in the 70's and 80's would draw about the same number of fans yearly as the WWE does today.

To sum this up faster:

Cable TV killed the territory system

The Internet severely damaged the traditional television based format of professional wrestling.

Neither one of these should necessarily be viewed as a creative success for Vince McMahon, but rather a success in predicting the future technology and the media habits that accompany them. Unfortunately it does not appear that Vince or the company has a clear vision of how to effectively capitalize on the market. Hindsight is 20/20 in cases like this, but World Wrestling Entertainment is not on a pace to return to anywhere near the levels of a decade ago. It seems as if creatively the company is waiting for a new Hogan, Rock or Austin to drive ratings and increase the profitability of the product, the financial side of the company seems to be throwing in all of their effort into the WWE Network. These are both terrible ideas for reasons I will explain.

1) Notice there was a 13 year gap between the emergence of Hulkamania and that of Austin 3:16. Also note that these two talents had been in the business for years before reaching the success that they would. In the current WWE creative environment, this would be impossible. It takes the right hero, the right villain (Piper, Vince), the right time and a considerable amount of patience to repeat this success. It is well known that Vince changes his mind every 30 minutes, therefore these situations are just not likely to happen.

2) The WWE Network is a 2001 idea in 2011, the brainchild of someone who has zero understanding about the future of media and content delivery systems. The powerhouse franchise that is Raw should be where the company is focusing all of it's attention rather than taking on $200,000,000 in debt (which I will touch on later). The biggest signal that this will not be successful would be the WWE Classics On Demand channel (Previously WWE 24/7). The channel had moderate success at first but has seen subscribers dwindle down as monthly content provided by the WWE was reduced. According to unofficial numbers, in 2007 the service had 115,000 subscribers, currently the subscriber base is estimated to be about half of that number.

2a) This is what I call alternate universe WWE where I am the boss and generating revenue through the tape library is implemented. The short-term standard model would be releasing matches, dvds and full events at an extremely low price via an on demand service. To supplement this would be weekly "compilation shows" that could stream for free online to gain awareness. Devices such as Roku, Apple TV, PS3, XBox 360, iPad, iPhone and various tablets/smartphones are providing convenient access this content. Rather than copying the NFL/MLB/NBA method of a full time cable network, WWE should instead emulate currently successful mobile video and streaming services such as MLB At Bat and NBA League Pass. Services like these would provide WWE with complete control over the production, price and delivery method while not needing to maintain a minimum subscriber base to stay on air.

Even in this much more desirable situation, I am unsure if the popularity of professional wrestling could sustain such a system.

Debt-to-Equity Ratio (Click to Zoom)

The biggest hitch that could happen to the WWE Network would be regarding the $200 million in debt that would be taken on to launch. Vince may claim that the interest rates are great right now and it is a perfect time to take on debt, but that doesn't make the reason for taking on said debt a good one. Currently, WWE has a stellar Debt-To-Equity ratio of 0.01, this represents the ratio of Shareholder's Equity and debt that it is used to finance assets. While taking on debt is sometimes a necessary event in order to sustain growth, there does not seem to be a valid plan to utilize these funds to increase future revenues. The final confusing factor in this situation is WWE's relatively high Current Ratio of 3.96, this illustrates WWE's ability to pay short-term debts in the next 12 months. For every $1.00 owed, they have $3.96 in assets to cover this amount. This may appear to be a good situation, but in reality only speaks to the inability to efficiently utilize resources to their maximum potential.

Current Ratio (Click to Zoom)

These are only a few examples of why current evidence is not pointing to success in the future of World Wrestling Entertainment. It is also important to note McMahon's lack of success in any business venture other than professional wrestling (World Bodybuilding Federation, IcoPro, XFL). As an outside analyst, it seems that changes in the creative process to boost efficiency and further progress in digital distribution methods would be a significantly lower risk business decision and could also provide more flexibility in the future if necessary.. There is always the possibility of success with the WWE Network, but the wise decision seems to be to wait it out a few more years to see how the media landscape and revenue streams change, unfortunately it seems as if this will happen in the near future, and that could be the beginning of the end for the company.