How to get wrestling fans, part 4

How to get wrestling fans, pt 4

I hope you are keeping up with my short series on how a local wrestling federation can get more wrestling fans for their events.

As you know, I am writing this based on the appreciation of the entertainment, as I am a wrestling fan. I am not as big a fan as I was when I was a kid, when I watched NWA and WWWF back in the day. My favorite programs around here was Florida Wrestling, IWF and other NWA-based wrestling shows in and around the south.

In my previous blogs I talked about what I would do if it was up to me to improve a local wrestling federation. Now this also implies that the federation is not raking in the money like the television shows (WWE and TNA). Many times the guys we see wrestling in local events are not paid much, or not at all (some wrestle for free). But to be honest and fair, I would want to pay every wrestler and crew member that was significantly involved in helping us get out there and filling the seats with fans.

All the parts have to work well before you can get the best result of having a strong fan base and being able to make money to pay your wrestlers and occasionally get a wrestling legend to come visit. This happens all the time across the country, but lots of times the investment is greater than the profits. Heck, I’d hate to promise a legend like Dusty Rhodes $1500 just to come visit and sign autographs and do a little something in the ring if we don’t sell out and make big concession dollars. It has to make sense all the way around so my wrestlers can get paid, or we won’t be in business long.

So I first talked about LOCATION, and how important it is to have the best facility that we can afford, not necessarily the best one that cost more than we can manage, or one that forces us to jack up the ticket prices.

After location, we talked about promotion and advertising, which is imperative to creating an interest in the event. Lots of local wrestlers forget how important the media can be to getting their product out to the public.

So now let’s talk about another element in getting more fans…sound quality.

This sounds like a petty idea (pardon the pun) but this means a lot to the actual experience of the fan. I think the 80’s wrestling era introduced the music intro, or at least brought it into mainstream. I have some old tapes of some old school matches and they used to play a radio with the song of the wrestler as he came to the ring. They would put the microphone to the speakers and let er rip. Some of the ones I can remember from the “old school” is Jimmy Valiant, coming to the ring with the song, “Boy From New York City”, I think done by Manhattan Transfer.

Then there were others like Leroy Brown, coming to the song “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”. And who could forget the music the Road Warriors came to….do I even have to say what classic song they came to? I mean, you ARE wrestling fans, aren’t you?

The point here is that music has become as much a part of the entertainment as the wrestler. And often times we forget that the music and sound starts long before the matches begin. It starts from the moment we as fans enter the building.

Remember, to entertain the fan, it does not start when the matches begin. You’ve got to build that excitement for the fans so that when the first match starts, we are ready to have a good time. All of this comes from the sound and the quality of that sound.

This means the sound system has to be good…not cheap and half working, half not working. Remember, the music is a reflection of how you carry your business. Many times local wrestling events allow fans in 30 minutes to an hour before the event starts. That means while we are sitting in those seats waiting for the action to begin, you’ve got to give us some high-energy music to get excited about.

And although this will vary from one federation to another, there has to be some guidelines on what you play as well. For example, because kids often go to these events, you don’t want to be playing music with profanity. IF you do, then at least edit those words out, if you can’t find the radio version of it. I mean, think about it, do you want your kids hearing that kinda profanity and then saying it?

All you have to do is look at the wrestling shows and see how the bigger groups do it. Sound is an important part of the event because it sets the mood. We know this because most wrestlers have “intro music”. Why? Because it sets the mood and is a representative of what that wrestler is about. Well, if so, how much more does it set the tone for a night of wrestling?

I would invest in a good sound system that can get the crowd excited while waiting for the event to begin, but I also want to have a good set of music that can help my wrestlers and not offend the fans. I’d also keep one person whose job it would be to manage the sound. Even if this guy is to help set up the ring or anything else, that is fine, but the moment the event starts, his or her job is to do nothing but manage the sound.

It’s a small part, I grant you, but the sound makes an important part of creating the mood for the event. If done right, you please the fans and give them a great show and can help lead to their return. Give the fans a great show, and they’ll be back. But to give them that show, every element has to click, which includes the sound.

Ok, we’ll pick this up again soon and continue the discussion. Until then…