How to get wrestling fans
Has anybody every written a book on this?
Well, it’s worth thinking on. Today I wanted to write a blog on how I might get more fans to come to wrestling events. Now, I say this ONLY for local wrestling. We’re not talking about WWE or TNA because they have television contracts.
I’m talking about how to get locals to come out and watch local wrestling. I say this because I am a huge sports fan, but I also like wrestling too. I am not too big a fan of WWE anymore, and rarely watch it. But I am a big fan of the sport or wrestling. Around here, we get to watch a local group called UWC, or Universal Wrestling Council. I know they’re not like WWE in talent and superstars, but they give us every bit of entertainment we could ask for.
I think I have gone to about 6 or 7 of their events inside of a year, they come by every other month or so and I think I have only missed one performance. I can say as honestly as I am sitting here that I have enjoyed every performance they give us. We often go early enough to get a front row seat to ensure maximum enjoyment.
But each time we go, we sit and wonder how the UWC could be better. Don’t get me wrong folks, we WANT this to succeed because if they keep coming back, then we can keep coming to see them. Not everybody can afford to pay big bucks to see WWE when they come to Raleigh or Fayetteville or Charlotte.
And you don’t have to be from North Carolina to understand that. Anybody that is a wrestling fan in whatever state you live in probably has a few local wrestling federations around…but most of you won’t support them.
Why not?
How can you sit there and swear allegiance to major wrestling federations and totally ignore the talent in your own back yard? How about a little support for those guys too?
Now, I am probably going to make a short series of this on blogspot.com since that is my main sports log, but I wanted to take some time to go over things that I would do if I had the opportunity to either create or run a local wrestling federation. In short, what can small federations do to help draw more attention, more audience and thus create revenue for their business.
I say again, I enjoyed every event of Universal Wrestling Council, and I think the money spent is worth it. They don’t try to gouge you with overpriced snacks. I mean, why should I spend $1 for a bag of chips that cost only 25 cents? I can see spending 50 cents or so because I understand they need to make a profit. Remember, I WANT them to succeed, so they can keep coming back.
So what would I do if I was starting my own wrestling federation, or given management of one? I think you’d have to break it down into different categories:
Promotion and Advertising
Sound Quality
Video Quality and post production
Marketing products
Personnel
Concessions
Media Relations
Continuity
Pay scale
Community Involvement
I hope to blog more on these subjects in the upcoming days, and try to explain what I mean in each of those categories, and how I might try to make a local wrestling federation better. I think maybe easiest way to do it is to win a lottery, because most times it comes down to money, but if you don’t have that, you need a good plan. I’ll talk more about that in upcoming blogs on my sports blog on blogspot.com
Showing posts with label UWC Wrestling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UWC Wrestling. Show all posts
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Football, Wrestling and Cars
Football, Wrestling and Cars
Interesting day, wasn’t it?
Tonight I am wrapping up a day of three events that made tonight a pretty interesting night. The first was a night of local wrestling at the fair grounds, watching the UWC wrestling for probably the 6th time in about a year.
I blogged about this earlier, and whenever we can, we try to go out and support local wrestling. I mean, people really miss out on good entertainment and are completely biased to what is shown on television. Trust me, there are tons of smaller wrestling federations across the country, but all most people know is WWE and TNA.
It’s like something my brother told me while we were sitting in the building waiting for the wrestling to begin. We would love to see more people come out, because we know those guys are working their behinds off for small crowds. My brother told me that one problem a lot of “fans” have is when you mention a wrestling event in a small town, the first thing that comes out their mouth is “who’s gonna be there”?
What does it matter? If it was a big name, you would not go anyway because the ticket sales would be more than you can afford. I mean think about it, if for some miracle of a chance a small wrestling group managed to get John Cena or The Undertaker, the tickets would jump from the normal $6 to about $30...MINIMUM. Those same people who want to see big names could not afford it anyway. But if there is no names they know, they won’t go see it anyway, as if the ONLY wrestlers in the country live on television.
Anyway, the event was great and it was well worth the money. Those guys deserve more support and I think the next time UWC comes to town will be in November. Hopefully we can pack the seats for them.
We came home and the first thing I did was turn on the television to catch the Hawaii vs. Boise State game, which was just coming out of halftime. The score was 10-7 and it seemed like a pretty tight game, but the quarterback of Hawaii threw like 263 interceptions in the second half.
Well, it wasn’t that much, but he had 5 by the end of the game. They lost 27-7, so those turnovers were a direct impact in the loss of that game. But with that win, Boise State now begs the question on whether they deserve a BCS bowl. They are currently #15 on one poll, so it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the weekend.
But you know, I remember Hawaii more in what happened last year, and how the entire university let their coach down. June Jones was the head coach there, and left them after their incredible season last year. From what I hear, it was mainly because he kept trying to get the university to spend more money in facilities to help recruit better players. Apparently the university didn’t want to hear him, probably because they felt that the island sold itself to prospective players. That kinda sounds like they were too high on themselves and refused to spend the money to help recruit better players.
It would seem that June Jones got sick and tired of this…and mind you this is not his words, just my opinion. It appears that he got tired of Hawaii screwing him around, and decided to leave. When news got out, everybody from the governor to the university begged him to stay. Well, it’s too late now, you had several years to do what the coach asked, and he just got fed up with it. So Hawaii loses the best thing they ever had, because the university seemed to be too full of themselves.
I really hate it when college football is perverted by athletic directors and rich alumni who think they know what’s best for the school, when all it is really about is money and foolish pride. Southern Mississippi is the same way, in how they ran off their coach. I used to root for Hawaii a lot, but now, well, they’re just a team.
In between watching that game and recovering from my voice from a night of screaming at wrestlers, I checked out the Barrett-Jackson Auction on Speed Channel. They are in Las Vegas this weekend and it is always a blast to look at cars I’ll never be able to afford. The only problem with the auction is that it takes place during football games, and on Saturday football rules. I always enjoyed watching it, and it is kinda like a weekend event, even if I can’t go there in person.
So tonight was filled with some excitement, tomorrow brings more football, so I better get ready.
Interesting day, wasn’t it?
Tonight I am wrapping up a day of three events that made tonight a pretty interesting night. The first was a night of local wrestling at the fair grounds, watching the UWC wrestling for probably the 6th time in about a year.
I blogged about this earlier, and whenever we can, we try to go out and support local wrestling. I mean, people really miss out on good entertainment and are completely biased to what is shown on television. Trust me, there are tons of smaller wrestling federations across the country, but all most people know is WWE and TNA.
It’s like something my brother told me while we were sitting in the building waiting for the wrestling to begin. We would love to see more people come out, because we know those guys are working their behinds off for small crowds. My brother told me that one problem a lot of “fans” have is when you mention a wrestling event in a small town, the first thing that comes out their mouth is “who’s gonna be there”?
What does it matter? If it was a big name, you would not go anyway because the ticket sales would be more than you can afford. I mean think about it, if for some miracle of a chance a small wrestling group managed to get John Cena or The Undertaker, the tickets would jump from the normal $6 to about $30...MINIMUM. Those same people who want to see big names could not afford it anyway. But if there is no names they know, they won’t go see it anyway, as if the ONLY wrestlers in the country live on television.
Anyway, the event was great and it was well worth the money. Those guys deserve more support and I think the next time UWC comes to town will be in November. Hopefully we can pack the seats for them.
We came home and the first thing I did was turn on the television to catch the Hawaii vs. Boise State game, which was just coming out of halftime. The score was 10-7 and it seemed like a pretty tight game, but the quarterback of Hawaii threw like 263 interceptions in the second half.
Well, it wasn’t that much, but he had 5 by the end of the game. They lost 27-7, so those turnovers were a direct impact in the loss of that game. But with that win, Boise State now begs the question on whether they deserve a BCS bowl. They are currently #15 on one poll, so it will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the weekend.
But you know, I remember Hawaii more in what happened last year, and how the entire university let their coach down. June Jones was the head coach there, and left them after their incredible season last year. From what I hear, it was mainly because he kept trying to get the university to spend more money in facilities to help recruit better players. Apparently the university didn’t want to hear him, probably because they felt that the island sold itself to prospective players. That kinda sounds like they were too high on themselves and refused to spend the money to help recruit better players.
It would seem that June Jones got sick and tired of this…and mind you this is not his words, just my opinion. It appears that he got tired of Hawaii screwing him around, and decided to leave. When news got out, everybody from the governor to the university begged him to stay. Well, it’s too late now, you had several years to do what the coach asked, and he just got fed up with it. So Hawaii loses the best thing they ever had, because the university seemed to be too full of themselves.
I really hate it when college football is perverted by athletic directors and rich alumni who think they know what’s best for the school, when all it is really about is money and foolish pride. Southern Mississippi is the same way, in how they ran off their coach. I used to root for Hawaii a lot, but now, well, they’re just a team.
In between watching that game and recovering from my voice from a night of screaming at wrestlers, I checked out the Barrett-Jackson Auction on Speed Channel. They are in Las Vegas this weekend and it is always a blast to look at cars I’ll never be able to afford. The only problem with the auction is that it takes place during football games, and on Saturday football rules. I always enjoyed watching it, and it is kinda like a weekend event, even if I can’t go there in person.
So tonight was filled with some excitement, tomorrow brings more football, so I better get ready.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Local Wrestling in the USA
Local Wrestling in the USA
This coming Friday I will be taking a break from my regular sports fixes and indulging in something slightly off the road…wrestling.
Now I know a lot of people are not into that, and some say it is not a sport, but I have been a fan of wrestling ever since I was a kid. I watched a lot of the old school wrestling greats like Dusty Rhodes, Black Jack Mulligan, Masked Superstar, Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair…and many, many others.
I’ll admit, I am not a big WWE fan and I rarely watch that, seeking my entertainment from NWA-TNA and ROH Wrestling. But every once and a while we get some local wrestling here in my town, and I try my best to go see it.
You’re not gonna know the names of most of these cats because let’s face it, they are not the ones you see on the television wrestling shows, but I will say this, they put on a great show. You see, most folks only associate wrestling with WWE, or NWA-TNA because that’s all they see. But in numerous states all across our country, there are smaller federations of wrestling that provide local entertainment for people like me, who just want a night to enjoy myself and watch some entertainment.
For us around here, we get it through the UWC, or Universal Wrestling Council. These are guys (and women) who provide a small town like ours a night of fun and the chance for us to get up close and personal with wrestling. Heck, we can’t fork out a gold brick to watch WWE in person, only to get half a program of jaw jacking and some decent matches.
For $6.00 we get to watch about 2 hours of some pretty good wrestling by guys that apparently love the sport. These guys are good and they put on a great show. I think I have gone to 6 of their last 7 events here in town, which is usually once every 2 or 3 months.
So what’s so fun about going to see these guys?
Well, I get to yell at the “bad guys”, and I say that with respect. Sometimes people forget that these guys are actors, and have to play the part while they are in the ring, so my friends and I NEVER use profanity at them. This is common sense because sometimes those wrestlers might have their family…and kids in that audience. You have a right to boo, but do it in respect to that person who is working.
These guys give you good action too, and you might get about 10 fights in an evening. It’s worth every penny of that $6, believe me. One other thing they do is about half way through the evening, they will have intermission and the wrestlers will come out and you can talk with them, take pictures and stuff like that. It’s where you can really see that these guys are just like us…maybe much more athletic, but still like us. I have seen before the show starts some of the wrestlers with their kids, and it is a reminder that if one of those guys is playing the part of a “villain” or “heel”, you have to keep that in mind while you are booing them that their 5 year old son is out there, so have a heart.
Every time I have gone to a UWC event, I have always come out satisfied. They give the audience everything they have, and even wrestling in a building on the county fairgrounds, with about 100 people, they treat it like they’re in Madison Square Garden. I really appreciate that, and I always leave with my throat sore for yelling for two straight hours…but enjoying every minute of it.
So Friday about 6:30pm, if nothing comes up to change the plan, we are going to watch some wrestling. I expect it to be as much fun as the previous 6 times I have went, and I want to be able to get a good seat near the ring so I can yell my head off again.
And come Saturday, sore throat and all, I’ll be watching college football!
This coming Friday I will be taking a break from my regular sports fixes and indulging in something slightly off the road…wrestling.
Now I know a lot of people are not into that, and some say it is not a sport, but I have been a fan of wrestling ever since I was a kid. I watched a lot of the old school wrestling greats like Dusty Rhodes, Black Jack Mulligan, Masked Superstar, Ricky Steamboat and Ric Flair…and many, many others.
I’ll admit, I am not a big WWE fan and I rarely watch that, seeking my entertainment from NWA-TNA and ROH Wrestling. But every once and a while we get some local wrestling here in my town, and I try my best to go see it.
You’re not gonna know the names of most of these cats because let’s face it, they are not the ones you see on the television wrestling shows, but I will say this, they put on a great show. You see, most folks only associate wrestling with WWE, or NWA-TNA because that’s all they see. But in numerous states all across our country, there are smaller federations of wrestling that provide local entertainment for people like me, who just want a night to enjoy myself and watch some entertainment.
For us around here, we get it through the UWC, or Universal Wrestling Council. These are guys (and women) who provide a small town like ours a night of fun and the chance for us to get up close and personal with wrestling. Heck, we can’t fork out a gold brick to watch WWE in person, only to get half a program of jaw jacking and some decent matches.
For $6.00 we get to watch about 2 hours of some pretty good wrestling by guys that apparently love the sport. These guys are good and they put on a great show. I think I have gone to 6 of their last 7 events here in town, which is usually once every 2 or 3 months.
So what’s so fun about going to see these guys?
Well, I get to yell at the “bad guys”, and I say that with respect. Sometimes people forget that these guys are actors, and have to play the part while they are in the ring, so my friends and I NEVER use profanity at them. This is common sense because sometimes those wrestlers might have their family…and kids in that audience. You have a right to boo, but do it in respect to that person who is working.
These guys give you good action too, and you might get about 10 fights in an evening. It’s worth every penny of that $6, believe me. One other thing they do is about half way through the evening, they will have intermission and the wrestlers will come out and you can talk with them, take pictures and stuff like that. It’s where you can really see that these guys are just like us…maybe much more athletic, but still like us. I have seen before the show starts some of the wrestlers with their kids, and it is a reminder that if one of those guys is playing the part of a “villain” or “heel”, you have to keep that in mind while you are booing them that their 5 year old son is out there, so have a heart.
Every time I have gone to a UWC event, I have always come out satisfied. They give the audience everything they have, and even wrestling in a building on the county fairgrounds, with about 100 people, they treat it like they’re in Madison Square Garden. I really appreciate that, and I always leave with my throat sore for yelling for two straight hours…but enjoying every minute of it.
So Friday about 6:30pm, if nothing comes up to change the plan, we are going to watch some wrestling. I expect it to be as much fun as the previous 6 times I have went, and I want to be able to get a good seat near the ring so I can yell my head off again.
And come Saturday, sore throat and all, I’ll be watching college football!
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