Super Cena Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Japanese and Mexican wrestling is fairly popular (relatively speaking) over here False. Â The Dragon Gate shows over here are some of the most popular British wrestling events of the year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdh85 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Even if it were true that Japanese and Mexican wrestling were popular over here (which it isn't, remotely - they don't even have any form of distribution in this country ) they rely far more on in-ring, physical, visual storytelling, rather than the promo-heavy verbally driven narratives of WWE and TNA - the companies you say you want to emulate. Â Edit: The Dragon Gate shows were live events (world of difference between that and a regular TV show) and were far smaller scale than we're talking here if you wanted to get this off the ground as a viable proposition to a TV exec. Â The commentary thing isn't just an issue of cost, its more about getting someone who can do the job properly. How many experienced, Dutch speaking wrestling commentators do you imagine are out there? Who could perform credibly on the kind of level we're talking here, on mainstream television? How about French? German? Italian? Spanish? Â Who the hell is going to audition these people to begin with? How are you going to tell the difference between the Dutch JR and the Dutch Mike Adamle when you don't speak Dutch? You're going to need a front office staff that resembles a meeting of the United Nations. If the United Nations were comprised exclusively of pro wrestling experts. Â Logistical nightmare, mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Japanese and Mexican wrestling is fairly popular (relatively speaking) over here False. Â The Dragon Gate shows over here are some of the most popular British wrestling events of the year. Yes, but that's very faint praise. They're not popular enough for the scale that this mythical mainstream British promotion would need to be at. And how often do the Dragon Gate UK shows run? I was under the impression they were rare treasures, like a smaller, niche version of a WWE tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnum Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 I've said this before, but the only chance of a British Wrestling show on mainstream TV in the current climate would be an ITV self-produced show for Saturday nights, filmed either in a studio or a studio-style set up in the same arena each week. Think Gladiators in terms of production style, tone, target audience etc. Big, daft, simple characters for families to enjoy together. Get them in the tabloid media and you're sorted. Â I sometimes wonder if this is what they were going for with that awful 'Celebrity Wrestling' show they did a few years back. The tone and characters were exactly that sort of lowbrow, campy, Gladiators feel you're talking about. The utter failure of that has probably put paid to anything similar getting off the ground for at least a generation. Â I also wonder why they felt the need to turn it into a stupid Hole in the Wall/Friends like These type gameshow. Considering they'd already gone to the trouble of hiring legitimate wrestlers like D-Lo, Piper and Joe Legend and had shown no fear of the dreaded wrestling stigma by plastering the word across the title, I wonder why they didn't just go for the Tough Enough/Hulk Hogan's CCW format. It would have certainly been more entertaining TV for us lot, and the idea of wrestling training for celebrities seems to play reasonably well with programme makers seeing as it's been featured on Justin Lee Collins, Freddie Flintoff and Karl Pilkington's shows recently. Were the 'celebs' just scared of doing anything more potentially dangerous than a Get Your Own Back assault course? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdh85 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Precisely. Had that show just done what it said on the tin, it probably would have worked. Keep kayfabe, but with a cheeky wink rather than a "these idiots will never know! Mwahaha!" kinda attitude, and The Sun would have eaten it up, the viewing figures would have been much better, and wrestling would have been back on mainstream telly. From there, they could have easily transitioned into a straight wrestling show with a dozen or so of the more credible looking guys on the British scene under daft new gimmicks, working fun face/heel matches with plenty of comedy spots. Basically World of Sport with modern production values. If Gladiator Wolf can get over on primetime ITV and become a household name, wrestlers certainly can. It wouldn't need to compete with WWE, UK prime time saturday night entertainment is a very different product to the episodic drama of WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members CleetusVanDamme Posted May 13, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 13, 2011 The only way Britwres could be a "success" as a tv product would be by having an investor who's willing to say goodbye to millions of pounds, and NEVER have hope of seeing that money again. And by "success", I mean "company that isn't going to go bankrupt". That really is the best a Britwres company could aim for when trying to go "mainstream" Â Â Â There just isn't a market for wrestling to be a mainstream success in this country. What kind of rating does TNA get on Challenge?, lets say 200,000 viewers, that's pretty great for TNA, and for Challenge, but TNA isn't relying on that figure to make money. Lets say this magical investor buys a BritWres company TNA's Impact slot on Challenge. Lets say he upgrades the companies lighting from the "flashlights blu-tacked to the ceiling" approach to something that will look presentable on tv (the first of many huge expenditures that he won't ever see a profit from), and lets even say that when the programme starts they manage to keep all 200,000 viewers (impossible), how about we go even crazier and say that all 200,000 of those viewers become hardcore fans that make up the show-going audience all year round, is that enough to make them a mainstream success?, nowhere fucking near it. Â Â Â So what then?, maybe go a couple of years down the line, lets say this miracle investor plows MILLIONS more into the company and DOUBLES THE FANBASE!, is that enough?, is it fuck!. We've just took a BritWres company, added an impossibly large fanbase and it still wouldn't be anywhere near reaching that success. Â Â To add to all of that. The talent just isn't there. Lets even take the very best talent Britain has produced, have them get all patriotic, and decide to ditch their fantastic jobs elsewhere and come home to help make British wrestling a "mainstream" success. Are casual fans going to tune in because Doug Williams is back home?, is Drew Mcintyre going to persuade MILLIONS of fans to come to shows, buy merch, talk about the show with their friends etc.... That's what they'd need to go mainstream. Â Â Â Â It's the worst of pipe dreams, it's impossible. No one will ever be stupid enough to try it unless Seanz wins 6 lotteries. WWE isn't even mainstream in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dart Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 some of the comments in this thread baffle me. i dont understand the comparisons to wwe. its totally different. the british scene is well respected by most american indy stars who come over here, especially for tours because they are comparing it to their own local scene, not wwe. the amazement when americans learn they can wrestle here everyday for 6 months is fascinating, and one american i spoke to said he couldnt believe a show with no ex wwe stars on it could draw 850. 'would never happen in america" were his exact words. compared to the us indy scene british wrestling is doing just fine - taking size differences into account. the only reason any old american company seems to get on tv is because every city there has its own host of channels desperate to fill up their schedules. the wrestling companies arent making money from being on tv, they are probably paying for the priviledge. british indy wrestling wont be, cant be and shouldnt be anywhere near as glitzy as wwe so i dont know why people are expecting it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 some of the comments in this thread baffle me. i dont understand the comparisons to wwe. its totally different. the british scene is well respected by most american indy stars who come over here, especially for tours because they are comparing it to their own local scene, not wwe. the amazement when americans learn they can wrestle here everyday for 6 months is fascinating, and one american i spoke to said he couldnt believe a show with no ex wwe stars on it could draw 850. 'would never happen in america" were his exact words. compared to the us indy scene british wrestling is doing just fine - taking size differences into account. the only reason any old american company seems to get on tv is because every city there has its own host of channels desperate to fill up their schedules. the wrestling companies arent making money from being on tv, they are probably paying for the priviledge. british indy wrestling wont be, cant be and shouldnt be anywhere near as glitzy as wwe so i dont know why people are expecting it  It's not the American wrestlers who we need to respect our scene. It's the American public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cena Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 some of the comments in this thread baffle me. i dont understand the comparisons to wwe. its totally different. the british scene is well respected by most american indy stars who come over here, especially for tours because they are comparing it to their own local scene, not wwe. the amazement when americans learn they can wrestle here everyday for 6 months is fascinating, and one american i spoke to said he couldnt believe a show with no ex wwe stars on it could draw 850. 'would never happen in america" were his exact words. compared to the us indy scene british wrestling is doing just fine - taking size differences into account. the only reason any old american company seems to get on tv is because every city there has its own host of channels desperate to fill up their schedules. the wrestling companies arent making money from being on tv, they are probably paying for the priviledge. british indy wrestling wont be, cant be and shouldnt be anywhere near as glitzy as wwe so i dont know why people are expecting it  Awesome, that's probably why British wrestling companies are making more money than ever I suppose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrestlingmad Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Â This is what I think of British Wrestling. Â Crowd of 6 Little kid as a GM Big Momma Promotor! Â Poor Jonny Storm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Cena Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011  This is what I think of British Wrestling.  Crowd of 6 Little kid as a GM Big Momma Promotor!  Poor Jonny Storm  That is beyond belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted May 13, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 13, 2011  This is what I think of British Wrestling.  Crowd of 6 Little kid as a GM Big Momma Promotor!  Poor Jonny Storm  That is beyond belief. Fuckin' hell. Is that before or after Petey vowed to restart PTW to be a serious, legitimately-ran company?  EDIT: Looking at the date, after. And I love how comments have also been conveniently disabled. "If people can't tell me it's shit, then it must be good!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 Fucking hell! That is truly diabolical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted May 13, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted May 13, 2011 And it's the dozens of shows like this that need to be stopped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fye Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011  This is what I think of British Wrestling.  Crowd of 6 Little kid as a GM Big Momma Promotor!  Poor Jonny Storm  Its not poor Jonny Storm though as Jonny accepts PTW bookings regularly and knows exactly what they are like. That's not me knocking Jonny, I'm just saying I don't think he warrants your sympathy based on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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