Is there room for another wrestling Magazine?

[JV John Vollman]

If you're looking to create a fresh new wrestling publication, focussing mainly on Brit Wres is the best way of having it be unique, or at least different to FSM and Power Slam.

 

But going down that route restricts readership, as its a sub-culture in what is essentially a niche market.

 

Trying to take on Power Slam because you're sick of the 'Cena is crap' 'Hogan is old' 'Flair is skint' type of stuff then it's going to be nigh on impossible really.

 

An e-zine is your best route at this point, if you're really set on the idea.

[PWPgreg]

We put together a monthly e-zine and I personally think that's the best way to go about it - gives you time to overcome teething problems at little cost, and to structure the publication as best you can before pitching it to publishers. A print publication needs to concentrate mainly on the 'big two' to succeed I reckon, but there's plenty of niche titles out there so perhaps a UK/Indy mag could work?! We have Euro/Indy columns in our 'zine but admittedly WWE coverage is becoming more and more prevalent.

 

Would be interested in folks thoughts on our efforts, last edition is at http://tinyurl.com/62v6d76 - next issue due this w/end. http://tinyurl.com/5uj3pwl for the PDF.

 

Cheap plug I know, but it is relevant to OP

[ewfederation]

A UK based pro wrestling magazine, wouldn't be a bad idea at all. Wonder if there would be much of a market for it though?

[King Pitcos]

A UK based pro wrestling magazine, wouldn't be a bad idea at all. Wonder if there would be much of a market for it though?

I'd say the market for a magazine devoted to the UK wrestling scene is roughly 0.5 to 1.5 times the attendance at one of the Dragons Gate shows last weekend. Maybe a lot less, definitely no more. A publisher wouldn't go anywhere near it, for sure.

[Forrest]

In the underground metal scene, there's no end of fanzines doing the rounds in limited edition xerox prints that you can even do for yourself. I think a similar fanzine would definitely work for British wrestling (Puro and US Indies would work too). There's more than enough promotions on here who'd be willing to lend a column promoting their company and if you get enough ads for upcoming events, you could pay for the print run straight from that. much like many metal fanzines do.

 

If you're looking to do a rival to Power Slam and FSM... Nah, I'm not pinning any hopes on that working.

[ewfederation]

While a magazine to rival FSM/PS might not work, I think it's worth a shot.

 

I know wrestling is dwindling in popularity compared to MMA, but that has loads of magazines, which all share the market.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Wrestling is an internet based medium today. It moves so fucking fast, Power Slam had Del Rio on the cover with a title talking about how he's the new champion, and he had just won his second world title by the time Power Slam came out. You have the Observer and the Torch and all those news sites and then there are the forums and the podcasts. Thats all you need. What does a wrestling magazine provide? Opinion (we can get that 30 seconds after Raw finishes), photos (the magazine photographers and even the promotions post their shit on facebook or the official websites), results (don't need those) and all the other stuff you can get. The best things about them are the interviews, but Power Slam and FSM have those covered. Apart from loyalty and convenience, wrestling magazines are a dying breed.

[Professor Paul's Bin]

While a magazine to rival FSM/PS might not work, I think it's worth a shot.

 

Yes great idea to waste thousands of pounds..

 

Anyway what I think PS/FSM are missing is some sort of promotion to indy/puro. I would say include a disc of matches would be a good idea but that would soon increase the price of the magazine. Instead a good idea would be hosting matches online where you have a code inside the magazine to watch them (Then maybe the magazine might need sealing in plastic packaging..). But you get the idea right?

 

As Ian said the interviews are brilliant and the odd article is alright but the majority of it isn't that interesting. I just feel they need to offer something more. Some twat will probably say my idea above isn't realistic due to server costs and what not. But there could be a way of a wrestling magazine offering more.

[King Pitcos]

FSM have done DVDs before. I don't think it made any odds. PowerSlam did/do devote half a page to Youtube recommendations as well, which is the same idea as what you've suggested except not limited to contractual partners.

 

Tangentally, here's a match Fin's recommended on Twitter lately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWvbrqs_dKQ

 

But John Cena proper exposes the business.

[Brian Elliott]

I won't comment on whether there's room for another wrestling magazine on the shelves, but - no surprise here! - I will defend the place of quality magazines in the internet age. Of course, the bad magazines can go to hell.

 

Personally, I believe that if quality of writing, presentation, and convenience are some of your top priorities in your reading time, then there are many magazines that beat out internet coverage by a massive distance. Following the 2011 overhaul, I don't believe that you'll find a standard of wrestling writing that is better than we have in FSM; as has been stated elsewhere in this thread, and in the FSM Magazine thread, the style of writing in FSM - which I know previously put a lot of UKFF readers off - is very different to what it used to be, and aims to be thought-provoking and insightful to even long-time fans. I think a good example of this is our recent article on Chris Adams, in which we tracked down his brother to talk about Chris' life. This is a level of journalism that you very, very rarely find online. As for presentation and convenience, I personally hate reading long articles on a computer screen, and it's nice just to be able to pick up a magazine without having to boot up the PC every time.

 

I'm aware that this will come across as a plug for FSM - and I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't do that to some degree - but in regard to the qualities I mentioned above, I wouldn't be without my monthly copy of World Soccer. Amidst the rubbish that you can pick up these days, magazines that take pride in their output are worth their weight in gold.

[aaron]

Offer fee gifts with a subsscription.

 

That's the only way I would buy any magazine these days.

[Kaz Hayashi]

For me, magazines are for train/plane rides only these days and usually only the trains that don't have access to a plug hole or internet.

I do very rarely buy mags for this reason and only when im not currently in to a book and want to save the battery power on my phone.

They are bottom of the list for me, although i can happily read the mag from top to bottom as it does help ease the mind fuck of a 5 hour plus train plod.

 

As others have mentioned, a magazine dedicated to WWE already exists. 2 magazines dedicated to the majority of everything else exist in a smart fan way.

You would need to make something different but i don't really know what and even then, who would buy it?

 

So in terms over 'room for another'... No.

In terms of 'better than whats out'... probs.

 

The idea of doing a magazine purely on british promotions, each issue being a 75% feature on 1 particular promotion per month and the other 25% being a general round up could be a good read. Each promotion could see a batch at their shows for a slice of the coin.

 

In reality, i would probs look more like a newsletter that you would need to give away for free. But if the above was available at shows, i would read it.

 

If you went down the e-mag route, then maybe you could give a printed summary away for free at shows, enticing the reader to log on a pay for a subscription to the full thing.

 

I know it's not what you asked, but yeah, i think the wrestling mag potential died 10 years ago.