UK Wrestling.

[fye]

Ravenhill's attitude entirely reflects my own. Our business model is very different as I run about 20% of the shows he does and I do so mainly in the same area so I can tailor parts of my show to our repeat audience, which is also mainly made up of families.

 

My attitude is simply get enough in the door to make a profit, everything then on the merch is additional profit and a good show means repeat business. Doing less shows in far fewer towns means we can fuse storylines into that philosophy but I care far more about bums on seats than I do about angles and stories. We keep everything simple and it works for us. The best shows I have seen around the UK follow the same basic logics of simple entertainment. They dont try to over-do the action but always aim to out-do their previous attendances and profits.

[Futureshock Wrestling]

The one thing I've always wanted to ask UK promoters is how much effort do you put into running storylines and angles on your shows? Is it something that doesn't work well without TV coverage and whats not, as you'd be expecting a mixture of regulars that know the product, internet fans and then casuals?

 

I think all promoters are completely different. I run nearly forty different towns, so would struggle to do continued storylines at them all, whereas some promotions only run one or two towns, which is more manageable for storylines. Also, its the fanbase, some promotions attract a more adult fanbase, or a 'smarter' fanbase who probably expect storylines. Other promotions like myself target children and families who are not really bothered about intricate storylines, as long as the good guy wins at the end of the night they're happy.

 

On a personal note with myself, i'm certainly far more a promoter than a booker. My priority with wrestling is taking money on the door and taking more money over the merchandise table. The show is simple, because at the end of the day, wrestling is just cowboys and indians in spandex. Its the simplest form of entertainment, and as i've proven on my shows - keep it simple, keep it entertaining, and they'll come back again and again.

 

 

This is pretty much the crux of it here. For Ravenhill and his business model that's absolutely perfect. Without TV coverage but with his volume of events storylines would be detrimental- more people would be turned off but what they inevitably miss than would be enticed by a good "To be continued" moment. All Ravenhill needs to do is make sure the family-night-out is a fun experience as a complete package and the fans from the seperate towns will keep coming back to their local venue.

 

For myself and the model we have: 8 - 12 shows a year, same venue and a regular core audience with dvd sales being a major part of our profit margin and with the shows ultimately being an extension of the training school, then storylines are a welcome edition and a good crook for ensuring that the same core audience return to see the next episode and that people further a field continuously make online purchases of our dvds. We have in the past promoted events in other towns in the Greater Manchester area and even over this small a distance anything other than simple One-night main event stories and sensible relevant booking just wouldn't work. Even with this model for us, we are still aware that if someone new joins our audience and doesnt understand the convoluted angles then they wont come back again, so keeping the angles we do run simple is essential. Here's a super-villain with an evil plot, heres a superhero out to stop him. booo, yaaayyy! Come back next time! Simples!