Could territories work in the US again?

[ClassicsGuy]

Yeah. The Internet killed pro wrestling, in a nutshell.

 

I think bad wrestling products killed pro wrestling.

 

The mid-1990s onwards was when the internet began to be widely used - the territories had been dead for between 5-10 years prior to that, thanks to the WWF's national expansion.

 

The last wrestling boom period, 1996-2001 came when the internet was in its' infancy, but was still being used. There were times when the likes of Russo booked for the internet and the smart fans, at the detriment of the vast majority of the watching audience who weren't 'insider-info' savvy.

 

The terrorities died because they were stripped of their top talents and didn't have the creativity or the resources to move with the times.

 

The internet is a technology that has allowed the general public to get closer to stars of all kinds, through websites, blogs and individual twitters. Mystiques have gone and part of the blame goes to actual stars for allowing their privacy to be invaded.

[TimmyB]

When people go to WWE events they generally go to see the big show and that works for WWE.

Paul Wight - superdraw!

 

[Rosler28]

I

[King Pitcos]

If you're running a five or six match card with one or two of them being tags, you're looking at a crew of 10-15, including a ref. Can you get that many guys who will work five nights a week for what would surely be about $30 payoffs each a night? Furthermore, is there a leisure centre in Chattanooga that's going to want a wrestling show every Tuesday night? Is there another in Memphis that wants one? To run five nights a week, you need to find five venues that want a weekly show or ten that want a biweekly show. TNA probably couldn't draw 200 paid fans a week to the same venue if it wasn't at a fairground, so expecting a local shitarse promotion to do even 100 people at each of five different venues on a consistent basis is a bit of a stretch. To some extent, you could maybe run a touring crew like All Star do or that bloke who used to do those Canadian death tours. But as far as a TV product with evolving storylines, no, and you definitely wouldn't be getting John Morrison to do five working men's clubs a week full-time.

 

If there were millions of people who A) loved wrestling, and B) didn't have access to the proper wrestling on their TVs and computers, then the territory glory days could come back. But they died out for a reason -- failing to adapt and being crushed under the ubiquity of a far superior product.

 

I reckon itd work again obviously will never be as big as it used to be in the old days but maybe they should get the nwa to use their brand by choosing different states and have the nwa champions go to thos states and wrestling the top contenders. Maybe make a league in each state.

There is no value in the NWA brand though, so that would be completely pointless. Rob Conway has about 5895676754675697543679895678 times more value from being a pretend Frenchman and then wearing Billy Gunn's old pants than he does from being an NWA world champion.

[Rosler28]

If you're running a five or six match card with one or two of them being tags, you're looking at a crew of 10-15, including a ref. Can you get that many guys who will work five nights a week for what would surely be about $30 payoffs each a night? Furthermore, is there a leisure centre in Chattanooga that's going to want a wrestling show every Tuesday night? Is there another in Memphis that wants one? To run five nights a week, you need to find five venues that want a weekly show or ten that want a biweekly show. TNA probably couldn't draw 200 paid fans a week to the same venue if it wasn't at a fairground, so expecting a local shitarse promotion to do even 100 people at each of five different venues on a consistent basis is a bit of a stretch. To some extent, you could maybe run a touring crew like All Star do or that bloke who used to do those Canadian death tours. But as far as a TV product with evolving storylines, no, and you definitely wouldn't be getting John Morrison to do five working men's clubs a week full-time.

 

If there were millions of people who A) loved wrestling, and B) didn't have access to the proper wrestling on their TVs and computers, then the territory glory days could come back. But they died out for a reason -- failing to adapt and being crushed under the ubiquity of a far superior product.

 

I reckon itd work again obviously will never be as big as it used to be in the old days but maybe they should get the nwa to use their brand by choosing different states and have the nwa champions go to thos states and wrestling the top contenders. Maybe make a league in each state.

There is no value in the NWA brand though, so that would be completely pointless. Rob Conway has about 5895676754675697543679895678 times more value from being a pretend Frenchman and then wearing Billy Gunn's old pants than he does from being an NWA world champion.

 

 

Based on those odds is it worth putting a pound on ;-)

[Forrest]

I reckon itd work again obviously will never be as big as it used to be in the old days but maybe they should get the nwa to use their brand by choosing different states and have the nwa champions go to thos states and wrestling the top contenders. Maybe make a league in each state.

 

Isn't that what happens in the NWA these days anyway?

 

Territories have had their time. It worked great in the days when it was a cheap, easy product to make with no competition from outside promotions, but now in the age of a million channels where WWE is in every home, you would really have to splash the cash to get a slither of the potential audience to even entertain the idea of you being an viable alternative.

 

What people might forget is that there is still some regional promoters doing the rounds on local TV stations. The only problem is that, as anyone who read my review of the Portland revival fed will have seen, they are largely ultra gash.

 

That, and the fact that outside of places like this, nobody gives a flying fuck about wrestling these days.

[hallicks]

NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood had local TV and their main stars were Joey Ryan, Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana. No offense to those three, but that isn't a strong base to make viewers watch every week. And even they fucked that off if there was a better offer elsewhere, because a local promoter cant afford to pay them every week to work on a small TV production. Stars drive TV wrestling. If WWE has a hard time creating fresh talent, everyone else is fucked.

 

Just a note on CWFH - it airs at 2am on Sunday mornings, so I can't imagine it has enormous viewership. Their live events are free to attend. I only found it because I searched for "Wrestling" in the search function on my cable box. Also, it's filmed about 60 miles from Hollywood, so it's be like Championship Wrestling from London being filmed in Hastings.

 

I went to the WCA event in Culver City last night, which I was able to walk to (preposterous for LA). I reckon about 150-200 people were there, and they seem to be running shows every month in the LA area. I think that's about as much a territory could hope to run these days. Surely in a city of 12 million people, you can make it work on a month to month basis, or maybe every fortnight if it's going well.

[King Pitcos]

I went to the WCA event in Culver City last night, which I was able to walk to (preposterous for LA). I reckon about 150-200 people were there, and they seem to be running shows every month in the LA area. I think that's about as much a territory could hope to run these days. Surely in a city of 12 million people, you can make it work on a month to month basis, or maybe every fortnight if it's going well.

There are loads of promotions that draw 100-200 once a month, aren't there? But there probably aren't many that are drawing that five nights a week. How much did you pay in?

[hallicks]

There are loads of promotions that draw 100-200 once a month, aren't there? But there probably aren't many that are drawing that five nights a week. How much did you pay in?

 

I paid $20 for a front row seat. GA was $15. Would a territory need to run 5 nights a week? Presumably WCA and these other part time promotions aren't total loss makers. Probably the simplest way for "territories" to come back would be for WWE to get involved, but that kind of negates the point of having different areas and styles that guys learn.

[King Pitcos]

I paid $20 for a front row seat. GA was $15. Would a territory need to run 5 nights a week?

According to the original poster, five or six.

 

Presumably WCA and these other part time promotions aren't total loss makers.

Yeah, but part time indies aren't recreating the glory days -- if they counted, then "territories" would already be working and that lad wouldn't have started this thread. Dusty Rhodes wasn't working twice a month in Florida, brother.