What Culture Pro Wrestling LIVE (Newcastle) - 27th & 28th July

[ClassicsGuy]

1 hour ago, Edgehead said:

You supported them until your ippv experience was trash.

I've never attended a single WCPW show, never watched them on YouTube beyond the odd clip (and that was a long time ago as well), never written about them for FSM, and bought 1 iPPV purely for Jim Ross' commentary. And the iPPV experience was trash.

At least you got one part of your post right, the rest of it is completely incorrect as per usual when it comes to passing comment on me. Just shush mate.

[Edgehead]

So buying an ippv isn't supporting them? Ok.

[ClassicsGuy]

4 minutes ago, Edgehead said:

So buying an ippv isn't supporting them? Ok.

Bought 1 iPPV which was a complete disaster & I heavily criticised them for it on here. Would never ever buy anything from them ever again.

If you class that as 'support' then bully for you. Makes none of my criticism or 'take' any less valid.

By the way I also got a refund (eventually) so they never got a penny off me for my "support".

[Edgehead]

I'll be more constructive, I feel the UK scene is in a much stronger position than it was when 1pw was around and FWA overshot itself.

So I think there is room for a WCPW without causing too much damage in the long run for other companies, when their business model catches them out. Or it may not. I have no idea of their financials.

Each promotion has it's own set of hardcore fans (with overlap of course) that I don't see WCPW harming them. I may end up totally wrong though.

[BrodyGraham]

Truth to tell, even the World Cup leg could be an ask to fill Bowlers. Don't know how many of their regular fans give a shit about NJPW and I imagine most fans who'd travel will prioritise the Rev Pro show. I'm going even if I have to go alone, mainly for Takahashi, but also because I don't think I'll get another chance to see Liger.

[ClassicsGuy]

12 minutes ago, Edgehead said:

 

I'll be more constructive, I feel the UK scene is in a much stronger position than it was when 1pw was around and FWA overshot itself.

So I think there is room for a WCPW without causing too much damage in the long run for other companies, when their business model catches them out. Or it may not. I have no idea of their financials.

Each promotion has it's own set of hardcore fans (with overlap of course) that I don't see WCPW harming them. I may end up totally wrong though.

 

I thought you didn't follow British wrestling as you always thought it to be rubbish & you had no knowledge of it? Or was that just a separate gimmick for the F4W board? Enquiring minds wish to know.

As regards your points, the fact is the risk of burn out to certain markets is a major risk to the current scene, particular in the north west area where there will be 15+ major events using big name talent in the next 6 weeks alone. WCPW overpaying to swamp an already crowded market potentially causes damage to other promotions ability to draw, thus damaging the scene in the long run. Numerous examples of this in history.

[Edgehead]

Correct, I don't follow UK wrestling extensively, but I have followed Progress for past couple of years and PCW until the bluray debacle as you may know. 

As I said, I will probably be wrong, but the fact there are 5/6 name UK promotions means there must be room.

[Tim R-T-C]

I'm guessing the got a good deal at Bowlers and being able to store ring, equipment etc will certainly help cut costs.

I don't think WCPW are aiming for a TV deal. I think they want to build up an online fanbase to subscribe to their paid streaming service. I suspect this free season of Loaded is a trial run for a paid season next time around.

[John Matrix]

Surprised this wasnt posted already, but thought this would be of some interest to those of you following WCPW...

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1spt1kl

 

Quote

In a decision that has not been made lightly, WCPW must today announce that the forthcoming weekly Loaded shows at Manchester’s Bowlers Exhibition Centre will no longer be going ahead.

Effective immediately, our June 9, June 16, June 23, June 30, July 14, July 28, August 4, August 11, and August 18 shows have been pulled from our events pages, and refunds will be issued automatically to anyone who has purchased tickets to these events.

All other announced dates, including our PPVs and all Pro Wrestling World Cup dates are unaffected by this. Our initial June 2 show will also be going ahead as scheduled, and all tickets purchased for this are still valid.

This is a decision that we absolutely did not want to make, but unfortunately it has been taken out of our hands by YouTube.

Owing to a change in their monetisation policy, which has now classified wrestling as “non-advertiser friendly”, it is no longer financially viable for WCPW to produce a weekly free show of the quality our fans deserve.

Since the change the WCPW YouTube channel has seen its advertising income decimated, with our recent match between Alberto El Patron and Rey Mysterio Jr earning only $44 despite receiving over 1,100,000 views. This is a reduction of around 98% in what would have been Loaded’s main source of revenue.

Without that money, it is simply not possible to organise, set-up, manage, produce and edit a free-to-air show on the scale we had intended, and we’ve been left with no choice but to alter our business model. We’re not alone in this either, as other promotions, journalists, and fans have seen their ability to make a living from their content jeopardised entirely by this change.

While we support YouTube in their endeavours to make the site a safer and more tolerant place to visit, we reject entirely the classification of wrestling as a whole as “inappropriate content”. As such, in the coming weeks WCPW will be partnering with other like-minded individuals and organisations to start a campaign aimed at reversing this sweeping change.

Wrestling is not about violence. Wrestling is about scripted entertainment, amazing feats of athleticism and, most of all, story-telling. We want to thank all of our fans for their continued support, and we hope to have more positive news for you soon.

 

[Jon-Carr_92]

Even without the YouTube thing, I doubt they'd have got a consistent attendance through all 10 weeks to make it financially viable. But I guess may as well cancel, issue refunds etc now and allow the wrestlers to free up the spaces in the diary. It was ambitious, but it was too ambitious. It's no secret YouTube revenue is peanuts and these YouTubers make a bit of money off product placements. Others have Patreon pages. For the uninitiated. You pay monthly to support them and the more you pledge to pay each month, the bigger perks you get. This goes to show how other promotions find it tough to upload just individual matches. They're not making a penny off it.

[Astro Hollywood]

Oh that's a shame.

 

[BomberPat]

6 minutes ago, Jon-Carr_92 said:

Even without the YouTube thing, I doubt they'd have got a consistent attendance through all 10 weeks to make it financially viable. But I guess may as well cancel, issue refunds etc now and allow the wrestlers to free up the spaces in the diary. It was ambitious, but it was too ambitious. It's no secret YouTube revenue is peanuts and these YouTubers make a bit of money off product placements. Others have Patreon pages. For the uninitiated. You pay monthly to support them and the more you pledge to pay each month, the bigger perks you get. This goes to show how other promotions find it tough to upload just individual matches. They're not making a penny off it.

From what I understand, before the change in how Youtube classified wrestling, they could have feasibly made enough off the Youtube show to not need to make as much in attendance figures. It was a drastic change.

It's not just WhatCulture, and not just the UK, there are several American promotions really struggling because of this, as it's completely changed how they can monetise their product - or, if nothing else, how much of their money is worth reinvesting in video production for the likes of Youtube.

Ultimately, at least What Culture have done the right thing in being up front and honest about what's happened and why - I've seen a lot of wrestlers and fans alike pissed off by this, but better now than half-way through the run or leaving people chasing after refunds for months at a time. If nothing else, they should be commended for that.

Not that many other promotions are putting together weekly Youtube shows with high quality production values, but if somewhere as seemingly heavily bankrolled as WhatCulture struggles to justify this, it doesn't bode at all well for anyone else. Saying that, if they're prepared to get behind a campaign to convince Youtube to change their policy, that campaign has far more chance of succeeding - and of benefiting all promotions - with someone with the relative weight of WhatCulture behind it.

[drkopen]

Bischoff and a few others have already protested to YouTube when this was initially announced.

Looking at the figures they gave (and i could be wrong I am not great at math)  it appears they got £2,200 for about 1,100,000. That's really low. Product placement, sponsorship and their own add would have brought in considerably more.

Did they ever try and get viewers to sign up to a mailing list? They could build a good platform themselves with those numbers.

[Keith Houchen]

18 minutes ago, drkopen said:

 

Looking at the figures they gave (and i could be wrong I am not great at math)  

Or English, so it seems.

[drkopen]

Sorry but both math and maths are accepted abbreviations of mathematics in the English language.