Daaaaaad! Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 1 hour ago, Big Benny HG said: NORTH, ATTACK! and Scala's HUSTLE are running a joint show together in London at The Garage, Islington the day before AEW All In. Why are they all shouting so loudly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddymagic Posted May 13 Author Share Posted May 13 2 hours ago, King Mal the Glorious said: Where have you seen this? I've been to a few of their shows and follow their various pages but haven't seen any mention of him. I only saw it as a few people were calling them out on it on X. They've just ignored the concerns rather than address them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 32 minutes ago, Daddymagic said: I only saw it as a few people were calling them out on it on X. They've just ignored the concerns rather than address them. The traditional wrestling way! @MB1975 Thanks for your posts, it’s very informative and hopefully will put a lot of misinformation to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted May 13 Paid Members Share Posted May 13 11 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:  @MB1975 Thanks for your posts, it’s very informative and hopefully will put a lot of misinformation to bed. Yeah we don't really like misinformation put to bed on here, we much prefer that misinformation be amplified and repeated until it becomes the accepted truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 4 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: Yeah we don't really like misinformation put to bed on here, we much prefer that misinformation be amplified and repeated until it becomes the accepted truth.  25 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said: The traditional wrestling way!  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members El Mistique Posted May 13 Paid Members Share Posted May 13 1 hour ago, MB1975 said: This is inaccurate. The Invasion Travel Group which owned Wrestling Travel was purchased by Intrax, a US based company. Within a year they had decided to refund last years wrestling travel packages. I believe that access to the tickets was cut by WWE because whoever took over teh social media bashed the WWE too much. You cant upset the big guy apparently. Lee and myself set up "Wrestling Tours" as it was a solid event and made money, to pick up the baton. Not alot but worthwhile and its a blast. We then got the opportunity to purchase the brand Wrestling Travel back in January. It did not go bust, they just purchased Invasion travel Group for the Americamp brand and had fuck all idea what to do with anything else. We paid a nominal amount that was worth it for the social media following alone, and immediately repaired the relationship with WWE.  The 251k was me. the 108k other owners. I'm pretty transparent and I have no worries about sharing stuff. 2023 we would have made a healthy profit if it wasn't for the WWE falling through. As it was we made a small loss. Theres a multi company structure involved in the shares and support of Progress, so Progress Wrestling Ltd balance sheet alone is a small snapshot Cheers for coming on and engaging with us lot  Good to hear your not hoping to get your money back solely on progress shows as much like every promotion over here crowds are down and I think progress have only had one sellout post covid (rev pro excluded as they seem to always do great numbers).  Can I ask a bit more about the Defy stuff and how it works if you guys arnt directly involved locally?Do the chaps who ran it before now work for you and run it the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1975 Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 21 minutes ago, El Mistique said: Can I ask a bit more about the Defy stuff and how it works if you guys arnt directly involved locally?Do the chaps who ran it before now work for you and run it the same. There was the press release but we all know that they are alot of fluff and rah rah. As a Yorkshireman, I've never been one for that bollocks.  The founders maintained some ownership and are involved. I believe the goal here is to cultivate a presence and a stable of talent both sides of the Atlantic that can be used to expand the line up of both companies. We have always liked what they do out in Seattle and they have a similar following at shows. We are not involved locally, ie. There's no Progress staff in Seattle.  Progress office in the US is based in New Jersey.  Flying wrestlers around isnt a huge cost as people think. For example, for Wrestlemania, we flew Session Moth Martina out but she also wrestled for 5 or 6 other promos. Industrsy standard is then to split the flight between other promos that she has represented. For teh most part, teh small promotions all try to support each other and look at bigger picture stuff.  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 8 minutes ago, MB1975 said: As a Yorkshireman, I've never been one for that bollocks. Â 8 minutes ago, MB1975 said: For teh most part, teh small promotions all try to support each other and look at bigger picture stuff. Â Hmmmm, story checks out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted May 13 Paid Members Share Posted May 13 2 hours ago, MB1975 said: This is inaccurate. The Invasion Travel Group which owned Wrestling Travel was purchased by Intrax, a US based company. Within a year they had decided to refund last years wrestling travel packages. I believe that access to the tickets was cut by WWE because whoever took over teh social media bashed the WWE too much. You cant upset the big guy apparently. Lee and myself set up "Wrestling Tours" as it was a solid event and made money, to pick up the baton. Not alot but worthwhile and its a blast. We then got the opportunity to purchase the brand Wrestling Travel back in January. It did not go bust, they just purchased Invasion travel Group for the Americamp brand and had fuck all idea what to do with anything else. We paid a nominal amount that was worth it for the social media following alone, and immediately repaired the relationship with WWE.  Thanks for clearing up things as looking at companies house is a bit of a mess. Wrestling Travel was certainly set up by Lee and Nick. And can see Lee left in 2021 I assume that was due to the Invasion group, (which was the overall company they created I assume) being taken over? But is that true about the tickets, that some social media comments caused WWE to cut them loose? Sounds petty, but of course not impossible. Also had no idea there even was a sale as I didn’t see it announced so you can understand why I thought it was a phoenix job, happily say I was wrong there. As to my feelings on Lee, I had a friend who worked one of the early Camden shows because there was a call for some production crew after the sale and he had applied previously. But Mad Dog decided he could take on the extra work, but they got him to work the show anyway and I don’t think he even got paid in the end. Because they did offer him a paid role going forward, and then after changing a few shows they wanted him for stopped replying completely. That was the last time we went to Progress as it left a sour taste to be honest. Well that and bringing Robbo back.  But I wish you luck, not keen on seeing any promotion fail even if it’s not for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1975 Posted May 13 Share Posted May 13 1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said: Thanks for clearing up things as looking at companies house is a bit of a mess. Wrestling Travel was certainly set up by Lee and Nick. And can see Lee left in 2021 I assume that was due to the Invasion group, (which was the overall company they created I assume) being taken over? But is that true about the tickets, that some social media comments caused WWE to cut them loose? Sounds petty, but of course not impossible. Also had no idea there even was a sale as I didn’t see it announced so you can understand why I thought it was a phoenix job, happily say I was wrong there That's correct. Intrax really bought the group for the summer camp brand Americamp. I had done some financial consulting for Nick as they were losing money across their brands and my conclusion was that only 3 of their 12 brands made money, Americamp, Camp Thailand and Wrestling Travel. Nick ignored my advice. Lee and Nick sold coming out of covid and all their brands went with it. 100% true with regards to hammering WWE on social. Apparently a couple of warnings were issued and then the rug pulled out. I've been involved in alot of acquisitions and sales. In fact it seems like its always ongoing. Theres an NDA day one and then the employees informed minutes before its made public. The Americamp brand announced it because that's all the purchasers were interested in. Im too jaded to fanny about with anything shady and I certainly wouldn't risk my larger businesses on pissing about with this if anything dodgy was happening!  1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said: As to my feelings on Lee, I had a friend who worked one of the early Camden shows because there was a call for some production crew after the sale and he had applied previously. But Mad Dog decided he could take on the extra work, but they got him to work the show anyway and I don’t think he even got paid in the end. Because they did offer him a paid role going forward, and then after changing a few shows they wanted him for stopped replying completely. That was the last time we went to Progress as it left a sour taste to be honest. Well that and bringing Robbo back.  But I wish you luck, not keen on seeing any promotion fail even if it’s not for me. 100% sure mistakes were made and still will be.  I think at the start there was a lot of getting the feel for personnel involved etc. I was tasked with attending the Philly shows and mania and writing a report on what I saw, from staff working teh shows, to staff working the suites at Mania and I did so which will result in more changes.  Like I said, the three of us have good intentions, but we are bound to cock up a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members El Mistique Posted May 14 Paid Members Share Posted May 14 23 hours ago, MB1975 said: There was the press release but we all know that they are alot of fluff and rah rah. As a Yorkshireman, I've never been one for that bollocks.  The founders maintained some ownership and are involved. I believe the goal here is to cultivate a presence and a stable of talent both sides of the Atlantic that can be used to expand the line up of both companies. We have always liked what they do out in Seattle and they have a similar following at shows. We are not involved locally, ie. There's no Progress staff in Seattle.  Progress office in the US is based in New Jersey.  Flying wrestlers around isnt a huge cost as people think. For example, for Wrestlemania, we flew Session Moth Martina out but she also wrestled for 5 or 6 other promos. Industrsy standard is then to split the flight between other promos that she has represented. For teh most part, teh small promotions all try to support each other and look at bigger picture stuff.  Thanks for coming back to me. How does it work in terms of booking talent and storylines? Do they hold onto the creative side of things?  And is it the same for progress. Do you have someone booking/writing  the storylines for progress or is that all that undertaken by Lee? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1975 Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 23 hours ago, El Mistique said: Thanks for coming back to me. How does it work in terms of booking talent and storylines? Do they hold onto the creative side of things?  And is it the same for progress. Do you have someone booking/writing  the storylines for progress or is that all that undertaken by Lee? We do have a creative team. They do the storylines. it doesnt always sync with marketing. Lets face it. Your storylines and your champions = your draw and marketing. Lee doesnt do the bookings and storylines. Lee does marketing and promotional stuff. My take after getting involved is, that they come hand in hand. Your champions are your main ambassadors and should represent the company. I didnt get to spend time with the current men's champ, but our women's champ, Rhio is a phenomenal human being. Has all the time in the world for anyone, represents the brand in a way anyone would be proud to be represented. No request too big or too small. She's ace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members El Mistique Posted May 15 Paid Members Share Posted May 15 1 hour ago, MB1975 said: We do have a creative team. They do the storylines. it doesnt always sync with marketing. Lets face it. Your storylines and your champions = your draw and marketing. Lee doesnt do the bookings and storylines. Lee does marketing and promotional stuff. My take after getting involved is, that they come hand in hand. Your champions are your main ambassadors and should represent the company. I didnt get to spend time with the current men's champ, but our women's champ, Rhio is a phenomenal human being. Has all the time in the world for anyone, represents the brand in a way anyone would be proud to be represented. No request too big or too small. She's ace Who does the booking if you can reveal?  And do you measure their success on tickets sold or and combination of other factors (like social media engagement, VOD subs etc). One of the things on the rumour mill is that Luke Jacobs, despite being probably the best domestic wrestling in the country, doesn’t get pushed in progress due to his prominent role in Rev Pro which I kind of get now you’ve talked about the importance of the marketing element.  Sorry for the all the questions, this is dead interesting to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1975 Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 18 minutes ago, El Mistique said: Who does the booking if you can reveal?  And do you measure their success on tickets sold or and combination of other factors (like social media engagement, VOD subs etc). One of the things on the rumour mill is that Luke Jacobs, despite being probably the best domestic wrestling in the country, doesn’t get pushed in progress due to his prominent role in Rev Pro which I kind of get now you’ve talked about the importance of the marketing element.  Sorry for the all the questions, this is dead interesting to me. I cant remember his name who heads it up- met him in Philly. he had a beard Personally as a money man I measure success on money hahaha! but I can tell you shows just about pay for themselves. The money is in content. Every time someone who has wrestled for Progress gets picked up for the WWE, they buy our content. Anyone doing this is making money from online streaming and content subscriptions, rather than the shows. As for Luke Jacobs, watch this space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dart Posted May 15 Share Posted May 15 36 minutes ago, El Mistique said: Who does the booking if you can reveal?  And do you measure their success on tickets sold or and combination of other factors (like social media engagement, VOD subs etc). One of the things on the rumour mill is that Luke Jacobs, despite being probably the best domestic wrestling in the country, doesn’t get pushed in progress due to his prominent role in Rev Pro which I kind of get now you’ve talked about the importance of the marketing element.  Sorry for the all the questions, this is dead interesting to me. Any promotion who is basing their success solely on ticket sales these days is doing things really wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.