Progress nearly half million in debt

[Big Bully Busick]

On 5/13/2024 at 3:58 PM, MB1975 said:

Honestly, Im not the one to ask,  If ever there's a situation of someone just being "the bloke who writes the checks" its me for Progress.

I believe the focus is on a few things (Im a layman remember)

1. Providing a great platform and structure for talent to flourish and want to be part of and represent Progress.  Theres alot of wrestlers that, this is their full time job.  And pulling in 100 quid a show doesn't cut it, but they supplement with merchandise.  We want to be supportive in this.

2. Improve our streaming service and video content.  The WWE contract ending was a blow but nothing we hadn't anticipated.  it would be a really shitty business plan to rely on one contract to survive.  I expect us to still be selling content to them.  We have so much they want.  Things just need to settle first.  The double whammy was our streaming and subscription provider shitting the bed and us having to pivot so to speak.  My main thing in doing anything is, don't fanny about rushing to do it.  Do it slowly and do it correctly, so its robust and meets purpose.

3. More and bigger venues.  We are at a point with alot of our shows that we could use a bigger venue.  The jump in price compared to how many tickets we will sell is a big gamble though and we certainly do not want to increase prices.

 

As for "where does it fit in" - Like I said, I don't know the scene.  All i can tell you is the stuff I've seen and teh stuff I've been to, I see alot of fans having a great time.  Maybe it doesn't grow a whole lot.  Maybe it stays as it is, with a small, loyal fan base and one day its passed on to others with the passion.

I popped up on here because someone on the boxing forum I'm on asked me if we were going out of business.

 

What boxing forum you post on out of curiosity? 

[BomberPat]

Progress' main booker is called James, can't remember his surname. He's a good bloke, background in live music events, IIRC. Then some wrestlers have input into creative too, FWIW.

I don't read much into the idea that certain people aren't getting pushed because they're stars in RevPro, in my experience most promoters and bookers are way too busy with their own stuff and keeping too many plates spinning to also factor in how somebody else may or may not be booking.

That said, there's valid reasons to not overly feature people who are big stars elsewhere, as you risk losing your own identity in the process. One of the issues that really affected the previous regime at Progress towards the end was that they seemed content to let other companies like Fight Club Pro or WXW do the work of actually building the stars. 

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

That said, there's valid reasons to not overly feature people who are big stars elsewhere, as you risk losing your own identity in the process. One of the issues that really affected the previous regime at Progress towards the end was that they seemed content to let other companies like Fight Club Pro or WXW do the work of actually building the stars. 

It's a fine line with indies, especially over here where a lot of the fanatic types do keep up with multiple promotions. For example ; when I was at my peak of being into BritWres, Progress had made heels of British Strong Style parallel to a long-standing feud between Moustache Mountain (usually loved) and CCK in other places such as Fight Club Pro. Round about the same time that they started moving towards Dunne vs Travis Banks for the Progress title, me and others suddenly started clamouring for Brookes & Lykos to get brought in to create a natural 3 vs 3 rivalry. Despite having no reason in storyline for Progress fans to expect their appearance or be invested, the pop that CCK got when they came out unannounced to confront BSS in Manchester that day was one of my fondest memories of live wrestling for years (obviously tainted since), and the storyline therein gave me the highly rewarding tragedy of Brookes & Lykos losing the tag belts back to Mountain in that double titles match in Birmingham... brilliant in both regards. Wouldn't have been possible if the Progress crowd weren't so happy to accept "OK, you know these guys from other places - now they're here too."

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Wouldn't have been possible if the Progress crowd weren't so happy to accept "OK, you know these guys from other places - now they're here too."

On the other hand, I wasn't familiar with them so was fairly confused when these new guys came in and were immediately given top slots. I'm always willing to give new debuts the benefit of the doubt but they looked like absolute dog shit. Chris Brookes was tall and incredibly skinny with a weird looking shoulder pad thing on and Kid Lykos looked like a 11 year old backyarder in a 5 year old's homemade super hero costume.

My point here being that I think it's one thing to debut people and just assume/hope for the best most your audience are going to know who they are but they also need to actually be immediately impressive and/or interesting to win over the fans who don't know who they are.  

[Carbomb]

Only times I ever saw a crossover that worked like that were FWA vs. IPW:UK - mainly underpinned by Robbie Brookside working heel. Other time, surprisingly, was a one-off IPW:UK vs. 3CW show in which the main-event six-man had IPW:UK as the heels - and it was perfectly understandable why: two of them were spectacular high-flyers in PAC and a younger lad whose name I sadly don't remember. The third was Dragon Aisu, and I remember the pop when the smaller guys on either side tagged out, and he and Martin Stone faced each other off. Was a genuine "ooh, here we go, lads" moment.

[SuperBacon]

Every promotion should've pushed Riccardo Young to the moon IMO.

[MB1975]

On 5/15/2024 at 3:40 PM, Big Bully Busick said:

What boxing forum you post on out of curiosity? 

Off the Hook

[DavidB6937]

28 minutes ago, MB1975 said:

Off the Hook

Also what people have been shouting at Chris Jericho lately.

[MB1975]

Just now, DavidB6937 said:

Also what people have been shouting at Chris Jericho lately.

I dont watch wrestling at all.

[Mr_Danger]

5 minutes ago, MB1975 said:

I dont watch wrestling at all.

Prove it, name three brands of deodorant.

[HobowithaShotgun]

Thanks for being so forthcoming with the details. Is there any specific reason Defy was chosen to buy compared to other prominent US Indies like DPW/Prestige or partner with GCW even? I live in Seattle and the shows seem to do quite well though since the merger they are def running less overall.

[MB1975]

43 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

Prove it, name three brands of deodorant.

Im a northerner.  Whats deodorant?

[MB1975]

2 minutes ago, HobowithaShotgun said:

Thanks for being so forthcoming with the details. Is there any specific reason Defy was chosen to buy compared to other prominent US Indies like DPW/Prestige or partner with GCW even? I live in Seattle and the shows seem to do quite well though since the merger they are def running less overall.

I think our owners and theirs become friends and they were looking for it and we went for it.

 

Not sure why theres less shows.....strange.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, MB1975 said:

I dont watch wrestling at all.

You will fit in here then, 75% of the posters don't, but 99.99% still post about it. 

[Carbomb]

5 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Every promotion should've pushed Riccardo Young to the moon IMO.

Oh, you scamp.