IWL#2 Results & some ideas on booking a show

IWL#2 Results & some ideas on booking a show

Hello Wrestling Fans and welcome back to Option #2 of the Indy Wrestle Line. It is Monday, February 25th, and I am “Your Indiana Wrestling Reporter & Photographer, Marcus A. Fine.

I would first like to thank Bigfreaky for calling and leaving a couple messages about his take on the workings of the Indy Wrestling scene. Very interesting comments, I enjoy listening to what you have to say. He also wanted to know why I do what I do when it comes to Indiana Pro Wrestling, and due to time restraints, I will have to save that for another day.

Then I also wanted to thank Dylan Bostic for his comments, and yes Mr. Bostic, I do have three photos for you. If you wish to leave me a message with your email address, or however you wish for me to get these to you, that would greatly be appreciated.

Okay, now here are the results from the EWF show held this past Saturday in Marion, Indiana:

Osyris beat Mike King

Ryan Rich beat Virus

Whipme Spearz beat D.K.J.

Niko Kilauea beat Justin Andrews

Hillbilly Jed & Joey Owens beat Appollo Star and Drew Johnson by DQ to retain the EWF Tag Team Titles

Charles Jackson beat Wildman Rogers by DQ

New Era Champion Just Justin beat Drake Younger by count out

Bob beat Dark Lion to become the new Midwestern Champion

That is all the results I have from this past weekend.

Now, as promised, here are some of my ideas on ways to help book a successful wrestling show. Now again, I know I am not a promoter or wrestler and never have been or ever will be. I am also fully aware there is a lot more to this, these are just some of my thoughts on the process of booking a show. I have seen a lot of shows over the years, and these are a combination of what works at these shows. This is for entertainment purposes only; I am in no way trying to council anyone on how to run a show.. So with that in mind, here they are:

1) Have your show on Friday night. There are very few federations that actually run on Friday. When they do, they are highly successful. EWF has shows every Saturday, and do really well. But it seems to me that they have larger crowds when they run on Friday. Same thing with WCWO, their Friday shows are huge successes. Since no one else is running, you have tons of workers wanting to be on your show. People get off work and want to unwind after a busy week, they can go to wrestling on Friday, and then have the weekend to do other things, or even go to another show on Saturday, and then some weeks, Sunday also. You will never be in conflict with someone else’s show.

2) Have 7 matches on your card. 2 tag team, 4 singles, and 1 specialty match like a battle royal, 3 way dance or 4 way elimination match. Always have a strong main event and then a secondary strong match. Always put the main event last (obviously), and put the secondary strong match at match #4, right before the intermission. If you have a battle royal, make it last longer than 3 minutes, and don’t have it end so abruptly. I have seen battle royals go for 5 minutes, and then all of a sudden, bodies start flying out of the ring like it exploded, and poof, the winner is declared. This is so unrealistic, several people are fighting each other, it needs to be realistic. Never put a title on the line in a three way or four way match. Championships should be determined 1 on 1 or team on team. Also, I feel that the champion is just that, the top wrestler in your federation. Show some respect for that belt and don’t be passing it around like it has a fungus on it. Let the champ hold the belt for a while. I feel that it cheapens the belt when on a show you crown a new champ, two shows later, you crown someone else, then some one else, and by the end of the year, you have ran 12 shows and had 5 champions. The champion is the guy that is the best, so have him look the best by having him hold onto that belt for awhile. I also feel that every singles match that the champion is in, the belt is on the line. I don’t believe in “non title matches”. The champ needs to take on everyone, and defend his belt against whoever he faces.

3) Advertise your show, and not just by word of mouth. You can make a quality flyer and get tons of them made at a printing place for $50. Then what you do is go to every bar and liquor store in town and surrounding areas and post your flyers there. They will be seen. Then with the rest, round up 4 or 5 high school students with a driver’s license and a car, hand them several flyers and a few ticket to the show, and have them post them wherever they can get them. Make sure you have at least one female doing this, because then you can get them posted in both locker rooms of the local schools. That way, when they guys see the poster, they will want to go see wrestling. When the girls see the poster, they will want to go see wrestlers. So it would be beneficial to have a great looking wresters that will be working the show pictured on the flyer. Trust me, this works. To prove it, next time you are at a show, look around; you will see two to ten teenage girls sitting in a group. They are there to see the wrestlers. Then during intermission, when the workers come out to sign autographs and such, you will see these girls hanging around the ring.

4) Put your newest workers to the sport in the first match or the 3 way dance. Your first match should always be the weakest match of the night. You don’t want it to overshadow any other match on the show. Then put your second weakest match at match #5, right after intermission. That way, you can build on both parts of the show. Start out slow with match #1, have it progressively get better and better. By match #4, your secondary strong match, the crowd is really into what is going on. Then go to intermission to give them a break, and start the process over again when they return. By the end of the main event, they are so wound up; they just can’t wait for your next show.

5) Never run a marathon show, and put a lot of stuff onto the fans. 2 ½ hours is a decent amount of time to attend a wrestling event. Anything longer bores the fans. If you start your show at 7:30, then it would be done by 10:00. That is sufficient amount of time. Then on the other hand, don’t rush your show. One time I attended a show that took me over an hour to get there. Bell time was suppose to be 7, but didn’t happen until 7:20. They have 3 quick matches, and then it was intermission, at 7:40. We got back in our seats at 7:55, two more quick matches, and by 8:15, the show was over. So this promoter’s show took just one hour to complete. Needless to say, I had words with the guy about this, and didn’t go back for over a year.

Well, that is about all I have for now, since time is running out. Again, I hope I didn’t bore anyone with this. Just some things I have gathered over the years that seem to work.

Don’t forget that Coliseum Championship Wresting has their weekly show on Wednesday night down at the Memorial Coliseum in Evansville Indiana. The building is located at 300 Court St., bell time is 8:00PM Central Time, and tickets are $10.

Also Ohio Valley Wrestling is having a show Charleston, Indiana this Friday at the Charleston Civic Center, located at 150 Steve Hamilton Dr, Bell Time is 7:30, and tickets are just $5.00

My email address is in1fan@peoplepc.com if anyone has anything for me, and also you can leave a message.

So until Friday, this has been “Your Indiana Wrestling Reporter & Photographer” Marcus A. Fine, Thanks for calling the Indy Wrestle Line and I hope to see you out supporting Indiana Pro Wrestling.