This Is How You Pay Dues, Kid

 “If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that.”
― Charles Bukowski, Factotum

During the fall and winter of 2000, I lived in a dilapidated house in McKeesport, PA with no running water.  No running water meant that I had nowhere to shower.  Nowhere to go to the bathroom.

    When veteran wrestlers talk about "paying dues", most of them have no idea what they are talking about.  "Paying dues" is another way to say "sacrifice".  Going through training isn't necessarily paying dues.  Being a rookie and getting ribbed by the vets isn't necessarily paying dues.  Jerking the curtain and losing every match isn't paying dues.  Paying dues is going to places and doing things that you might not want to do, but you do so anyway because an opportunity to reach your goals may present itself.  I paid dues by moving to Pittsburgh for a chance to wrestle and train on a regular basis.

    Pittsburgh is not a place I would pick to reside for any other reason.  I moved into a house that was owned by the promoter that I was working for, Jim Miller.  Miller had owned the house for a number of years, but in the few years prior had trouble keeping tenants.  Well, at least tenants that paid rent.  If it was not for Miller essentially paying me $400 a month to live in the rundown Pittsburgh suburb of McKeesport, I surely would have left the Steel City in search of greener pastures.

    I am not naive enough to think that Miller was cutting me some kind of special deal because he knew I was going to be a star that was going to make a lot of money; the guy needed to make payments on that property.  The idea behind my tenancy was that I would maintain and upkeep the house, and get two or three roommates to eventually move in and they would kick in actual rent payments.  The benefit to me was that I could stay in an area where I was starting to pick up bookings, and have an easier time paying my bills. Ironically, at the time I wasn't even wrestling regularly for Miller's promotion.

    Miller had started his company in 1994, when his neighbor approached him about setting up a wrestling ring in the backroom of his candy and sports memorabilia business that he was running out of a virtually abandoned shopping center in an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh.  This neighbor was a young up-and-coming wrestler by the name of "Shocker" Sean Evans, who was doing everything he could to get more ring time himself.  At that time, his family lived in the house that I would eventually move into in 2000. Eventually Miller's promotion was successful enough that he converted his candy shop completely into an arena, and hired some local veteran wrestlers to run a training school there - the Pittsburgh Wrestling Academy.  By 1999 Miller's "Pro Wrestling Express" was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, running weekly events at the dirt mall, producing local television, and the only reputable independent organization in the area.  Coincidentally, right after I relocated to Pittsburgh after graduation in the fall of 2000, Miller lost his lease at the dirt mall, had two other venues fall through, and had most of his wrestlers defect to an upstart promotion running that was able to secure a regular venue.  Then Miller had a somewhat serious auto accident, and for awhile his promotion was not running any wrestling events.

    I was not getting booked anywhere on a consistent basis, and I assure you that I was not making any money wrestling.  I had to have money, so started l started looking for any kind of crappy day job; A regular "nine-to-five" that I could work around my wrestling commitments.  I started working at a credit bureau, where I was processing credit reports for mortgage loans, and it was every bit as exciting as it sounds.  However, the job fit into my schedule well enough since it wasn't something that conflicted with wrestling, and it I could easily walk away from it if an opportunity presented itself.

    Sadly, the only opportunities that were presenting themselves were small time wrestling cards in the Pittsburgh area and down in West Virginia.  I was trying to get as many bookings as I could, but I was only picking up one or two bookings a month, and those bookings were not very big in the payoff department.  I still had a place to live though. I had enough stability that I was able to develop a routine and really focus on getting my body prepared for the pounding wrestling would give it. 

    I was stopping by the grocery store every day after work and buying a three pound bag of frozen chicken.  Everyday.  I had to develop this routine because I didn't have a refrigerator, and I could only keep food on hand that would not spoil if left overnight in a cooler.  I would cook all of the chicken every morning before work, along with a cup of rice, and that would be my food for the day.  I was also hitting the gym like a fiend.  I knew I needed to put on some size to have a more credible look, and I was convinced that I could become a heavyweight by hitting the gym twice a day.  I would get up early in the morning - around 5am - to fix my food and to pack my gym bag with my work clothes.  I would then hit the gym early and put in about an hour of cardio, before showering, shaving, and then heading off to work.  After work, I was hitting the gym again. After a few hours of pounding the weights, I would hit the shower again, before heading to the grocery store and starting  the routine over.
  
    Keeping this gym routine was made easier because the gym had running water.  The house I was renting from Miller did not.  You see, when I moved into Miller's flophouse, I discovered that the previous tenant had run up a water bill that was well over $1000, so the county shut off service.  Usually an individual in this situation would be able to set-up a new account in their name, and water service would be turned on within a few days.  However in this situation, the prior tenant had never set-up an account of any kind, and the past due amount had actually been billed to the property owner - which was a phony business that Miller used as a front.  So, the water was off until either myself or Miller paid the bill. With my financial situation, I didn't have over $1000 to hand over to the water works, so I had to do without water until I saved up enough money to pay the debt.  If anyone is asking why Miller didn't pay it... you obviously do not know Jim Miller.

        The house itself would best be described as a shithole.  The carpet was orange-red, and was covered in stains of unknown origin.  The walls were full of holes. Water spots dotted the ceilings both upstairs and down - which meant that the roof leaked and that the pipes did as well.  The previous tenant had left most of their stuff there, so after tossing all of his crap in a spare bedroom for storage, I started slowly fixing up parts of the house so they were habitable. For awhile I confined all my activities to one upstairs bedroom that I was able to clean thoroughly enough to not feel like I was in a crackhouse.

    When you do not have running water in a house, you do not have any way to flush a toilet.  You cannot flush it without filling the tank with water first.  My solution to this problem was a two gallon plastic red bucket, and stocking up on gallon jugs of water and bleach.  And plenty of disinfectant spray. If I had to urinate while I was at home, I would just pee into the bathtub, and then pour some bleach and water down the drain to wash it all away.  It was a totally different story however if I had to take a dump.  I would line my bucket with a plastic bag, squat down over it, and do my business directly into the bucket.  Afterwards I would tie the bag up, and take it outside to the dumpster.  I took a lot of Marine baths with a washcloth and water from a jug. The only place I could shower was the gym.

    I was eating out of a cooler, shitting in a bucket, and working a menial job in a city that I hated, all so that I could be closer to where I was able to get bookings.  That is paying dues.

    By the time summer rolled around I had the water back on again, and I was finally able to shower at home.  I had been able to increase the amount of bookings I was getting down in West Virginia, which allowed me to be more social with some of the other young guys struggling to get a break in the business in that area.  Finally in May of 2001, Miller was able to secure an old warehouse in McKeesport, which with some minimal renovation was to become the "Sportatorium".  While Miller was attempting various improvements to get the building in shape for holding matches, I was able to get a key to the building.  I was able to get the ring set-up for working out and training.  For the next few years, I was within walking distance of a wrestling ring that I had access to any time that I wanted.

    I was 23 years old, I was paying my rent from wrestling, I was able to train anytime I wanted, and I had running water.

    I had never been happier at any point in my life.

How I Ended Up In Pittsburgh

    I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from the School of Arts & Sciences from The Ohio State University on August 31, 2000.  The week before that, I had packed all of my belongings up, and moved to Pittsburgh.

    My senior year at Ohio State was a lot of me being torn in different directions.  I wanted to complete work on my Journalism degree, and at the same time I was training and starting to work as a professional wrestler.  I was busting my ass during the week working a third-shift job loading trucks at UPS, so that I could spend my weekends out of town training or working shows.  I was spending a lot of time in Pittsburgh, so upon graduation it actually made a bit of sense to move up there.

    The guy that took me under his wing and helped break me into the business the right way was Anthony "Kingdom" James.  Kingdom was originally trained and started working as a professional wrestler up north in his native land of Canada, but I had met him when he was living in Pittsburgh.  He was wrestling regularly there, as well as in my hometown of Cincinnati.  Kingdom had talked to the head trainer at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Academy, a guy known as Mad Mike, and it was worked out so that I was able to come up to the Wrestleplex on the weekends and workout with Mike and his students - even if I wasn't working for the company.  I started traveling up to Pittsburgh on Friday afternoons, and I would work out with Chris Hero and one of his students, Cuefa the Flyin' Hawaiian.  Then I would hang out and watch the matches at the Wrestleplex that night if there was a card.   On Saturdays I would workout with the guys training with Mad Mike, like Sterling James Keenan, Orion, and Scottie Gash.  If there was a small show in the area I might try to get booked on the card, or I would maybe hang out again and check out the show at the Wrestleplex.  Sometimes guys like Brandon K and Mr. Bigg would workout on Sundays, so I might squeeze a workout in before heading back to Columbus.

    I started dating a girl in the business that was going to school in the Pittsburgh area, and she ended up needing a roommate right at the same time I was graduating from Ohio State.   So, with me spending so much time in Pittsburgh and not having any kind of job lined up after graduation, I decided to take her up on the offer and moved in with her.

    Bad move.

    After about six weeks living in Pittsburgh I didn't have any kind of solid full-time employment, I was dating a girl that was blatantly cheating on me with any guy in wrestling trunks, and I didn't have two nickles to rub together.  Oh, and suddenly there was a halt in wrestling activity in Pittsburgh.

    The promoter that was running shows out of the Wrestleplex was a guy named Jim Miller.  The Wrestleplex was nothing more than an empty storefront at a rundown mall in suburban Pittsburgh.  Miller had converted the shop to a wrestling arena once his candy and sports collectibles business failed at that location.  During the time-span that I was commuting to Pittsburgh from Columbus, Miller lost his lease at the mall, and had moved the promotion's operations to a nearby Turner's Club.  It was the proverbial beer hall.  After running events at the hall for a couple of months the Turner's decided they no longer wanted to work with Miller, and the promotion stopped running shows.  One of the wrestlers was also a local radio personality, and he ended up finding a concert hall to run shows at.  Because of his radio connections a television deal ended up being on the table for Miller's promotion, but the two had a conflict.  Virtually the entire locker room ended up defecting to a new promotion backed by the radio guy, with the promise of this television deal paying them enough to quit their jobs and being full-blown wrestling superstars.  Not only was Miller was not part of this deal anymore, but he was also involved in a serious auto accident, and was putting very little effort into promoting shows and saving his business.

    So here I was, a rookie trying to follow his dream of being a big-time pro wrestler, and I was already sucked into a tough situation because of politics in the business.  I tried to stay out of everything, and I just focused on picking up bookings.  I was starting to pick up work regularly in West Virginia, and I was able to work some small-time events the Pittsburgh area, but I didn't have anywhere to train, so I wasn't going to keep improving.  I was beginning to think that moving to Pittsburgh was a bad idea.  This is a thought that I would revisit a lot over the next six years.

    I had actually found a decent day-job to make some of my ends come close to meeting, but I was still kind of screwed on a place to live. There was no way that I was going to be able to find a place of my own. At this point I really had two options: find someone looking for a roommate, or move back home with my folks and regroup.  I really felt like my first foray into the real world couldn't end in failure, and having to trek three-hundred miles back to where I grew up seemed like failure to me.

    Unlike most of the other guys I had worked with in Pittsburgh, I didn't jump over to Miller's new rival because of the enticement of being on television.  I was a greenhorn with a bad spot who was just lucky to be on the card; I knew I was only jerking the curtain because the promotion was running weekly and needed enhancement talent.  The guy that was booking the new promotion was the guy that was booking Miller's promotion, and when he sent me the line-up for the first show and I was listed on the card without ever having been asked if I wanted the booking, I took it as a bad sign.  I had no loyalty to the booker, and if he was wanting me to jump ship just to be a jobber, why should I jump?  I wasn't making any money wrestling in Pittsburgh at all, and I didn't really deserve to.  I was a guy in desperate need of ring time to work on my craft, both in training and in front of real live crowds.  If I wasn't going to get that in Pittsburgh, why stay?

    I contacted Miller and laid out what was going on - I was grateful for the opportunity to improve myself there in Pittsburgh, but if he was not going to have a new facility or a place to work, I wasn't sure if I was going to stay in Pittsburgh.  Miller responded by inviting me to a meeting that he was having with his top lieutenants about future plans and for what he had in the works. Since I didn't have much else going on, I said "what the hell", and went to the get-together.

    At the meeting I had a lot of smoke blown up my ass, and I was told that I was the future of the company, and that once everything was up and running again, I was going to have a big part of the book, and maybe even be the champion.  Considering that I was green as grass, I knew that if this was even remotely true it was stupid from a business point-of-view.  However, Miller did put a pretty decent financial offer on the table.  

    Miller had a rental property that was sitting empty because the last couple tenants had pretty much torn the place up and not paid their rent on time, if at all. Miller offered me the property rent-free, as long as I maintained the property and paid the utilities.  We worked out an agreement on how much this was worth, and put it down in a lease agreement.  I think the agreement was that this was worth $400 a month, and that if I brought in any roommates, they would split utilities with me, and kick $100 to him for rent.

    At this point, I decided to stay in Pittsburgh, because I was suddenly doing something that 99% of the guys that enter this business never do; I was putting a roof over my head thanks to wrestling.

Professional vs. Hobbyist

    I got hooked on professional wrestling when I was a kid.  I'm not sure when exactly it was, but I remember I was watching Saturday Night World Championship Wrestling on WTBS, and I saw Tully Blanchard squash some preliminary guy, then walk over to David Crockett and Tony Schivone at ringside to talk shit about something.  I immediately wanted to see more. Somewhere along the line I decided that I wanted to be a professional wrestler.  Sure, I also wanted to play catcher for the Cincinnati Reds, or perhaps  get bit by a radioactive spider and gain superpowers.  Hey, I was a kid.

    I was fortunate that Cincinnati seemed to get a wider variety of wrestling programming than many places.  I was able to watch the Four Horsemen try to run Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA out of town, Randy Savage destroy the throat of Ricky Steamboat, and Col. DeBeers piledrive Jimmy Snuka on the concrete.  I spent many a youthful Saturday flipping back and forth between the different wrestling shows, and the different baseball games on television.  Saturday morning was for watching superhero cartoons, but the afternoons were for watching sports.

    At some point I got away from wrestling; I just didn't follow it as much as I did when I was a kid.  It probably coincided with the different wrestling programs vanishing (as the territories went out of business), and the most accessible stuff being the World Wrestling Federation's product.  I was a big fan of guys like Arn Anderson, so I wasn't as keen about watching guys like Doink.

    When I got to college, I discovered the wondrous world of independent wrestling, due to a local Columbus promotion having some semblance of a television show on public access. It was bush-league, but entertaining enough, and it made me start watching wrestling regularly again - WCW Monday Nitro!  Monday Night Wars!  Then I discovered ECW, and it really reminded me a lot of what I used to watch when I was a kid.  So, once again I was hooked.

    Eventually I made my way down to the local Columbus promotion, the IWA, and after checking out a few shows live, I decided I really wanted to try it myself.  I hung out after a few shows and talked to some guys, and even ran into a couple guys on campus.  Before I knew it, I was in the ring - not knowing a damn thing about what the hell was going on - but working matches.  I was looking for training and an opportunity to work anytime I got the chance.  I wanted to be a wrestler, and here I was in college, where I am supposed to be preparing for what I want to do with the rest of my life.  Yet I am out busting my ass to be a professional wrestler.

    When I was breaking into the business, the prominent thought in my mind was not about getting paid.  Maybe I wanted to be a star, or a main event guy - who gets into wrestling and doesn't fantasize about headlining a Wrestlemania or Starrcade?  Who doesn't think about wrestling in the main event down at the building you used to watch your heroes wrestle?

    It might sound dumb, but when I was breaking into the business, there were three companies out there doing good business, just in the United States.  It was the midst of the wrestling boom, and all of the promotions were heavily going after new talent to fill out all the television time they had.  I never really had a strict desire to work for one particular company over another, because at that point I knew guys getting dark matches and tryouts with the big boys.  I just focused on learning my craft, and getting better, waiting for my time to come, and someone would give me a chance to prove myself.

    Many of those opportunities dried up when WCW and ECW went out of business, which left the WWE as the only game left in town.  I came to a realization at which a lot of other guys never would; The guys that used to have good paying jobs with the major promotions were going to turn up in the independent promotions, and swallow up all the good paydays.  This helped me set a clear goal for myself as a professional: Make a living from wrestling.

    I never wanted to treat the business as a hobby.  I left behind my friends and family and moved two states away to pursue wrestling, not to play wrestler.  I always realized that there is a limited amount of time to pursue any athletic endeavor, because everyone will get old and be betrayed by their body at some point.  I never wanted to grow old and regret not taking the shot at wrestling when I was young.  I made up my mind that I would work whatever jobs that paid the bills, while I would put all of my effort into making a living wrestling.  Wrestling came first - before family, friends, or money.

    Straight out of wrestling school, no wrestler is able to demand enough money to live off of.  At some point you have to "pay your dues".  Paying those dues means sacrifice.  I was always willing to make those sacrifices to be a professional wrestler, while others turned away and decided that rather than make a sacrifice, they would just do it for fun - a hobby.  I saw paying my dues as an investment of my time and youth into a future goal.

    I also figured out pretty quickly that there were hundreds and hundreds of talented wrestlers out there, and that every single one of them thought that they were going to be headlining Wrestlemania.  There were plenty of wrestlers out there now that could draw money or have great matches on television, but they are not what the WWE is looking for. Unfortunately, there are also not very many other places out there worth a damn to build an exciting and viable product to showcase these guys. So again, a lot of guys have to make a choice: work their ass off to become a very good wrestler, work their ass off to get signed by the WWE, or treat it like a hobby.  Or quit wrestling.

    Being a good wrestler, and being a WWE prospect are not necessarily the same thing.  The things that will get a wrestler booked on the independent circuit are not the same things that the WWE is looking for.  The WWE is looking for someone with a marketable look, with a raw skill set that they can develop.  A vast majority of the time, the WWE process is more of a casting call than it is signing the top wrestling talent.  For every Daniel Bryan there is a Miz.  For every CM Punk there is a Mason Ryan. There is no "amateur draft", where the top prospects and most highly skilled wrestlers are recruited into the WWE with a pile of money available after years of hard work honing your skills.  The WWE doesn't necessarily pick the best talent; they pick the individuals that they think they can market the best.  .

    From the start I tried to get as much ring time as possible, so that I could sharpen and polish my in-ring skills.  I tried to work on my skills as a wrestler and storyteller (and after some time, as a matchmaker and a  promoter as well). I knew that with my body type and skill set, if I ever wanted to support myself from wrestling, I had to make myself a commodity that promoters would be willing to pay top dollar for.

    Getting paid on the indy circuit is mostly about respect and covering expenses. In a lot of ways, the paydays that are being handed out at most promotions are not enough to change your status in life, at least not without having a lot more of those types of bookings.  A lot more.  When you first start out, there are tons of expenses that you have to just eat as an initial investment in your profession.  You have to just have to chalk it up to paying your dues while you learn the craft. You have to pay someone to train you, you have to buy ring gear, you have to have dependable transportation, money for traveling expenses, and more.  When you get out of wrestling school, no promoter is going to give you any money right off the bat, because you haven't earned it.  Wrestling isn't the NBA or the NFL where you get paid for your talent or potential - in wrestling you make money by proving that you are a draw.  Since no one is really a draw, you must turn yourself into a commodity that promoters  feel that they should pay good money to feature on their cards.  A commodity that ticket buying fans will pay to see.

    My goal was always to fill my schedule up and to find as many consistent bookings where I received a regular payoff, that way I could use those dates and payoffs as a negotiating point.  I tried to use my schedule as leverage against promoters.  When you start filling up your schedule and you have promoters wanting to book you, the bargaining position is better when it comes to negotiating a price.  When a promoter wanted to book me and my calender was full for two or three months out, I have leverage when it comes to my asking price, and for what the promoter wants to do with me.  It also allows me to go back to promoters I am already working with and negotiate for more money    .

    When you can get a promoter three hours away to pay you $50 a pop twice a month, the local guy that wants to give you $5 and a hotdog has to step his game up to keep you around. Once you have promoters contacting you to do business with them, you are able to negotiate paydays, to be treated with respect. When someone promises you $50, gives you $5 and says that if you don't like it you don't have to work there, that is disrespect for the time and effort you put in to your craft.  Let promoters treat the hobbyists like that.

    I made a lot of choices in my career, some good, others bad.  But they were all choices that were what I thought were best for me professionally, rather than as a hobbyist.  Sometimes I had to drive three hours to wrestle a match and break even on expenses, just to show the local promoter that is underpaying me that I had the ability to replace his bookings.  Sometimes this led to better paydays, sometimes this led to an eventual parting of the ways. But at no point in my career did I say "screw this, I am not wrestling for anyone that doesn't pay me like I am a star."  That would result in me losing the ability to practice my craft. A craft that I sacrificed family, friends, and money for.  Despite the fact that I was doing everything I could to make a living off of wrestling, why would I ever do that?

    And that is why the question about why I wrestled to begin with is important.  I didn't dream of drawing big houses and making good payoffs from promoters when I was a kid sitting on the couch watching Arn Anderson spinebuster fools.  Just like when I dreamed of being a baseball player, I never dreamed of being a ballplayer so that I could get a fat million dollar contract.  I wanted to grow up and play a game. When I got into wrestling, I realized that I was doing something that I had always dreamed of, and I wanted to do whatever I could to perpetuate that dream.  At some point though, you have to look at things as an adult and be able to walk the fine line between destroying your own body for pennies, and not doing what you have always dreamed of doing.  That is the difference between being a professional wrestler, and a hobbyist.

    They say that if you are good at something, that you should never do it for free.  This is true.  But unless you have evidence that you are good at something, why would anyone ever pay for you to do what you are good at? 

Ten Things That Every Promoter Should Know

"Show me a beautiful woman and I'll show you a man that is tired of fucking her".  -- from Perfect Strangers (2007)

Almost as far back as I can remember being in the professional wrestling business, I have been around people bitching about how a promotion is run.  It is a time honored tradition.  I am pretty sure that athletes at every level of sports sit around after a game and have a few beers and bitch about the shit that management and the coaches do.  Even outside of sports, happy hours all over the place are populated by people gathering around to complain about the things that their company does.  It is just human nature.

The wrestling business is a different animal though.  I am not going to write up a history of this business here, but the business had its origins in carnivals, and at its peak was run with the secrecy of La Cosa Nostra.  When the territories died, when the internet came, and when the Attitude Era arrived, it became easier to run wrestling shows, and suddenly there was independent wrestling everywhere - and it started killing the business.  

During my time in the business I was not only a wrestler and a trainer, but I also worked in promotions, had the book, and worked in lots of other facets of the business.  The following are the things that separate professional businessmen that promote professional wrestling from some guy that rents a ring and is putting on a show. 

1) It Takes Money To Make Money
     What is the quickest way to make a small fortune in wrestling?  Start with a large fortune! 
     Professional wrestling is a business.  Unless you are a wealthy person who can afford to piss away money with no repercussion, you are probably not interested in shelling out more money to hold a wrestling card than you are going to bring in at the gate.  No matter how passionate you may be about wrestling, you cannot pay bills with passion.
     Just like anything else you would invest in, there is a cost.  The cost of doing business can certainly vary, depending on what kind of show you are attempting to put on (more on that will follow).  There are minimal costs to doing any show, and those minimal costs need to be met to have a very basic event.
    First, you will need a venue.  Are you going to rent a hall of some sort?  Will the venue have seating?  Will the venue have concessions, or will you be in charge of that (And either way, how is that money split?)?  Is there an adequate lockerroom area? How many people will the venue hold?  Is there adequate parking?  Is the neighborhood safe?  Is the venue climate controlled?  What kind of insurance do you need for that venue, and can you obtain it?  Maybe you have long term plans; Are you looking to lease your own facility?  What is the monthly overhead for a venue like that? 
     You have some basic production to take care of too.  You need a ring - are you going to buy one, or do you have access to a reliable rental?  If you have your own ring, do you have a reliable way to transport it, such as a truck or a trailer (Not to mention maintaining and upkeep of both the ring and the transportation)? You need a sound system - buy or rent?  You need insurance, in case something happens to the venue.  Are you going to need things like curtains and railings?  What about lighting? 
    Hey, who is going to run all this stuff?  Do you have someone that can work the door and take tickets (Did you even get cash to make change?)? Do you have someone that can run the sound system, and some kind of ring announcer to introduce the wrestlers and make announcements?  Do you have security, to keep fans out of the lockerroom, and out of the ring?  Who is running the concession stand, or the merchandise table?  Who is setting up the ring, the lighting, the sound, the chairs, etc?
     The person running a wrestling event should never count on drawing a certain figure at the gate in order to cover these costs.  These types of things are the fixed costs of running a show.  These are all expenses that, in general, will provide you with no profitability, but are necessary to holding an event.  Paying for all of the above should be taken care of in-full as part of the budget of running a show.  None of the above will do anything to make your show more attractive, or bring more people to the event; however not doing these things will cause people to avoid the event.
     Sure, there is some wiggle room here-and-there, and some places to cut costs.  At the same time, increasing your investments in some of these areas may give your show a "bigger" feel.  However, there is a certain minimum of acceptability that needs to be adhered to, and you cannot dip below that.  You do not need to go hire a seasoned public address announcer to do your ring announcing; but you also cannot just use your cousin that works for free just because he watches wrestling every Monday night and "knows how to do that".  You cannot run a show in a building with no AC in July when it is 102 degrees outside.  You cannot have 500 people in a building without some kind of legitimate security.

2) The Talent Budget Is a Fixed Cost
     After all the stuff we just talked about as necessary to stage an event, you cannot have wrestling matches without wrestlers.  You need to have wrestlers.  People are often not realistic about the type of wrestlers they can/should book on their events, and often when the fixed costs run high, they try to cut corners with the talent.  Some promoters promise payoffs that they have good intentions of meeting, but they are not able to meet.  Or, some people think that booking a "name" will automatically draw fans.  Regardless of what you draw at the gate, you should have a fixed dollar amount for the talent budget.  A promoter must view the wrestlers the same way as the venue, the ring, or the chairs - it is a fixed cost. 
     How to spend that fixed talent budget is up to the promoter.  Maybe you have a $500 budget and you pay ten wrestlers $50 each.  Maybe you take that same budget and pay one wrestler $250, and the other nine get $27 a piece.  It really doesn't matter,  but you have to have that $500 figured into that budget, and the money has to be paid out to the wrestlers regardless of what the draw is.  That electronics store that you bought your sound system from isn't going to markdown the cost if you have a bad draw - neither should the wrestlers. 
    Often when promoters fall short of their obligations, the first place that they look to cut costs is from the payroll of that event.  It is never the fault of the talent for not drawing; it is the fault of the promoter for not drawing with that talent.  The quickest way to earn a bad reputation among the talent is to not deliver on a promised payday.  One of the quickest ways to earn respect is by delivering on a promised payoff on a bad draw. 
     Let's look at it from a different point of view: If you work on the assembly line at Ford, you are paid a regular wage to build those automobiles.  If the sales are slacking and the company is losing money, when you go to pick up your check on payday you expect to have the full amount of your wages on the check, correct?  Ford cannot pay you less because the cars you built didn't sell.  Maybe they can layoff/terminate you in the future to cut costs, but they cannot short you for pay you have already earned building cars.
     So don't do the same thing to a wrestler. 

3) It Is The Promoter's Job To Promote
     To avoid problems of meeting your payroll and expenses, you have to draw paying fans to your event.  You do this by advertising the event in a way that will generate interest and bring paying customers to the show.  The idea behind being a "promoter" is that there is some kind of event to "promote".  Often, promoters are underfunded, and since so much of their budget is devoted to fixed costs, they skimp on advertising.  This is a fatal flaw, as advertising is just as necessary as the fixed costs, if not more so. 
     No matter how much you spend on a venue or on talent, people have to be aware of the event, and interested in it.  There were more than a few times in my career when I was traveling to a new town and I stopped into a gas station and asked for directions to the "Wrestling show down at the Armory tonight", and people were clueless as to what I was even talking about.  Unacceptable.
     More than likely, the promoter is the person who is investing their money into the events as the operating capital.  Thus, the promoter is the person who loses out if people do not attend.   There are a variety of ways to advertise, but you have to find out what works, and then exploit that for your event.  This is where so many so-called "promoters" fail, because they have no business acumen, and have no understanding of sales or advertising.  Promoting is much more than putting up a few flyers or signs and expecting people to come.
     A promoter will understand that putting someone's name or face on a flyer doesn't mean anything if no one sees it, and if people do not know what it is when they do see it.  There isn't any one way to promote that is correct.  For some folks, television advertisements work, but others may draw well with flyers.  Some people work out agreements with sponsors and local businesses, while some promoters have success working hand-in-hand with community organizations and charities.  There is no formula that always works everywhere, every time.  If you are not the type of person that can do the type of work that generates interest in an event, then you should not be trying to promote. 

4) Hire People That Know What They Are Doing
     The alternative to not knowing how to promote is to hire someone that does know what they are doing.  Maybe you have a venue, a sound system, and the investment money to run shows, but you have no idea how to advertise and market the events?  If that is the case, look for a partner that has that ability, but maybe doesn't have the finances.  Maybe you will have to cut them in on a percentage of the profits, or maybe they will work for a fee - but without them, all you will do is lose money. 
     Over my career I was in many lockerrooms at events where the promoter was clueless on how to run a show.  Since he was the one putting his money into the promotion though, he was going to be the one running things.  So there were quite a few shows where there were over thirty wrestlers in a lockerroom booked for an event, and the show ended up having fourteen matches.  Or maybe the promoter booked a bunch of his half-trained buddies he used to backyard with, and the rest of the guys were all overpriced "names" that the promoter marked-out for. 
     If you do not have a grasp on how the in-ring side and the actual production of an event work, hire a booker to take care of these things.  I cannot stress this enough.  The talent is not going to respect you just because you are giving them a payday.  If a promoter has a vision for how they want their promotion to be, they need to hire a booker to produce those types of events.  Sure, there are some promoters out there that can successfully promote and book their events - but there are so many people out there that have no clue what they are doing.  A person shouldn't have to solicit on messageboards looking for workers.  If you do not know how to go about hiring fully trained professional wrestlers, hire a booker.  If you do not know how to hire a booker, email me here. 

5) You Are Not The Next "ECW"
     I broke into the business in the late 1990's, during the wrestling boom of the "Monday Night Wars".  I was actually a part of a wave of people that got into the business around that time, because with the help of the internet we were able to find out about wrestling schools and independent promotions.   It may sound odd to people that were not around at the time to witness it firsthand, but ECW was a glorified independent promotion that gained enough of a fanbase that it was able to compete (to an extent) with the two big corporate wrestling promotions.
     As more information about professional wrestling became available on the internet, more people decided that they had what it took to star their own independent promotion, and they could be the next promotion to gain a strong fan following and "take on the big boys", just like ECW..
     The cold hard truth of the matter is that ECW gained the following that it did because of a perfect storm of circumstances that will never be duplicated in the same manner.  ECW was based out of Philadelphia, which is where many of the "Apter Mags" were published at that time.  In addition, many of the "dirtsheets" or "newsletters" that covered independent wrestling were based out of the Northeast.  Many of these sheet writers were also active tape traders, and were prolific on Usenet groups.  A lot of you reading the last few sentences are probably clueless to what I am even talking about.  What it boils down to is this: ECW established a unique alternative product to the corporate wrestling product, but did it for an audience that was able to generate interest among other wrestling fans.  At that point in time, if you wanted to watch wrestling, your options were Raw on Mondays, or WCW on Saturday night.  The people involved with the sheets, Usenet, and tape trading were actively seeking out other types of wrestling, and ECW actually had a big enough budget and buzz to appeal to those people.  When the internet boomed for everyone in the mid-1990s, and people went to search for "wrestling" on the internet, they found out about ECW as the awesome alternative to WCW/WWF. 
     That scenario isn't happening again.  Right now WWE has a minimum of four hours of free wrestling on television each week, along with TNA's two hours, plus ROH's syndicated one-hour show.  Plus, many people get CMLL or AAA wrestling if their cable/dish package has Latino channels.  Plus, due to search engines and sites like Youtube and Dailymotion, you can find a ton of current and classic wrestling of every level on demand.  Not to mention all the torrents of PPVs and DVDs out there. 
     This doesn't stop every two-bit wrestling promoter from saying that their promotion can be the "Next ECW" if everyone just works together, puts the company first, and sacrifices for the cause.  This is all horse shit, even if they use another promotion like ROH or Chikara as the example instead of ECW.  It is even a bigger line of bullshit if they say they want to be the next OVW, FCW, or are close to being a "developmental" promotion.  This is a lot like every douchebag with a video camera thinking they are the next Scorcese.  

6) You Are In Competition With Everyone 
     Wrestlers, promoters, and fans often do not realize that everyone is in competition with each other.  Where people fail is in recognizing what they are in competition for.
     The fact of the matter is this: Anyone that is a "fan" of professional wrestling has some kind of limit for what they will invest in their wrestling activities.  Some people will only invest a couple hours on Monday Night to watch Raw, or perhaps will invest in a ticket to a WWE event when it comes to town.  On the other end of the spectrum, some people will watch as much wrestling as they can, go to as many events as they can, and will buy as much merchandise as they can.  This is not unique to wrestling, but to any leisure activity.  Think of a baseball fan who might watch a game here and there, but maybe only goes out to the ballpark for one game a year, while another guy has a closet full of jerseys, a billion baseball cards, and is in three different fantasy leagues. 
     What a promoter needs to do to be successful is to make the oath that they will make their product as appealing as possible to the people that might spend their money on wrestling, so that when they go to spend that entertainment dollar, they spend it on their product. 
     In this sense, a promoter is in competition with every other possible alternative to their product, be it high school football, movie theaters, amusement parks, and - of course, other wrestling promotions. In the strictest sense, this means that your promotion is in competition with groups like the WWE.  A lot of people misunderstand that, and automatically assume that that statement means that a promoter thinks that they can compete with the WWE on a monetary level.  This is not the case. 
    What that statement means is that if an individual has a budget - for example $50 a month - to spend on wrestling, then you want that money spend on your product.  For instance, on a regular Saturday night show, you average an attendance figure of 300 paying fans.  If the WWE comes to town on the same night as you are running a show, you want those 300 regular fans to chose to attend your show over WWE that night.  You are in competition for that $50.  Even if it is not the WWE, maybe it is another independent promoter - you are competing for that same wrestling fan's budget.  Maybe you are competing against a local hockey team's televised playoff game; Whatever may come between you and that fan's disposable income is competition.  The promoter's goal should be to get as big of a percentage of that budget from as many fans in the area as possible. 

7) They Are Not Marks, They Are Loyal Customers
     Because professional wrestling has its roots in the carnival, professional wrestling has long had the tradition of treating fans like crap.  It is not hard to find a story about some wrestler or promoter doing something "carny" in order to make a quick buck off of an easy target.  Many people still have the attitude that wrestling is about getting as much money as possible from a fan, without giving them anything in return. 
     Many people use the term "Dusty Finish" without truly knowing what it means.  The Dusty Finish was a booking strategy and promotional device that essentially gave the fans a happy ending, only to jerk it away and make them feel screwed.  It was a bad promotional tactic, because if a fan feels that they have been ripped-off, they are less likely to spend their money to see another event.  Carny promoters will cackle in joy at ripping off a fan, because they often have the mentality that "I already have your money".  Their ignorance misses the fact that their actions will prevent them from getting any more money.
    If a promoter wants to build a loyal fan base, they will avoid doing things that will make the fan feel as if they were ripped off.  Sure, the bad guy has to come out on top sometimes, but there is a difference between a fan wanting to come back to see the villain get his comeuppance, and feeling as if they were cheated out of their money. 
     If you go out to eat at a restaurant, you want to have good food, a short wait, prompt friendly service, and a reasonable charge for those services.  Have you ever gone to a restaurant and found out that the soft drinks did not include free refills, but only after your drank six cokes, and your waitress repeatedly asked if you wanted a refill (but never told you there was a charge)?  Feel ripped off?  Would you want to go back again, even knowing now how they worked you for money before, and being smart enough not to fall for it again?  Probably not.
     If someone no-shows your event, be upfront about it.  Do not advertise wrestlers who will not be there.  Do not advertise matches that you do not intend to have.  Do not think that putting "Card Subject To Change" at the bottom of a flyer or on a ticket absolves you of having to deliver what you advertise.  When something beyond your control happens and forces changes to an event, be upfront about why, and make an effort to "make good" on what was advertised. 

8) Do Not Do The Same Thing As Everyone Else
    One of the poorest kept secrets in wrestling is that wrestlers all have egos, and that they all think they are stars, or are going to be the next big thing.  The truth is that most wrestlers are dumb jocks that are just looking to be famous.  Sadly, a lot of people are in the business now that shouldn't be, because it is just too easy to get in. 
     What this leads to quite often is that in any given area you will have a local pool of talent that wants to be booked on every show in that area, and you are the asshole if you do not book them and pay them well.  Keep in mind, they expect you to pay them more than everyone else in the area, but they still expect to work for everyone else in the area for whatever payoffs they have been getting.  Guess what this leads to? 
     It leads to every show in that area looking exactly the same.  Two guys are a tag team on this promoter's event, but across town at a different event they are in a blood feud over a girl.  This makes everyone look foolish.  Do not use the same talent as everyone else. 
     Wrestlers are always quick to point out how it is "independent wrestling" and you cannot keep them from working anywhere else.  This is true.  However, you also do not have to book anyone that you do not want to.  If a wrestler works for everyone in the area, he isn't drawing anything for you.  Any hard work you put into promoting them and making a name for them benefits someone else, so do not do it.  If you are going to book them, do not make them a featured part of your promotion; use them to enhance the talent that you are going to build around. 
     While there are some business models built on using local talent, quite often it makes no sense to use more than a handful of local guys, along with guys from a multitude of other regions.  If you are running a show in Columbus, doesn't it make sense to use three or four guys from the area, along with a couple from Cincinnati, a couple from Pittsburgh, a couple from West Virginia, a couple from Cleveland, and a couple from Detroit?  Meanwhile, everyone else in the area is using the same ten to twelve guys from Columbus. 
 
9) What Kind of Product Do You Want To Present?
     There are almost as many different types of promotions as their are types of wrestling, or types of wrestlers.  If done correctly, almost any type can be successful.  The problem often stems from when the promotion has no real identity. 
     Many promotions branch out from a wrestling school.  If you are running a promotion in tandem with a training center, then the training center needs to be top notch, and the events need to fit the needs of the school.  If you only have three or four trainees, you are going to have to find other wrestlers to fill out the cards - do you want to use veterans and try to draw, or do you want to do low budget shows featuring young local talent? 
     Do you have access to a large venue once a month?  Do you think you can fill 1000 seats with all local trainees?  In a case like that, maybe you want to bring in a ton of veterans and "name" wrestlers to draw a large crowd?  Maybe you have a business model where you will make money from DVDs, so you want a venue that looks good on video, and wrestlers that know how to work towards a camera?
    Do you have a fanbase that likes a certain type of wrestling, like brawling, high flying, technical mat wrestling, etc?  Do you want to try to build that fanbase, or just book guys of a style that you like?  Maybe your fans love high flying guys, but you prefer to book bodybuilder types that work a basic style?  Do you want to serve your fanbase, or satisfy your own preferences? 
   It is important to know what group you are trying to market to, what your goals are as a business, and how to get where you want to go.  Like I said earlier, it is often hard to get there, so do not be afraid to hire/partner with people that can help you reach those goals. 

10) It Is A Business, Not A Hobby
     Wrestling is fun.  It is supposed to be fun, just like any sport.  However, bills do not get paid by fun.  You have to take it seriously. 
     I am not saying that there can't be practical jokes, or that good times cannot be had by all, but the things that go into a show must be taken seriously.  If you do not take advertising a show seriously, no one will show up.  No matter how fun a card might look on paper, it is always better when there is a crowd there.  If you forget to book a ring, or to book a wrestler, or whatever, it can lead to you losing money.  And after you lose a certain amount of money, you are going to have to fold up shop no matter how fun things might be. 
    At the same time, you are probably a fool if you get into professional wrestling thinking you are going to make a pile of money.  You should enjoy what you are doing.  The goal should always be to have another show, and for it to be bigger than the last one.  If you make money off of each show, that can happen.  The goal should be to keep the doors open as long as possible.  That goal can only be met by putting on quality shows with quality talent, and having a strong fanbase. 
    For a long time I worked for a promoter that figured out what the bare minimum was to keep his doors open, and he did only what he needed to get by.  While it gave me a place to practice my craft, in the long term it didn't benefit anyone because nothing ever grew from it.  Why risk more money on a big show that might draw a good crowd, when he could not do a damn thing and fifty people would show up?  Hey, as long as the budget was less than what the gate was, the promoter made money, right? 
    Every wrestler that spends any time in the business gets to a point where they try to figure out of what they are doing to their body is worth what they are making from it.  Promoters are the same way, but instead of the body taking the beating, it is the wallet.  If you treat it like a business, the wallet will take less of a pounding, and the doors can stay open longer. 
     You should always be looking for feedback from your fans.  The people that buy the tickets are customers, and you are servicing them.  Find out what they liked and did not like about the show.  Find out what wrestlers drew them to the show, and what else you can do to help bring them back. 
     However, you shouldn't live and die by what the fans say.  In all sorts of different walks of life, people will offer up their opinion, and advice.  Politics, sports, fashion, etc.  Everyone is a great backseat driver.  Look at how many people hop online after their local football team loses, and talks about all the things that would have done differently, and why the coach should be fired. 
     The important thing to look at is how people are spending their money.  If you are growing your fanbase and your revenues are going up, you are doing something right.  It is always good to get insight from your customers on what they think about the product, but you cannot live-and-die by what they say.  Maybe you will find out that the fans think the seats at your venue are uncomfortable, or that the shows seem to go on too long.  Those are things that are good to know, so you can address them.  But if a guy think syour shows blow because Wrestler A Should be champ and not Wrestler B, take it with a grain of salt - especially if he keeps coming back to every event. 
    Part of being a good promoter (and a good booker) is being able to read the pulse of your fans, and to find out what things really concern them, and which things do not.  A good promoter will take care of the actual wants and needs, and will leave the idle chatter where it belongs. 

Ten Things That Every Young Wrestler Should Know

I actually didn't get into the business by just going to a wrestling school and paying someone to train; I had a lot of people help me get my foot in the door the old school way, and take me under their wing and give me advice, help get me bookings, and help me learn to do things the right way.  During my time as a professional wrestler, I was always willing to help out other guys in the business, kind of a way to pay forward what people did for me.  

When I have a conversation with someone seeking my opinion or advice, one of the topics most often brought is what kind of tips or pointers do I have for a young guy just breaking into the business.  So, I have decided to list a few tips and pointers here that any independent wrestler can take as food for thought, reflection, and further discussion.  Some of these things I learned the hard way, some of these things I had passed on to me and I saw the truth behind them. Some things are just plain damn sense that people in this business just get caught up in and lose sight of. 

1) Social Media is a Loaded Gun. 
     If you have Facebook/Twitter/MySpace or some other kind of social networking account, you should know and understand the power of what you are using.  You should also understand how dangerous it can be.  How often do you hear about some celebrity, politician, or athlete posting something stupid/racist/sexist/controversial on Twitter, and then a media firestorm erupts over what they posted?  Sure, you may not have a million followers like Lady Gaga or Ashton Kutcher, but there are probably fans that attend wrestling events following you in some way.  There are probably also a few trolls and people "keeping an eye" on you; "Haters" if you will, just looking for you to screw up.  So, if you send out a status update that says "The promoter I work for is an asshole", there is a good chance that someone will screen-grab it, or re-tweet it before you can say "Eh, I was just playing around" and remove the tweet.  If you tweet something, someone will see it.
     If you use social media to promote yourself and to interact with fans, then do not use those same accounts for personal business.  If you want to post about a basketball game, or the weather, it doesn't really matter.  However, if you are supposed to be injured and unable to wrestle on the next show, you probably shouldn't be posting pics of you and your college buddies playing football in the mud. You shouldn't be using your Twitter account to ask why your ex-girlfriend won't take you back. 
    If you have a gimmick where you are a barbaric savage, wear a mask, you do not know English, or that you are an orphan, then do not use your Facebook to post pics of you at your day job in a suit, unmasked, not in a foreign language, or with your parents.  Make a separate account for personal use, or at the very least keep a degree of kayfabe on your social media.  It is okay to tell your friends where you will be wrestling, but it isn't okay to tell your fans where Uncle Wally's barbecue is at.  You have to view it the same way as if you were cheating on a spouse - you slip up just once you can get caught.
   If you wrestle as John Smith, then you shouldn't be plugging wrestling dates for "John Smith" on a Facebook profile for your real name.  99.9% of the people I come in contact with thru wrestling have no idea what name is on my birth certificate - and they shouldn't. 

2) The Wrestler Wrestles, The Promoter Promotes
     Without exception these days, the business defines the promoter as the person who rents a building and arranges for the ring to arrive.  Or, people think that the promoter is the person who "books" the show.  No, the person in charge of spreading the word, advertising, and building interest for an event is the promoter.  The word "promote" is right there in the title.   There could be fifty different people putting money into the event looking to seek a profit - those are the "investors".  The promoter is the person responsible for getting people into the building, and drawing enough fans for the costs of the show to be covered - including the cost of the talent.
     Now, should the wrestler take it upon themselves to spread the word about where they will be appearing and so forth?  Absolutely.  A wrestler should have their schedule of upcoming appearances listed on a website, and/or they should be plugging dates on social media.  The wrestler should do this to promote themselves, and not necessarily for the company.  If the fanbase of the wrestler attends an even because that particular worker is on the card, that means they are a draw.  Letting your fans know where you will be allows you to become a draw. Second, it allows people who might be interested in using you know when you are booked, and when you aren't.
   What you should not be doing is building websites, making posters, flyering cars, standing outside of Wal-mart handing out handbills, or sending out press releases to websites - unless you are getting paid to do it in some way.  That stuff is the job of the promoter. 

     Take wrestling out of the equation, and pretend you are a professional baseball player instead.  Do you think that there is a first baseman out there in MLB, AAA, AA or A baseball that is expected to bring all of their friends to an event in order to get paid to play in a game?  Do you think that these teams, even at the lowest levels, have management that is only responsible for finding a stadium, and scheduling games?  Wouldn't it be ridiculous if the best player on the team was benched because their backup brought all of their friends and family to the game, so they got to play?
    Even the smallest minor-league teams have promotions departments that are responsible for getting fans to come into a stadium and watch a bunch of nobodies play baseball.  Sure, the players are responsible for doing things like commercials, public appearances, and stuff like that - but they are arranged by the team's promotions department.
     If you are only getting booked because you do favors for a promoter, get out of the business.  That makes you no better than the rat that spreads her legs for the booker to get on the show.  A whore is a whore.  

3) Practice Your Craft...
     The point of being a professional welder is that you are attempting to make a living by being paid to weld things.  You don't weld things for people for free, because then your family doesn't eat.  The same is true with wrestling.
    If you are just starting out as a welder, you can make a name for yourself and build up a resume by perhaps working a low-paying job and mastering your craft, before moving on to a better position in a different shop, starting your own shop, or getting a promotion.  The same applies in wrestling. 
  If you are a young wrestler starting out, you should be looking for as many bookings as you can.  At that point, the biggest and most important thing is practicing your craft.  You need to make a schedule with as few holes as possible.  This is called paying your dues.  This is the time when you pack a cooler on the road full of PB&J because you are driving five hours to wrestle for $5 in front of twenty fans.  This is when four guys take turns driving an eight hour shot all night long because you didn't make enough to get a hotel room.  This is how you build up a resume, just like that welder.

4)...And Make People Pay For Your Services
    However, at some point you should have established yourself enough, and have enough of a schedule built up, where you make the choice to go for quality, and not quantity.  That is where money comes in.
    Never take a booking without knowing the pay situation up-front.  Period.  If a promoter says "I will give you $50, guaranteed" and he tries to give you $10, you either get your $50, or you call the cops, take it out of his ass, or leave with a part of his ring - but you get your $50.  If a promoter tells you "the pay depends on the house we draw", it is ok if you accept the booking, as long as you know that you might not get paid.  If a promoter says "I can give you $25 and if we have a good house, maybe more", then you make sure you get your $25... but if the draw was 1000 fans you better expect more.
    Think about it: Would that welder build something for someone without some kind of agreement on what he will be paid?  If he agrees to build something for $1000, is the person that hired him able to turn to him and say "Hey, my paycheck wasn't as big as I thought it would be, here is $300"?  Of course not.  Work out what you will be paid in advance, and then use the tools at your disposal to make sure you get paid.

5) Be Realistic About Money
     Just because you finished wrestling school and are ready to be on cards doesn't mean you are worth a damn to anyone.  No one should expect to be getting "fair" paydays right out of the gate.  Sometimes it actually does make sense for you to lose money on a booking for the exposure.  If you are fresh out of wrestling school and no one is willing to put you on a card, maybe wrestling for free in front of twenty people is worth it, so that you can get the chance to work in front of a real crowd, video footage, experience, etc.
     At some point though, you have to be realistic.  If you are only getting booked for these type of shitty shows, then you are doing something wrong.  Just because you keep working them does not make you deserve more money.  You deserve more money when you bring more people thru the door.  The type of payday you can get is basic supply & demand.  If people booking shows want to use you, they should be willing to pay for you.  The best way that you can insure this is by keeping your schedule full.  If you have a full schedule, then you are in short supply because you lack available dates.  This causes promoters to pay more for your services on the dates you have available.   
   When you have a full schedule, that is when you can talk realistically about money.  Think about it.  If you only work one place, and they only run once a month, then you are only worth whatever they pay you.  However, if you are booked every Saturday of the month, then if someone wants to book you they have to compete for your services.  Never forget that you are a commodity, but that you have to put in work to make yourself into a commodity. 


6) You Cannot Pay Dues Without Traveling
     A greenhorn learns how the business works in a car.  The business is learned by driving down the road and talking about experiences, sharing stories, and what to do/not do in the business.  Cars are where veterans teach rookies.  When I was a greenhorn, I drove a veteran around, I helped set-up rings, I carried bags, and I shut up and listened.  I asked dumb questions, got ribbed, and learned how the business worked.
     If you never go on the road, never sit in a car and talk about what happened on a show, never try to keep everyone awake until you hit the next town - then you are not paying dues.  Paying dues is not driving thirty minutes to a building in the town you live in.  Paying dues is driving eight hours to a building, then helping set-up a ring, put out chairs, and put on a show.  If you work in one place, in front of one crowd, with the same wrestlers, you will never get any better, because you will not learn the business.  You will always be a greenhorn.
     Guys that travel become a commodity, they become well-rounded workers, and they learn what is bullshit, and what works.  The guys that do not travel will shit all over the guys that do travel.  But while they work in front of the same crowd over and over again, they will be the same shitty wrestler every time - it is the nature of the business.  Experience is how you learn in wrestling, and you cannot get different experiences if you do not travel.  And you cannot pay dues if you do not have experiences.
    "Wrestling as many places as you can" also does not mean wrestling for every promotion in the same area (usually where you live).  This is the quickest way to being an eternal greenhorn.  If you live in Winchestertonville, and you wrestle every weekend within an hour drive of that town, all you are doing is overexposing yourself.  If the fans of the Wincestertonville area can see you on any show in the area on any given weekend, then you are not providing anything unique to a promoter, so you are not a commodity, and you are worthless.  You have to establish yourself in other areas, and on a regular basis. 

7) Be a Damn Professional
     Anyone who tells you that you don't need to do the following things has probably never done a damn thing in this business.
     Professional wrestling is about trusting your physical well-being to another person, in order to tell a story in the ring.  Shit happens and people get hurt, it is the nature of the sport.  Taking advantage of another person's body in order to intentionally do it harm is unprofessional.  Period.  "Shooting" on someone, or "stiffing" them because you do not like them is unprofessional, because it goes in direct contrast with what the business is built on - trust.  Never act like an unprofessional in the ring, and never work with people who are unprofessional.  If you cannot act professional towards someone, avoid them - period. 
     Being a professional also means acting like a professional outside of the ring.  Most college and pro athletes have a dress code for travel and game days.  When I was in high school, varsity athletes had to wear shirts and ties on gameday.  Dress like a professional. I am not saying that you need to wear a $5000 suit to a show, but you should not be dressed like the fans coming to see you perform.  At the very least, dress like you are going on a date.  If you are in a main event, you should probably be wearing a suit, or at the very least a shirt and tie.  Dress appropriate to gimmick, and keep kayfabe.  You should be well groomed and smell nice.  No one wants to work with a guy that stinks.  Make sure your your gear is washed.  Treat wrestling like it is a real job, because it is the wrestling business.
    Always be on time; And by "on time" I mean "early".   As soon as you walk into the building, find the person responsible for you being booked on the card, and shake their hand.  Shake the hand of everyone else too, and introduce yourself by the name you prefer to be called.  Ask the guys in charge if they need any help with things like putting up chairs, etc, and then help out.
    Obey local customs. 
    The weekend warrior type guy that says that it is OK to wear CM Punk shirts to the show, and to arrive after the first match has started is not steering you in the right direction.  He is probably the guy that only works one place, and half-asses everything because to him it is just a hobby. The guy half-assing it might keep another guy in the lockerroom from his big break. Respect the business.
    

8) Never Settle
     There have been numerous points in my career where I stagnated at a promotion, and if I wanted to keep working there, I would have to basically go back down the card and tread water.  However, I also had the option of packing up and going elsewhere.  If you want to make a name for yourself in this business, you have to constantly push yourself, and grow your business and name.  You cannot be afraid to relocate to another city, or to hop in a car and drive for hours to wrestle.  You just can't.
     You should never feel you owe something to a promoter just because they book you - aside from your best effort in the ring.  Any promoter who says "I booked you when no one else would" as a reason why you should work for them for free, or for less than what others are willing to pay, is working you.  If you want to help someone that gave you a break, or took a chance on you, that is awesome - but you should never feel pressure to work for someone because you used to work for them, or because you took advantage of their opportunities in the past.
     Quite often young guys break into the business working for one promotion, and then get scared to leave when other opportunities present themselves.  Sometimes money is an issue, or it is about exposure, or better matches.  It can be hard sometimes, because in a way it is like leaving the nest... but at some point it either has to be done, or you are letting someone break your will.
    To be more blunt, you do not have to do anything you do not want to do.  You always, ALWAYS have the option of declining a booking, or quitting.


9) Honor Your Bookings
     If you accepted a booking, honor it.  "Honor" doesn't necessarily mean "turn down a better opportunity", as much as it means to "do right by".  If you are booked two hours away for a $50 payday, and someone wants you on the same date an hour away for $75, then you need to take your reputation and the business into account - and a vast majority of the time you will find the concept of "honor your first commitment" will trump all.
    However, maybe the offer is for a tryout for a major promotion, or an overseas tour, or to curtain jerk a show with a guaranteed house of 1000 paid fans?  Usually if you go to the original promoter, explain the opportunity, and come up with a solution to them down the line, things can be worked out.
     Remember, there are a limited number of open dates to be booked, and there is only one of you.  If different promoters are all wanting you on the same dates, then you are a commodity that they need to pay for.  At the same time, you need to maintain the quality of your product (You!), so do not do things that sully your reputation.  If you become known as a guy that no-shows or holds promoters up for more money, you will find your demand goes down.  Do business as a professional.

10) Figure Out What Your Goals Are
    When I decided I wanted to be a wrestler, business was booming in the US, Japan, and Mexico.  There were three major US promotions with weekly television shows on cable television.  However, after about two years that all dried up.  Like most guys that get into wrestling, I did so because I loved wrestling, and I wanted to do it; I had a passion for it.  It got to a point though where I had to decide what I wanted to do as a professional wrestler. 
    Too often guys get into this business thinking "I want to wrestle at Wrestlemania".  While it is awesome that you may have that goal, you need to look at where you are, what you are, and what it takes to achieve your goal.  Nothing is impossible, but you can make it impossible with your attitude, and your choices. 
     If your goal in this business is to wrestle for the WWE, and nothing else matters, then the only logical thing to do is get basic training, and then move and train at a school that is well known as a WWE breeding-ground.
    If you want to hone your skills and be the best possible wrestler that you can be, then find a place that will develop your skills in that way.  If you want to become a lucha libre style flyer, it would be pointless to work in hardcore brawling promotions. 
    If your goal is to make a living at wrestling, then you need to make lifestyle adjustments and do the things necessary to make as much money as possible.
    Guys that want to work for the WWE but do not want to drive an hour for an independent booking are kidding themselves.  If you are signed by the WWE, they expect you to move your entire life to where they are doing their development work.  You will be on the road five or six days a week.  In Mexico guys sometimes wrestle ten matches a week.  Tours in Japan can last six weeks.
      Figure out what you want to do within the professional wrestling business, and then figure out what it takes to get there, and then work towards that goal.

"Live Strongstyle" : Karl Gotch the God of Wrestling

Karl Gotch is one of the most influential figures in the world of professional wrestling.  Most American wrestling fans have no clue who he is, while many Japanese fans know Gotch as the "God of Wrestling". 

Gotch was somewhat of a dark version of Lou Thesz, as he was a legitimate hooker that could take out anyone at anytime.  Thesz was celebrated for his handsome looks, his championship charisma, and his hooking skills.  While Thesz was trusted to do business and be the face of professional wrestling as the NWA Heavyweight Champion, Gotch was a man who would never get over because of his build and his lack of charisma.  Like many shooters who crossed over into worked fighting, Gotch was heavily criticized in the US at the time for a lack of showmanship and a lack of charisma in the ring.  To Gotch, professional wrestling should look as realistic as possible - exchanging holds on the mat. 

You see, professional wrestling has its roots in the pure American martial art of Catch Fighting, as practiced in the 19th century by such men as Farmer Burns. When professional wrestling first became a draw as a major sporting event in the early 1900's, the major drawback was that when the top talents came together for a major bout, the two men spent so much time attempting takedowns and clenching each other in defensive positions, that the bouts became ridiculously long, boring affairs that no one would pay to see. 

Gotch was a bridge between two ears, as he was trained in the style of the shooters, but was performing in the professional era of televised studio wrestling.  As a foreigner, Gotch was never able to grasp on to the charismatic aspects of the US mat game to become a star, although he was highly regarded as a mat technician.

Gotch made his name in Japan.  Since the post-war era in which Rikidozan became a national hero, puroresu had been built on the foundation of the Japanese fighting for their pride against gaijin - foreigners.  What drew huge crowds in Japan were not great technical battles, or exciting "made-for-television" stars, but rather valiant Japanese warriors battling their hearts out against the dastardly foreigners.

When a disciple of Rikidozan, Antonio Inoki, founded New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972, he wanted to present something different than the other promotions in Japan, that were still using the same business and booking practices as they had in the 1950s.







Antonio Inoki had a very similar mindset to Bruce Lee - Inoki believed that there was no one single martial art that was superior to another, as they all had a weakness somewhere that could be exploited.  While Lee is often given credit (particularly by Dana White) as being the first "mixed martial artist", Inoki is often overlooked, although he had a similar philosophy. 

Throughout the early years of NJPW, Inoki would establish his version of Puroresu as "Strong Style", a style which incorporates the strong parts of different fighting disciplines, into one artform.  Inoki would begin to prove his point by having his first major feud in New Japan be with Gotch.  In the early confrontations, Inoki would succumb to Gotch's catch style wrestling.  However, Inoki wold eventually master some of those same techniques, and use them, along with the established puroresu techniques, to overcome Gotch. 

Gotch would become revered in Japan for his catch-style, and he would become known as a "Wrestling God", not necessarily for his body of work in the ring, but for being the source where the next generation of wrestlers in Japan would learn catch wrestling. 

By keeping the sport of Catch alive, Gotch was able to bridge the gap from the old time wrestling, to mixed martial arts.  Gotch learned catch wrestling in the Snake-Pit in Wigan, and was able to pass those techniques on to professional wrestlers like Takada and MMA fighters like Kazushi Sakuraba. 

I Want To Remember Chris Benoit

    OJ Simpson is widely accepted as a murderer.  While he was not found guilty in a court of law for killing his estranged wife and a waiter, he was found liable by a civil court.  In fact, Simpson now sits in a Nevada jail for an unrelated crime, in which he attempted to steal sports memorabilia at gun point. 
    Simpson, to a whole generation of people, is simply a punchline to a variety of jokes about a guy killing a couple people.  To many people my age, they remember Simpson as the actor and sports commentator who killed a couple people.  To people a generation earlier, Simpson is the former Buffalo Bill and USC Heisman Trophy winner who killed a couple people. 
    Regardless, you would be hard pressed to find someone in the United States and Canada who does not know who OJ Simpson is.
    Fifteen years after he killed two people (allegedly), Simpson has a notoriety and fame that is equal to what he had before the double murder in California that he has been found responsible for in a civil court.  No one ever pretended Simpson wasn't a great football player.  They didn't stop showing "Roots" or "the Towering Inferno" or any "Naked Gun" movies because the Juice is a notorious murderer, even if he was not convicted.  ESPN still mentions him on SportsCenter when he is relevant to something (such as rushing records, or perhaps the Heisman Trophy) and he is still featured on ESPN Classics in old game footage, and even as a commentator on things like "Superteams:Tug of War". 
    So why is it that one of the best wrestlers to ever grace the squared circle is a taboo subject?  Why is it that Chris Benoit cannot be celebrated as a great professional grappler that just so happened to murder a couple people, but OJ Simpson can be recognized as an all-time great in his sport?
    I am not here to argue that the Benoit Family murder-suicide was not Benoit's fault, or anything like that.  All I am saying is that Chris Benoit was perhaps the best wrestler of his generation, and his body of work should be examined and debated and talked about, rather than swept under the rug as if he never existed. 
    While there is not debate that Benoit was a murderer, there is also no debate as to what kind of wrestler Benoit was.  Benoit was a main event wrestler in every major US wrestling promotion, in Mexico, in Europe, and in Japan.  Benoit was a "wrestler's wrestler" - a true mat technician who not only wowed fans with his matches, but also his peers. 
    The fact of the matter is this - Benoit, upon an autopsy, was found to have severe brain damage.  The damage was done from years upon years of punishment to his head while wrestling.  The psychological effects of abusing bodybuilding drugs since adolescence so that he could have a body similar to that of his idol, the Dynamite Kid, also contributed to the Benoit familicide. 
    Why did Benoit continue to punish his body for years with taking risks in the ring and by injecting harmful drugs into his body?  He did it to be the best wrestler in the world.  He did it to make his idol, the Dynamite Kid, proud.  He gave his body to wrestling.  In the end, he sacrificed his life and his body for professional wrestling. 
    In one way, Benoit should be celebrated.  No, of course he shouldn't be celebrated for killing his family.  That would be ridiculous.  However, why does our society celebrate athletes like Kobe Bryant, who dedicated his life to basketball at a young age, reached the pinnacle of his profession, and also committed an unforgivable crime?  Why is it that mentioning Benoit the athlete is taboo, but in Bryant's case, it is taboo to mention the rape?
    When I was debating becoming a professional wrestler, and when I was training, one of my favorite wrestlers to watch was Benoit.  I could write pages and pages on why, but the short version of the story is that he was very good at what he did.  Benoit was that good in the ring because he sacrificed like few others would.  He sacrificed his body, his mind, his health, his sex drive, and many other things average people take for granted - for the business.  If I were a young basketball player, is the game of Kobe not one I should emulate?  Shouldn't young people emulate the work ethic and sacrifices that successful people make? 
    As a society we emulate people like Richard Pryor and give him credit for changing comedy, yet downplay that he was an addict and an abuser.  Generations of kids grew up emulating athletes who were arrested for drugs or violence.  Roman Polanski has been given numerous awards for him film-making, even though for years he has lived in exile to avoid facing pedophilia charges.  One of the most popular shows on television features an abusive whore-mongering addict named Charlie Sheen.   Michael Vick killed numerous dogs for fun, yet is on the football field every week.     
    Even in wrestling, there are examples of a double standard.  "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka once killed a woman in a drug fueled rampage in a hotel in Allentown, PA while  an employee of the WWF/WWE.  Not only that, but charges were never even pressed against Snuka for the killing.  In fact, he got off scott free for the killing in large part due to Vince McMahon portraying Snuka as a "mindless savage" who "didn't know any better" to the authorities.  Yet, Snuka still appears on WWE broadcasts.  His name is not taboo.  Snuka's existence is still acknowledged. 
    So, why is what Chris Benoit did in the final days of his life so much worse than what others have done?  Why isn't the example he set used as a tool to teach?  If years of abusing his body in such a manner led to his family's annihilation, why are his life choices not highlighted and drawn attention to, in an effort to prevent another incident in the future?  Why is it that we can separate personal shortcomings from the body of work of individuals like Simpson, Pryor, Snuka, Bryant, Polanski, and Sheen, but cannot separate Benoit's ring work from his family life? 
    The reasons that the WWE have for not mentioning Benoit are many, but when taken in context, are designed more to keep up with the company's public image than anything else.  Benoit being a taboo subject is a public relations move.  In addition, the Benoit and Eddy Guerrero deaths shed light on many of the business practices of the WWE, which is something that McMahon might be angry about.  Maybe by erasing Benoit from the "WWE Universe", McMahon is also hoping to erase the bad press Benoit's death gave his company.   
    My fear is that in a decade, no one will realize just how good Chris Benoit was in the ring.  People are allowed to remember Ernest Hemingway for the books he wrote, not for his mental problems and suicide.  After his death, Michael Jackson was celebrated for his music, not for being a child rapist.  Why is it that we cannot celebrate Benoit for being one of the all time greats in the squared circle?

 Originally published 3 February, 2010 here.