I can tell you why so many get it wrong, they won't listen to those who have done it for many many year. Before I started promoting I talked to loads of promoters, wrestlers and people who had been in the business for many many years, I remember a couple of 2 hour phone conversations in the early hours of the morning with Scott Conway, who in that short space of time taught me one hell of a lot and for that I am eternally greatful, other guys I have listened to helped me one hell of lot, Spinner McKenzie, Mark Sloan, Alex Shane and Jake Roberts to name a few. I absorbed everything like a sponge and that David is what the 'New' breed of promoters wont do. They won't listen to advice as they know it all already, most have no promoting experience at all, they have no idea how to advertise, what a poster should look like, what the public are wanting. 90% of the time these guys are only interesting in putting themselves over, they have to be in the ring as some evil commissioner, or the boss. Most stink as again no experience in entertainments, talking to a crowd infact they are joe public with a few quid and thats all they are.

This is going to sound horrid, but until someone dies in the ring at one of these shows its only going to get worse. Anyone can promote, hell there was a 14 year old kid that promoted a show in yorkshire earlier in the year. Only when something drastic happens that hopefully the goverment or some agency will set some official guidelines and stop all these fly by night promotions that not only are killing british wrestling as a form of entertainment, they are risking the lives of the wrestlers who wrestle and the fans that sit ringside.

Rant over....

Makes a change to hear someone i don't know in the business talk some sense for a change. A typical example is the show i worked on a couple of weeks ago no names mentioned,. It was actually the first show ever that i was embarrassed to be on and that is over 30 years of working for loads of different promotions. You try and give people advice and they look at you like you've fallen out of a dog's bum. Maybe it's because i'm a woman not sure really but i think i've earned the right to speak my mind after around 10,000 matches over the years not 10 or a hundred but 10,000. Some of these promoters have wrestled maybe four times a year for a couple of years and then think they can promote well they CAN'T. Therefore they are killing this business in the UK. It has a knock on affect and it's no wonder people are refusing promotions in halls because they have had several sub standard shows.
The thing about someone dying before anything is done is correct and it won't be long before a major disaster hits these shows and everything the old timers ever worked for will have been for nothing. It is too easy to get into the wrestling business these days and that is a pity because i believe you should fight hard for what you want and not given it on a plate.

KLONDYKE KATE.

Thank you wrestle zone, excellent comments. I think it was your promotion that showed a ladder match on the internet sometime back. As one who hads these matches I was able to enjoy about 15 minutes of a 20 minute match. I think the match was clever in that it entertained old school fans like myself and the new breed.

BIGES wrote:
well Old David i totally agree with everything you said. Obviously you and i were at "that show" you know the one i mean. I was very very embarrassed to be on that show you could probably tell by the way i was trying to crawl up my own orifice!!Believe me when i say i will NEVER be doing another one of those. It is hard promoting but common sense dictates you look at all angles and possibilities. When we run Weymouth we try to give our audience value for money and try to think of all the types of audience we get in and hopefully get the balance right. I am quite proud of our shows which makes it ultra painful when i work on someone's show that has missed the boat as such.I'm afraid lots of these small shows are run by people who think they know what they're doing but they obviously don't.Hat's off to all those who do run decent little shows as quite rightly they are harder to organise than most people think but David i know you know your stuff and appreciate your views.

The trouble is that too many people think that because you make the job look easy that therefore it is. Promoting a show takes a lot of skills which sadly many folks do not have. Because you have seen every angle on a show - I doubt if there is a job you have not undertaken - then you know what to do and how to do it!

Titch

BIGES wrote:
Makes a change to hear someone i don't know in the business talk some sense for a change. A typical example is the show i worked on a couple of weeks ago no names mentioned,. It was actually the first show ever that i was embarrassed to be on and that is over 30 years of working for loads of different promotions. You try and give people advice and they look at you like you've fallen out of a dog's bum. Maybe it's because i'm a woman not sure really but i think i've earned the right to speak my mind after around 10,000 matches over the years not 10 or a hundred but 10,000. Some of these promoters have wrestled maybe four times a year for a couple of years and then think they can promote well they CAN'T. Therefore they are killing this business in the UK. It has a knock on affect and it's no wonder people are refusing promotions in halls because they have had several sub standard shows.
The thing about someone dying before anything is done is correct and it won't be long before a major disaster hits these shows and everything the old timers ever worked for will have been for nothing. It is too easy to get into the wrestling business these days and that is a pity because i believe you should fight hard for what you want and not given it on a plate.

KLONDYKE KATE.

You and others like you had to fight to get where you are and to see the business being damaged is very difficult for many of us to see. Kate and the other girls remember the fight to allow women in to London, and it was a hard fight, won by people who knew what they were doing.

It is too easy to get into the business today, there are some who might think that it is a good thing, I dont. Maybe I have a romantic view of things but back in the days when the Snakepit and Bobby Barron and Orig trained the lads and the lasses you learned the hard way and in turn people like Kate became the wrestlers they are today.

Titch