Vance Nevada is bad for the business!

Maybe I could just sum this one up on the title alone. There are probably enough people in the industry ... heck, probably on my own "friends" list, that would say: "I've been saying that for ten years. It's about time that he admitted it."

Some people were highly offended by my column earlier this week about the Olympics. They thought that I was making a mockery of the business and that I was exposing too much. To those people, I ask ask simply this: "What have you personally done to draw attention to independent wrestling?"

My comments this week about figure skating were all true. These pairs work together for hours and hours on the ice, studying their own tape, putting a sequence together so that nothing is left to chance. Not one gesture, not one movement. My criticisms of the sport were taken directly from newspaper articles which have dismissed our own industry since as early as 1911. There is nothing new here. I haven't pulled back the curtain on any startling revelations.

The challenge for wrestlers and promoters these days is not EXPOSING THE BUSINESS to the public ... what every one of us is trying to do is to EXPOSE THE PUBLIC to the business.

Gone are the days when a promoter could put up a few posters in a town and be guaranteed a packed house. How to spend advertising dollars with the largest return on that investment is a challenge that everyone is facing. Invariably, when I talk to people about my involvement with independent wrestling, they will tell me a story about how great it was when there used to be wrestling around. The vast majority of casual fans, and even alumni of our business have NO IDEA that wrestling is still active, that there are still shows in their own towns. So the challenge becomes, how do we generate awareness?

Certainly, a large part of the responsibility lies on promoters to PROMOTE ... but in addition to that, I think that wrestlers have a responsibility to draw attention to the industry. Whether that means pushing upcoming appearances through social networking sites, throwing up posters in their neighbourhood, chatting up known wrestling fans about upcoming events, even throwing a story to the local media ... everything generates awareness.

I have shared locker rooms with far too many "talents" who sat back and thought that they were the greatest performer on the card. That very well could be the case, but as John Parlett eloquently identified this week ... they're not putting asses in seats. That great talent's pitcure on the poster alone isn't selling the product. Thw would-be customer doesn't know who they are, doesn't know they are in that venue, and the general public doesn't care.

So where to we go from here? The media? Good luck. By and large, you will be shut down if you try to approach the main stream media for a story about professional wrestling. To them, wrestling isn't a sport, so you're directed to the entertainment editor who will tell you "we don't cover sports". Wrestling for the sake of promoting wrestling isn't newsworthy. You need a hook.

Hmm ... the hook is this: Challenge what people think they know about wrestling.

The general public and the media have long dismissed professional wrestlers as uneducated brutes with no fashion sense (well, I guess an argument could be made). The reality is, that these folks have never taken the time to try to understand our business or to investigate the professional backgrounds of the stars of our industry. On the independent scene from coast to coast, you have such a variety of professional people represented, all pursuing the business at various levels. Among our ranks, we have school teachers, lawyers, retail managers, corrections officers, radio station managers, College administrators, and business owners. There are some really great human interest stories there. I am sure as you are reading this paragraph you can think about one guy who always seems to have a great story to tell, or whose life and times would make for a compelling story.

So if people think that wrestlers aren't intelligent ... how interesting is it to the media if one of these folks decides to write a book? Or produce a movie? Or open a debate challenging the very arguments against the merits of our industry?

I'll tell you how interesting that is. SIXTY media hits in seven months related to some radical that decided to write a book about professional wrestling that treats it with the same respect owed to other sports as a credible, enduring athletic legacy!! That includes newspaper, radio, television, and syndicated magazine press. Along the way, an opportunity to promote dozens of live wrestling shows, websites for regional promotions, and generally promote awareness of the active local scene. Sadly, this even includes shining a bit of the light on those who don't deserve it and who have never lifted a finger to try to build this business. After all, they are already big stars.

Whether they're nodding in agreement, or shaking their heads in disbelief, WE DO HAVE THEIR ATTENTION ... and for those few brief moments, we have an opportunity to promote our business, to showcase the achievements of our best, and to slip in a plug for the next live show.

How is that bad for business?

Vance Nevada

- Vance Nevada is a seventeen year veteran of the professional wrestling industry in Canada and the author of a new book WRESTLING IN THE CANADIAN WEST, a comprehensive history of more than a century of pro wrestling in the west four provinces.

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