If you were starting your own wrestling company?

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Let's say you have been given the chance to create a new wrestling company, you have a roster (no need to name names) and you have a TV deal in place for a weekly show. What would you do?

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My idea:

I'd make a wrestling company like the NWA of the 80s (I'd even like to use the NWA name and titles (although I would update the look of these abit)). There are probably many flaws in my concept but even taking out the NWA name and I think it could still work. The focus would be more on the wrestling aspect than the over done storylines. Of course there has to be storylines but I wouldn't fill an episode of a show with constant promos, vignettes, etc. Not that. I wouldn't do those things at all mind but everything in moderation as they say.

Roster

The roster would be full of young talent, this is how I would try to make it different to WWE. The only way I would have older stars appear would be as guest appearances and maybe have one in a commissioner type role.

I have no idea who these guys would be but I'm sure the right person could find them. At first I'd keep the roster small and build it up over time.

Titles

There would be three titles, the NWA Title for the main eventers, the International title for the mid carders and the Tag Team Tiles. Only way I'd introduce a fourth title would be if there was an influx of cruiserweights.

NWA Collision

My weekly show would be a two hour show called NWA Collision, this would not go head to head with Raw or Smackdown. It would air on either Tuesday or Friday nights.

The first episode of Collision would feature two tournaments, one for the NWA Tag Team a Titles and one for the NWA Title. In order to get some bane recognition for the first episode I'd have Classic tag team to give the Tag Titles to the winners of that tournament and Ric Flair there to give the winner of the NWA Title there belt. The winner of the NWA Title tournament would be a heel and over time he would build a stable of wrestlers to protect his title. Think a a Four Horsemen meets nWo group. The baby face who lost the title match (in suspicious circumstances of course) would be the main guy who takes on our main heel. This would of course lead to a long build up in the baby faces

The third week would introduce the International title, which the winner would be decided in a battle Royale. But this title would go to an up and coming baby face who could feud with the main heel stables middle man over that title.

At some point the heel stable would hold all the titles at once. This would be resolved at the very first PPV where two out of the three baby faces claim the gold.

PPVs

As we wouldn't be able to do PPVs for a while I'd go the Clash of the Champions route, holding four 3 hour events a year called Battle of the Champions or something like that. As the appeal of there been mainly title matches would be the draw. I would try to cross promote with say Mexico and/or Japan to see if they could send some of their champions over for title matches aswell, give it the feel of something special.

So that's basically my idea, what are some of yours?

 

[bboybigbadcarl]

Wow, this is possibly the coolest post I have read on a wrestling forum
I like your idea of keeping the focus on wrestling
Would you have gimmick matches in your promotion?
Also, if I was running a realistic promotion, I would add in a video referee, so people cant just distract the referee then cheat.
Also something I dont like about wwe these days is too many roll up pins. I think roll up pins/school boy pins are cool when used by like Ric Flair and of dirty wrestlers, because I think the reason ric flair used the roll up pin was because he really want to win at all costs, where as these days when I see wrestlers like the Bellas use the roll-up pins especially when they are face, it gets a bit boring.
For my own promotion I would have three Women's titles (Champion, mid-card and tag-team) and three men's titles (Champion, mid-card and tag-team).
I would have a main show with men and women. (Same as WWE, TNA etc)
then would have a one hour show on a different day for women which has more focus on the mid card womens title and tag titles

 

[TheICChampion]

I like your ideas. One thing though, when would you hold your PPV's? Like on what day?

Here's what I would do for my promotion:

Have separate divisions and keep them separate (Heavyweight, Main-event, Women's, Tag Team and Cruiserweight) with one title for each division ONLY.

Hold a PPV in a different country every few months featuring wrestlers from that country if possible vs. wrestlers in my promotion who don't already have rivalries.

I would put gimmick matches on the card ONLY if it's necessary to end a feud. That being said, if possible I would like to try and put one gimmick match on each PPV.

Wrestlers who want to challenge for their division's title must earn their opportunity by defeating the current #1 contender AND the champion first (and at least ONE of those must be by pinfall or submission.)

2 shows a week (Wednesday and Saturday) with the Wednesday show dedicated to feuds/storylines and Saturday of course to random matches that could lead to feuds.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I like your ideas. One thing though, when would you hold your PPV's? Like on what day?

Here's what I would do for my promotion:

Have separate divisions and keep them separate (Heavyweight, Main-event, Women's, Tag Team and Cruiserweight) with one title for each division ONLY.

Hold a PPV in a different country every few months featuring wrestlers from that country if possible vs. wrestlers in my promotion who don't already have rivalries.

I would put gimmick matches on the card ONLY if it's necessary to end a feud. That being said, if possible I would like to try and put one gimmick match on each PPV.

Wrestlers who want to challenge for their division's title must earn their opportunity by defeating the current #1 contender AND the champion first (and at least ONE of those must be by pinfall or submission.)

2 shows a week (Wednesday and Saturday) with the Wednesday show dedicated to feuds/storylines and Saturday of course to random matches that could lead to feuds.

Thanks, not sure to be honest. It was thinking Sundays as PPVs generally are. However I did say there wouldn't be a PPV until about a year in and My clash of the champions rip off idea of 4 events for a year that aren't PPV would take PPVs place until the first PPV was ready. I certainly wouldn't be running the Clash's/PPVs against any WWE PPVs. Maybe it would be a good idea to find another night like a Saturday or something to test the waters.

Really like your ideas too.

Wow, this is possibly the coolest post I have read on a wrestling forum
I like your idea of keeping the focus on wrestling
Would you have gimmick matches in your promotion?
Also, if I was running a realistic promotion, I would add in a video referee, so people cant just distract the referee then cheat.
Also something I dont like about wwe these days is too many roll up pins. I think roll up pins/school boy pins are cool when used by like Ric Flair and of dirty wrestlers, because I think the reason ric flair used the roll up pin was because he really want to win at all costs, where as these days when I see wrestlers like the Bellas use the roll-up pins especially when they are face, it gets a bit boring.
For my own promotion I would have three Women's titles (Champion, mid-card and tag-team) and three men's titles (Champion, mid-card and tag-team).
I would have a main show with men and women. (Same as WWE, TNA etc)
then would have a one hour show on a different day for women which has more focus on the mid card womens title and tag titles

Thanks for the kind words.

Gimmick matches wouldn't be a weekly occurrence that's for sure. I've always been a steel cage fan and I envision when the baby face finally beats my heel it will be in a steel cage match.

Video ref is an interesting angle but maybe you could only use it on a specific night, maybe when the heels are cheating to much they run an event with a video referee so the heels can't get away with cheating anymore.

Agreed on roll up pins, the heel uses it and grabs the tights or puts their feet on the ropes for the pin. Exactly the kind of stuff I want my main heel to do.

So you'd have a women's show and a men's show, that's pretty cool.

Another couple of things I'd like to do with mine is the wrestlers would wrestle on the independent circuit when they aren't on the show. I would team up with these smaller companies letting them use my wrestlers from time to time aslong as I could film the video footage.

I even thought it would be cool to have the Tag Team champions lose to an independent wrestling Tag a Team so they have to focus on getting the belts back. Which could culminate at my first Clash styled event.

With the Tag a Team focused on that the heel knowing he only has one back up and hires a bodyguard. This would be a huge (as in a big guy) wrestler who I would eventually build up as a monster heel down the road.

Also I'd go back to having more managers, as I always loved that sort of stuff in the 80s. With this my next heel team could be a Heenan family type group.

 

[Cub McCallister]

Very interesting thread here, I like things like this tbh where you would start off your own wrestling promotion. If I was doing it I would make it unique like the early days of Tna and Wcw which was unique in its own way.

First of all my roster would be full of young stars for the future mixed in with older generation of wrestlers who have been around for a while that will get the best out of the younger blood, I would focus on each division such as tag teams and mid carders to elevate them further up the ladder. After a whole I would possibly think about bringing in a women's division like tna did and build it around solid wrestling & storyline telling, the mid carders would be involved in solid wrestling also and could use the mid card title as a stepping stone to the world title.

Secondly I would have 4 titles which are the World Title, Mid card Title, Cruiserweight Title & Tag Titles, after a year or so I would introduce a women's title to round it up to 5 you could use the mid card title as a stepping stone to the world title and have show downs between the two like I ecw and have great cruiserweight title matches like wcw did to open the show.

Thirdly my tv taping a would be Monday & Thursdays with ppvs being Sunday nights and go to different places that you wouldn't expect them to go to give it a great buzz.

I would have 1 ppv a month which is a total of 12 a year I like that idea, I know it would burn the guys out but they can always change it around, have like a big ppv like wrestlemania, have gimmick matches take place on occasion not have it for a set ppv like wwe do it ruins the gimmick itself.

Last of all I would so a development territory for my company after a few years like wwe are doing now with NxT and bring guys in through the ranking system.

That's how I would like to run a company with great sorry telling and more managers as well with great commentators.

 

[WBL]

I actually did manage my own federation, for several years straight, with over 300 people coming in and out of the company.

... in Firepro Wrestling Returns.

Regardless, the roster would be different. In Firepro, I just created a few hundred characters. If I wanted to hire guys in an actual federation, a lot of scouting would be necessary. I'd try to get, maybe 3-4 big names and maybe one legend, and try to keep the rest local guys or indy guys with a lot of promise. Just because I assume I'm running with a budget.

I would go with a similar title structure as I did with my Firepro federation... everyone's on one roster. There's a Heavyweight title, an Intercontinental/Hardcore title (an IC title that's only defended in Hardcore-style matches), a Tag Team title, and a "Tertiary" title. The Tertiary title would change names and stipulations every few months, or as a gimmick would warrant, just to keep people on their toes. And if there's a large enough women's roster, a women's title (I just had two federations in Firepro, one all women, one all men).

At the indy level, I'd probably hold 3-5 shows a week, depending on interest. Once we finally get a TV deal, I'd put my television show on Saturday night. It's the weekend, you're already enjoying yourself, and if we end up getting too extreme? Hey, church is tomorrow. Heh. If I ended up getting a second show, I'd probably be online. I'd try to keep as much of an online presence as possible.

Tournaments and battle royals would help start and establish who's on what tier early on. Why mess with what works?

 

[jack knife bad guy]

Great thread! Great responses!!!
Ok.. so I would start with Sunday night shows.. And the first would be after the superbowl for an hour. Then a special 2hr Monday night one night only show to compete with wwe and shake up the wrestling community.
2hr Sunday night every week after. .Once taking off for 4mo I would have a ppv on Saturday night.. then hopefully it makes the next night feel big, like Mondays after a ppv for wwe. NWA Sunday Nightmare?? Then I would consider a new Monday night war bc Sunday Monday is doable, but then the ppv on Saturday night is sort of much. So I would move the PPV on Sunday directly after the tv show like old wwf days.. 6-8 tv show 8-11 ppv show..

I would start the first show with a manager walking out proclaiming that he's the reason for the biggest signings in this new company. And welcomes everyone to the new NWA not ur grandpa's nwa. AND he introduces a heel and his hot chick and lackey.. while they demand the belt. Out walks Ric Flair who announces that tomorrow night a match for the new NWA championship and he has to win a match right now if he wants in the match. The heel wins.. another match for the chance to be in the championship match and then CHAOS occurrs when some young stars want in the match and are granted this making the manager of the heel trying to recruit young stars to take out flair. Thus setting up a 5 man ladder match for the title in Monday.

The next Sunday a tag titles tournament starts and the first PPV they introduce a 3rd belt