Free Merchandise at Shows: Creating Pushes?

[Mac Attack]

Envision you walk into the arena before Monday Night RAW, as you're walking in a WWE personnel staff gives you a tee shirt of a superstar they want to push so for this example I'll say Christian. You get your Christian free teeshirt (and note it doesn't have to be an official shirt from WWE Shop) and then you have Christian or any other superstar for that matter come out for a match, and the crowd pops because everyone got a free tee shirt of that Superstar. This in turn appears on Television like the crowd is extremely behind them and also gets the crowd into the match as well as promote clothing from the WWE Shop. I thought this would be extremely good as well if per se a Superstar was coming back from injury and they did this for them as well.

It's a proven success as well. The Pittsburgh Pirates did this for their fans with free teeshirt Friday and after that crowd sizes have drastically increased as well as the crowds typically look bigger because everyone is in the same shirt and perhaps coincidentally the Pirate's record has continued to soar since starting this program. It's a win win, they give up 5 dollars for a tee-shirt that they mass produce and ultimately it makes the majority of their Friday games to be sold-out.

I feel if WWE tried to promote a Superstar by giving out free basic teeshirts and get them excited to see a particular Superstar it could in turn be very beneficial for WWE and an interesting way of aiding a push.

What do you all think of the concept?

 

[JibbaJabbaJoe420]

You've obviously never been to a televised show with decent seats. If you had, you'd know that they've been doing this for decades. Most if not all of my WWE/F & WCW merch has been obtained this way.

 

[Mac Attack]

You've obviously never been to a televised show with decent seats. If you had, you'd know that they've been doing this for decades. Most if not all of my WWE/F & WCW merch has been obtained this way.

On the contrary I've been to several live events with decent seats. The most recent being Money in the Bank sitting in a pretty good 106 section with a pretty great view of the ring. All I got was a free picture with a cut-out of Natalya. I've also been to 4 different RAWs a Smackdown, and a House Show since then and have recieved nothing free. So either that have discontinued the service or I've been oblivious to this for the last 5 years with my then next event being a RAW in 2000 where you guessed it I recieved nothing.

I'm sure it's happened once or twice, no doubt but I feel like if they did it more frequently which to my experience they haven't it would work even better. However in the last 5 years having gone to 7 different shows all with tickets in the 100 section or lower nothing so I'm not sure you're accurate or up to date with your opinion.

 

[Degenerate88]

I've been to 15+ WWE events (PPV, TV, and house shows) and have only ever sat in the bowl 3 times. Every other time has been floor seats ranging from Row 1-5 and i've NEVER gotten free merch from ANY of the shows i've been to. Not sure if that's just maybe the shows they run in Canada, but never heard of it.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

You've obviously never been to a televised show with decent seats. If you had, you'd know that they've been doing this for decades. Most if not all of my WWE/F & WCW merch has been obtained this way.

I've never gotten free merch from a WWE Show, hell last time I went, I had front row seats.

Back to the original post, I think it's a great idea. I don't think it would single-handedly get someone over, but it'd be a great way to promote.

 

[tvcolosi]

You can take that a step further. Every week on TNA, 3/4 of the front 5 rows are wearing Cena/Punk/WWE shirts... offer them free or deeply discounted superstar shirts or just a TNA logo shirt.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The only time I heard of them really doing this was when someone was wearing a shirt they didn't want seen on TV - for example you show up in an 2004 Benoit 4 Real shirt or one bearing the old WWF logo they can't make you go topless or eject you, but they would give you a new shirt to "cover up".

It's one method they can use to build a fanbase and isn't much different to papering the show itself, the shirts are on a huge markup so are barely worth 10$, just sold for $40. I am sure a lot of those initial Nexus shirts were freebies.... At the end of the day though it is a short cut and they don't need to be taking shortcuts right now they need to pick 3 guys who are moving forward like they did with Orton, Cena and Batista and build them properly as they did with those 3. They "seem" to have done it and chosen Bryan, Rhodes and The Shield... time will tell if this bears out.

 

[MCMG]

You can't keep handing out t-shirts forever. In my opinion it is very difficult to just make a star, it is best when it is completely organic (see Bryan). Also, if I someone was handed out a T-shirt, I don't think it necessarily means they are going to cheer for them.

 

[InThisVeryRing]

You can take that a step further. Every week on TNA, 3/4 of the front 5 rows are wearing Cena/Punk/WWE shirts... offer them free or deeply discounted superstar shirts or just a TNA logo shirt.

It's true! Every single TNA event i've attended (3 in all) I've noticed a rather large influx of WWE shirts. Then again, I used to see tons of NWO shirts at WWE shows, so I guess it's just brand independence.