If you were starting a wresling company tomorrow...

[Tastycles]

...who would be the first person you'd hire?

We're talking hypotheticals here, so anyone employed by TNA/WWE is fair game, the only exceptions are Vince McMahon and Dixie Carter, and anyone who is dead. Apart from that, you can choose anyone in the world of wrestling from Tony Chimmel to Tony Atlas to Tony Schiavone and also people not called Tony. Money is not an issue.

For me, the choice was not a simple one. I still believe that Eric Bischoff would be an asset, but he wouldn't be the first name I called. Indeed, I believe that it may have to be a wrestler. Cena is the obvious choice, but it would be difficult to form a company identity when you had someone else's golden boy as your star.

No doubt people will nominate guys like AJ and Angle, who while good workers have done nothing to raise the profile of TNA. By a similar token, the greatest name of all time has failed to do anything for TNA, so we must be weary of age. See what I mean? It's tough.

Who would be your first acquisition?

 

[Davi323]

Jim Ross. Before I hire any wrestler, I want a guy behind the scenes who has a proven track record at finding talent. The fact that JR is also the best ring announcer in the business is a bonus, but I would hire him for his talent relations skills first and foremost.

 

[johnbragg]

A man with a plan.

Someone with a vision for what this company is going to be the best at, and how we are going to market that to an audience large enough to make a profit.

Paul Heyman? Gabe Sapolsky? Raven? Ian Rotten? Mick Foley? Kevin Nash?

EDTI: Davi323 is right--JR, if he's healthy enough to do 20 hours a week backstage

 

[Mighty NorCal]

CM Punk. No one in the WWE has continually had his legs cut out from under them by booking worse than him, and yet, he is easily the most hated and over heel in the WWE. I have NEVER in all my days felt such true, real, raw emotion at a WWE event than I did at Night Of Champions in Philly last year (I was there live) when he did his sermon on the mount in the middle of the crowd. Fucking amazing.

Not to mention, he can work any match, with any guy on your roster. Who is my first big babyface? doesnt really fucking matter, as long as he goes against Punk. Also add in the fact that Punk likely still has a decade of work left in him, thats an easy pick to me.

 

[Leonas]

I would have to go with...drum role please! Michael Cole!!! The future Hall of Famer and "Oh My" slammy winner is full of VINTAGE experience! It will be the most hated and annoying wrestling company of all time....oh wait TNA already exists JK

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

Hey Yo!

Im going to go with Chris Jericho, the man is a living active legend.

He has the wrestling ability to make even the Great Khali to look like a decent wrestler, he has never been injured which is a major plus. Jericho has the ability to captivate the audience through his charisma playing any character role face or heel, the man is just amazing. So no doubt Jericho is the man for me. He also has loyal fan base so it is all win-win.

 

[Bobby B]

Only one? I saw the thread title and immeadiatly came up with about half a dozen wreslters, and a couple of people backstage too!

Jim Ross is a very good shout. Knows the business inside out down to a very low level. Would certainly help with talent scouting.

In terms of one big name wrestling draw, I'm not sure anyone fits that bill more perfectly than Kurt Angle. There are others who would be very near the top of my list - CM Punk, AJ Styles, Shelton Benjamin.

But given as it is purely hypothetical, the one man I would want to hire for in ring work would be Brock Lesnar. Would be an enormous draw.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would pick up the phone and call the evil genious of professional wrestling, Mr Paul Heyman.

The man can create characters from nothing, and has the best mind in the business. Plus, with Heyman on side, there is more of a chance of persuading Brock Lesnar to make an appearance on my show, wrestling or otherwise.

Other talent I would contact would be AJ Styles, the most exciting wrestler in the world today. He would be my ideal World Heavyweight Champion.

I would try and pick up The Briscoes from ROH, probably the greatest tag team in the world right now, and I would try and persuade Joey Styles to leave the WWE head office and get back on the mic, I love that guy.

Finally, for my raid on the WWE, I would look at bringing in CM Punk or John Morrison...two young studs who have years left in the tank, are both over as hell and great in the ring. Punk as a heel vs AJ is mouthwatering!

 

[Monkey_Mania]

Triple H. Fuck the haters, and who gives a fuck how old he is. If i'm starting a company, I want someone I can trust to show up, carry the in ring action, give his opinions behind the scenes, and you definitely want someone who is a huge name to garner some reaction so people will tune in. With Trips having a creative mind, and being one of the best ring generals of his time, you can't go wrong with him.

 

[Deexter Jorgan]

Mine would have to be a none easy choice, the guy who can get my wrestling company noticed, because before you have faces or heels, before you have lights, camera, or any in ring action you need a booker.

Who else than Paul Heyman, I would have Heyman build my company from the ground up and bring something new and stimulating to my wrestling show.

The best thing of all, Paul can single out my wrestlers weaknesses and turn mediocre talent into stars, look what he did with Taz, Rob Van Damn, a huge example of this is the Sandman, the guy would have been nothing if it werent for pauls booking.

 

[Megatron]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Cena yet. He's clearly the biggest draw in wrestling right now and you're gonna have instant name recognition if Cena's on your roster. He's had over 7 years of experience now, as well, and can work the crowd and make a great match. He certainly would be the face of my company for many years to come and you could probably get a few other names to come if they heard that Cena was coming over.

 

[The Holy One]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Cena yet. He's clearly the biggest draw in wrestling right now and you're gonna have instant name recognition if Cena's on your roster. He's had over 7 years of experience now, as well, and can work the crowd and make a great match. He certainly would be the face of my company for many years to come and you could probably get a few other names to come if they heard that Cena was coming over.

The OP did say that Cena was the obvious coice but I agree with you if there's one wrestler I must have it would be Cena. He can generate a response from the crowd unlike anybody else, he's only 32 years old so that's young, and he can put on some great matches despite what haters may say.

Although, this was posted earlier too, in order to suceed as a wresting promotion; you need a great booker before anything else. You need a guy who can make the stars, fueds, and matches that people will care about. If I could pick it would be Jim Cornette. The man knows what he doing b/c of his fantastic work in OVW and ROH and I believe he has one of the best mind in the buisiness.

 

[Ferbian]

That's an incredibly tough decision to make I would say. There's a lot of people I would more than love to hire to work for me if I got the chance to run a wrestling promotion.

I'm guessing we can very well discredit the retired people as well. At least I won't be calling anybody that are retired and cannot make the kind of work that they used to do back in their career days (Austin and Rock for example).

I believe that in order to create a good wrestling company there must be a good product. Therefore I'm thinking one of the first people to call would most likely be Michael Hayes. He has done wonders booking Smackdown for a longer period of time now. He might not be the greatest mind, nor is he the greatest choice if I want someone to draw me ratings, or someone to determine great talent. But he has done great as a booker.

Although if I was to get someone who can help me create stars, and determine great star power and potential, then I would be calling Jim Ross. He has been great at spotting talent and seeing potential in wrestlers. After all he is the guy who spotted John Cena and said to Vince "He's gonna be main eventing Wrestlemania in 3-4 years"

But if I wanted someone to draw ratings for me, someone who is still active as well. Then the choice definitely falls on John Cena, no matter how much hate this guy gets, there's no denying that he creates ratings.

 

[lukeRKO]

If i was building a company up from the ground. With no experience whatsoever, the first man i would be calling is the cream of Vince's crop, Shane O'Mac. He was the chief executive with the WWE. He has spent his whole life in and around the wrestling industry, 20 years of which he worked in the industry itself. He has wrestled, referred (sp :S), manage, booked, produced, scouted and has the experience you need to start a wrestling company.


If i was looking at talent to sign, the first person i would go to is John Cena. No matter how much the IWC hates this man, the kids pay to see him, he is the single biggest draw in professional wrestling today. Also, could you imagine the reaction of the other wrestling companies. ' Oh god, they signed Cena, they must mean business.'
Also, others would follow him, if my company had a good TV deal, and Cena as the poster boy, other talent would flood to join in and get themselves more money and/or more tv exposure.


I would not choose Jim Ross for one simple reason. I am not yet looking towards the future, i would be looking for talent that is drawing big and is relevant NOW. I would consider Jim Ross in about 5 years time, once my company is off the ground and running with the big boys.

 

[klunderbunker]

I narrowed this down to three and then to one.

Honorable Mention

CM Punk. The guy can work face/heel, isn't a risk for a public relations fiasco over drugs or steroids, is fairly young (32 or so?) and has had one injury I can think of, which is the one now. Excellent choice.

John Cena. This is for one reason. If you're starting a company, you need a guy that gets people talking. Cena is easily the guy that gets the most conversation in wrestling. No one is able to get a reaction, either positive or negative, like Cena. He can go in big matches, he has a great look, he's popular, kids like him, his freakish strength gets adults' attention, he can talk. The guy's the total package. His age is getting a tad up there, but he's got a lot of miles left in him.

However, my choice is relatively easy: The Miz.

He's not 30 yet and no one, I repeat no one, has had a more perfectly designed push than he has. Everything he's had put in front of his he's accomplished and done very well at. If this coming Monday on Raw he won the world title. I don't think many people would say he's not ready yet. Something to keep in mind is that it's very difficult to get fans to cheer you so you need a solid heel. Anybody you put against Miz will instantly get face pops because Miz is just so freaking annoying. He's like a young Roddy Piper in that sense actually. Piper was a huge catalyst for Hogan because it gave Hogan someone to play off of. It made him popular because he shut Piper up. That's basic booking and with Miz, it would work. Easy choice for me.

 

[Slyfox696]

All I have to say is that for the majority of the posters in this thread, if you were starting a wrestling company, you would be broke. Jim Ross? Paul Heyman? CM Punk? The Miz? Are you TRYING to go bankrupt?

If you're starting a wrestling company, you do it because you want MONEY. Maybe you'd like to have fun with it, but you can't stay in business without money. So if you're VERY first pick for someone on the roster doesn't draw, just go ahead and fold up shop.

With that in mind, my obvious first pick would have to be John Cena. He's clearly the biggest draw in the wrestling business day, gets absolutely deafening pops, is a cash cow even when he doesn't have the title, and is such a good in-ring worker, he can put on a good match with anyone capable of having a good match. He's also one of, if not the, best mic workers in the business today as well.

John Cena is, I think, the most obvious pick. The ONLY other pick I could see validation for would be Triple H. But I'd still pick Cena.

 

[X]

This is just too tough to go with one choice, so I went with three, and yes there are going to be some names that have already been mentioned lincluded. Too bad you guys can't see the awesome convo we're having on this great topic in the Board Room

First things first, you need someone to draw. So you go with the best draw in the world today in wrestling, and that's gotta be John Cena at this point in time. He's the guy you're going to sell as the face of the company in public relations, and as a person he's pretty much the perfect employee you could ask for, he's going to ensure that people will come out to see your hypothetical shows.

Next you're going to need someone for him to feud with, someone they want to see him beat up. There in lies my second pick, CM Punk. He's the best heel of the last decade in my eyes, he's phenomenal on the mic and in the ring and you pit him up against someone like John Cena and you've got yourself an instant money-making main event feud and draw right there, which is what you'll obviously need to get your foot in the door as a new powerhouse in the wrestling industry.

Next up though you're going to need the most important thing of all, and that's someone with a great mind for the business, someone to be the booker, and that's where I'd bring in Gabe Sapolsky. The guy flat out gets wrestling and how the business works, he knows how to create a feud that people will want to see, he knows how to use those feuds to create stars (i.e. the Punk-Raven feud) and best of all he books lengthy title reigns so as to keep the importance of the world title very relevant and prestigious. He's a fantastic booker, and he'd be the go-to guy in my mind if I wanted someone to create some compelling wrestling drama with the talent I already had in Punk and Cena. It also helps that he helped make Punk a star in ROH initially.

With those three people, I firmly believe any promotion I started hypothetically would be a successful one from the get-go.

Great thread Tasty, fun to read and contribute.

 

[Supernova]

I'd pick Randy Orton, that guy is pretty young so first of he'd be a good investment (as opposed to a "quick fix" Hogan type signing). He's decent enough in the ring and can be a big face or heel given the right supporting cast. I also like the idea of signing CM Punk but he's been said a lot so I thought I'd suggest someone different.