Interesting article about booking pro wrestling

[Sweettre15]

It's not often that you see someone give tips on booking and especially not in the rather extensive way that this article here does: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/BeABooker


It's a surprise that so many of these tips are ever kept in consideration by companies like the WWE or sometimes TNA, specifically:

THE GOLDEN RULE​

You are selling a product. The fans give you money for this product. If the fans are not interested in your product, they will not give you money. Without their money, you are out of a job. Therefore, your first and only responsibility is to the fans. Not your family; not your shareholders; not anyone else. This is because only the fans give money to you. Failure to follow this rule will result in a failure of your business.

BUSINESS ETHICS​

1. Never let your own ego get in the way of business. This is seemingly the hardest thing for bookers to do, and it is the thing which damages wrestling most of all. Vince McMahon squandered millions and millions of dollars on the Invasion angle because he could not accept that a rival promotion could be as good as his. His ego cost him millions; if he had put ego and pride aside, the Invasion would have rolled on for years, making him money hand over fist. It cannot be overstated how much of a license to print money that angle was. The lesson is a stark one: put your own ego first and you will pay for it.


2. Never punish wrestlers for Real Life misdemeanours by depushing, burying, or otherwise harming their Kayfabe characters. Your wrestlers are your business. If you damage their credibility through a series of protracted losses, you aren't harming them - you're harming your own business, because you have just told the fans that this wrestler cannot be taken seriously. To harm a wrestler's aura is to harm the business. Be a professional; do what actual businesses do; have a disciplinary process. Take the wrestler off-television, dock their pay. Have a legally airtight code of conduct that states in black and white what is expected of your employees so they know. Have a set of clearly defined boundaries that you will not allow to be crossed. You know, like a real business. Wrestling needs to leave its carnival days behind it, and march into the modern era.


3. Celebrities should be used carefully; never pay more than they can bring, and remember your core business. This is the difference between William Shatner and Bob Barker producing two of the best guest-host gigs of 2009, and countless other "celebs" using the show simply to shill their latest project. It's all in how they relate to the wrestling.

Specifically Most of these apply moreso to WWE than to TNA but you guys should make sure to read the full article and give your thoughts...

Honestly I think a lot more corporate wrestling promotions would thrive if they followed this stuff down to the letter and pretty much kept is as a glorified Booking Manual lol.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Point 2 is quite interesting. I can understand why it's a rule that shouldn't be the norm but WWE have used the 'wrestler having repeated losses then bouncing back' to decent effect over the past couple of years. The first storyline I remember paying attention to where a wrestler suffered a horrific losing streak was MVP back in 06 or 07 I think. He had gone from a heel that seemingly everyone enjoyed seeing lose to a semi-tragic figure who couldn't do anything right.

More recently, pretty much all of the MITB briefcase winners have gone on a losing streak before cashing in. Cena had his series of losses in the run-up to his big win over Rock at Mania. Heath Slater (& 3MB) don't seem to have won a match in forever but are somewhat over anyway.

Wins and losses do matter, but the context in which they happen is the main thing for progressing a storyline.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I can't believe I read the whole thing. Most things feel like common sense or at least common business sense. What I want to know is how WWE squandered millions and millions of dollars on the Invasion Angle?

Another comment is that I think the author is coming down on Vince quite a bit. He may not give the fans what they want all the time but that is impossible to do. Sometimes a hit show where the fans get nothing is exactly what is needed to make the next show that much better and worth the overall price.

 

[Sweettre15]

I can't believe I read the whole thing. Most things feel like common sense or at least common business sense. What I want to know is how WWE squandered millions and millions of dollars on the Invasion Angle?

According to some, these are some of the mistakes made in the Invasion angle

1. Starting the Alliance off as the good guys just to abruptly change course and make them the villains

2. Not included acts like Goldberg, Sting, or booking DDP as the DDP fans liked in WCW..some of that isnt entirely WWE's fault.

3. Having the big WWF vs WCW title match with an actual WCW guy holding that title.

It's safe to assume that some of this would have made the angle a bit more interesting.

This article as suggestions of its own for what would have made more sense with the Invasion angle:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...y-vol-2-the-wcw-and-ecw-invasion-angle-part-i

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/801714-rewriting-wwe-history-vol-2-the-wcw-invasion-part-ii

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...vol-2-the-wcw-and-ecw-invasion-angle-part-iii


BTW, I dont think the article n necessarily means that Vince LOST money from his own pocket when it says he "squandered millions" but that he missed out on a lot of potential money that the angle could have produced for the company.

 

[The Eighties]

The ego is always going to be a problem in wrestling since to be in the business you need an ego, and a big ego if you want to succeed, some just manage their ego's better than others. I'm not looking to turn this into a Triple bashing thing but twice in recent years he's won matches at WrestleMania that overall did nothing to help business and dented future business, but his character in his mind I guess had to win those matches, it's something I doubt we'll ever see eradicated from wrestling as long as guys have booking sway and wrestle at the same time.

Jobbing guys out as punishment has always been stupid because it really doesn't do anything but hurt whatever potential they had to bring money into the business. I mean lets face it, the guys who are punished in this way are the guys in the lower part of the card. For instance it's not like CM Punk is gonna get jobbed out for the things he spouts off about and even if he does lose it doesn't hurt him because he's reached that point where he's so over he's Teflon, the guys still making their way up the card though can't afford to constantly be made to look weak as it starts to see them percieved that way in fans minds. Take money out of their paycheck's instead, don't use the kayfabe product to punish them, it defeats the purpose as it hurts the company as well.

I agree on the Celebrities thing, I always remember Jake Roberts saying he wouldn't sell for Mohammed Ali because he had to work their (Georgia Championship Wrestling) the next week and Ali didn't. Piper had a similar stance with Mr. T at Mania. Basically I have no interest in seeing celebs involved in wrestling, I watch wrestling for the wrestlers, if I want to see actors or singers I'll watch their movie/show or listen to their music.

However I get why WWE wants to use them so fair enough, but having them make fools of or beat up actual wrestlers is always counter productive because it makes the wrestler look bad and most of the time the fans in the arenas shit on the goofy celeb stuff. A recent example would be Maria Menounos beating Beth Phoenix, it did nothing for anyone and only served to have WWE fans hate-on Maria anytime she shows up, which is a shame as she seems to be a genuine fan. So yes, use celebs for hosting and what not, but keep them out of anything physical

 

[Sweettre15]

The ego is always going to be a problem in wrestling since to be in the business you need an ego, and a big ego if you want to succeed, some just manage their ego's better than others. I'm not looking to turn this into a Triple bashing thing but twice in recent years he's won matches at WrestleMania that overall did nothing to help business and dented future business, but his character in his mind I guess had to win those matches, it's something I doubt we'll ever see eradicated from wrestling as long as guys have booking sway and wrestle at the same time.

Jobbing guys out as punishment has always been stupid because it really doesn't do anything but hurt whatever potential they had to bring money into the business. I mean lets face it, the guys who are punished in this way are the guys in the lower part of the card. For instance it's not like CM Punk is gonna get jobbed out for the things he spouts off about and even if he does lose it doesn't hurt him because he's reached that point where he's so over he's Teflon, the guys still making their way up the card though can't afford to constantly be made to look weak as it starts to see them percieved that way in fans minds. Take money out of their paycheck's instead, don't use the kayfabe product to punish them, it defeats the purpose as it hurts the company as well.

I agree on the Celebrities thing, I always remember Jake Roberts saying he wouldn't sell for Mohammed Ali because he had to work their (Georgia Championship Wrestling) the next week and Ali didn't. Piper had a similar stance with Mr. T at Mania. Basically I have no interest in seeing celebs involved in wrestling, I watch wrestling for the wrestlers, if I want to see actors or singers I'll watch their movie/show or listen to their music.

However I get why WWE wants to use them so fair enough, but having them make fools of or beat up actual wrestlers is always counter productive because it makes the wrestler look bad and most of the time the fans in the arenas shit on the goofy celeb stuff. A recent example would be Maria Menounos beating Beth Phoenix, it did nothing for anyone and only served to have WWE fans hate-on Maria anytime she shows up, which is a shame as she seems to be a genuine fan. So yes, use celebs for hosting and what not, but keep them out of anything physical

Now with the celebrities thing, Don't forget Two NOTORIOUS examples of misusing them

1. Making David Arquette the World Heavyweight Champion

2. Giving the title to Tank Abbott

Vince Russo can defend this stuff all he wants but those were some of the dumbest ideas someone could ever come up with in pro wrestling.