There is no business more unique or cyclical than independent professional wrestling. It is an ultra-fraternal and highly political game where honour, respect and tradition are qualities often lost. Wrestlers go unpaid; gate money mysteriously goes missing, and big stars pull no-shows with great frequency.Business, for many up and coming independent promotions, is at an all-time high as talent from TNA is readily made available for booking. In cities where there hasn’t been indy wrestling for years there are all of a sudden many promoters trying to put shows together.
Since TNA has landed on Spike TV, television stars are being created and for the first time ever, television wrestling stars are being made available for smaller indy shows. This change has turned many small promotions into very profitable ventures.
Where as some promoters before were lucky to draw their family and the girlfriends of the wrestlers, indy shows now are drawing several hundred and sometimes thousands of people. Stars such as Christian Cage, Bobby Roode, Rhino, Abyss and Samoa Joe are attracting massive crowds that are willing to pay high ticket prices.
In some cases, the difference between having a TNA wrestler on your show or not on your show is the difference between selling your tickets at a premium and not being able to give them away.
TNA acts as the booking agent for their talent. Indy promoters need to contact TNA directly and ask to use their talent for a steep fee. This is a new phenomenon, as for years; wrestlers usually controlled their own bookings. The end result is smiles all around: TNA lends out their talent and collects an agent fee, the wrestler makes a good pay day, and the promoter draws a bigger crowd than they normally would have without the television star.Where does the problem lie? The problem lies in the same place the power lies - with TNA. Indy promoters are now becoming slaves to TNA management and are in a very weak position. The success of any given indy promotion now relies on another company who is willfully lending their talent. Furthermore, the success of a TNA wrestler drawing is contingent on whether TNA has successfully made this wrestler into a viable star that fans will pay to see.
As TNA grows, they will gain more control over where they want their talent to appear. For instance, if for some reason TNA wants to disassociate itself from extreme hardcore wrestling, then they have the power to not lend their talent to promotions that are centered on hardcore matches.
Suddenly, a promoter who has used TNA wrestlers to draw big crowds cannot continue to run his business. TNA now controls the destiny of many independent wrestling companies as promotions surviving on the drawing power of TNA wrestlers are painting themselves into a dangerous corner.There are many indy promoters that are considered to be fairly successful and are running healthy businesses because of access to TNA wrestlers. However, there will be a day when TNA stops lending their talent out to certain indy promoters, or worse - to any. All of a sudden, there will be several indy promoters without a hope in hell of drawing a dime. When that day happens, those promoters will realize that independent wrestling was and is controlled at the will of TNA.
6 comments: on "Could TNA Kill Indy Wrestling?"
Whered u hear 1pw shut down?
see i see it the other way around. i think ROH wins with TNA. it gives both companys exposer. i go to alot of indy shows regradless of TNA talent or homegrown, but i have noticed when a TNA guy shows up it draws more. the plus side is it makes more people see that there is great wrestling in thier respective hometown that they can see on a regular basis and thus the next month or whenever the next show might be a good 5% of new people will comeback. now 5% might not sem like a lot but over time it grows and word of mouth along with the internerd is really making for one of the best times ever for indy wrestling. but thats just my opinon.
I'm leaning towards what you are saying jimmi. But here's my thing. I don't have much indy available to me around here. sO I keep up via myspace, and other sites, sucks 1pw shut down. On to my point before I go to far with a rant. TNA talent in indy shows is great, and yes there probably will be a time when TNA pulls the plug on it. But up until then take advantage of it and make money. BUT!! get the other talent you've got over. Get your regulars over, get the not so regulars over, and get the "enhancement" guys over. There's another ROH out there somewhere, I just guess we havent found it. I have a few indy shows come around me to the armory thats no joke 3 miles from my house, but I rarely ever go. Because the advertising for it is on a little yellow paper the size of the monitor you're looking at outside the armory. In '97-99 the advertising was different, and alot better. So if the indies would get more word out other than the net, maybe they'd do better. But my guess is there's another ROH out there somewhere.
and if there is, please hire me.
After having read the first half of your article, I completely disagreed with what you had said. However, by the end of it, I can see your point. Many people are hoping that TNA mushrooms and becomes a threat to WWE. This will make their stars more expensive to get for indy shows. However, I don't think it would kill wrestling. Like DJB said, there are still always small scale promotions out there (ROH being the most noteworthy), so if TNA does become too expensive, indies can always go another route. Maybe get guys from Japan leagues in, if need be.
Besides, most of the people who go to indy shows are wrestling junkies who know that indy shows tend to deliver a good deal of bang for their buck. Seriously, where else but the indies can you see AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Charlie Haas and Sabu vs. Sandman in a hardcore match from the front row (after seeing a baseball game from the front row) for 25 bucks?
Indy promoters should just enjoy the ride while they can... and hopefully during the process their promotions will gain attention and respect of local wrestling fans, so that in the future they will not have to call TNA to bring a crowd...
next roh www.pcw-wrestling.com or apw.com
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