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Post by Jay Cal on Apr 6, 2016 14:45:18 GMT -8
With TNT the guy has pretty good reach. I don't really like him but he does have his fans and his promotion was at one point the top promotion in Sydney although recently he's scaled back a lot and become number 3 due to IWA Australia and PWA Sydney taking over. How did he build it? He didn't really do a story line but there was a promo from Adam Pearce and TNT made one in response. If I remember correctly a number 1 contenders match may have also been won by him the show before the World Title match and they did try and make it a big deal because they ran the show at the Panthers club which is where all the companies do their bigger shows. They did about 150 fans which is what they usually average. For me the World Heavyweight Champion has to be someone the people want to see and have a good story line backing it. If my local promoter booked Jax Dane I wouldn't travel 5 minutes down the road to see it. Not because Dane isn't good but simply because he doesn't interest me as a fan. Chance Prophet? I'd be there. Chase Owens? I'd be there. Rob Conway? I'd also be there for him. I think it's a mix of having a champion people want to see and a great story line. That maximises revenue. For sure. You have to know your audience. But if you're building your audience, at some point you create a lot of the cues that the fans pick up on. I mean this isn't always the case... Rock, Austin, are some that come to mind. But would Hogan have been as iconic if he didn't body slam Andre the Giant? If he hadn't feuded with Roddy Piper? If he didn't lay down for Savage, etc. I mean... McMahon spoon fed the world Hulk Hogan. He promoted the right guy, the right way. Could he had done the same thing with Magnum TA? Could he had done the same thing with someone else? Maybe... the right machine behind anyone can create success. Eddie Guerrero was mid-card at best in WCW. WWE he was World champion? The right machine... the right person. I still think Dane could be a bigger deal, if the NWA collective got behind him. I don't think we're seeing that.
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Post by MrWood on Apr 6, 2016 22:41:08 GMT -8
On the contrary I reckon the NWA promotions do get behind Dane but the NWA isn't a juggernaut of any degree anymore.
The belts have to mean something and as it currently stands the World title just doesn't have the importance it once held, will it again potentially but that's to how they market the world championship and the man holding it.
Jax is an absolute gentlemen, but when he is on posters as the NWA world champion he is at times buried into the mix of the other performers rather than made to be a special attraction. If that's the feeling of the promoters booking him than that tells you what it currently means.
I don't know how they do it, I don't claim to be an expert but if your local guys aren't connecting as a World Champion why don't you create the press on the title by putting it on someone who will get the column inches & will open doors for traditional media you currently do not get and then do a deal with said talent where a bulk of your promotions book him for a 10 dates for a bulk price.. (Or more dates based on how many promotions can take part) build up the story of this champion either face or heel being dominant as face a proud NWA champion or a heel who could actually be cocky and play up on being the most relevant World champion in recent history. Across the promotions have the champ be chased by a certain challenger (say Jax) and keep the local promotion champion away from the world champion and just have the world title matches as special attentions, for this you could bring in another named talent or put up against one of your top guys that isn't in the local promotion title picture currently.
Say for example as a heel, This champion builds up the wins continues to play on the fact they are the most relevant champ in recent history and keep evading Jax's demands for a rematch. As this is built throughout the promotions and with promos etc the two competitors could face off say next Wrestlemania weekend.
This would be the moment the internationally recognised talent puts over the belt and the successor.
If executed with conviction and planning you can make the title, the champion and the challenger mean something.
Sorry if all the above seems rambling!
Over the past year over here we have had Marty Scurll as our champ and right now he is one of the most over UK stars in the world. Underneath Scurll's arrogance we have had Mark Haskins building wins in a program that he is out to prove he should of been in the mix from the start when it came down to the title, we have teased a crossing of the paths on commentary, in social media, in local advertising along the way and it's all built to the big showdown taking place later this month.
I am 100% sure that due to the build the ticket sales for the Weymouth Pavilion show are through the roof, we usually scale to accommodate 150 people in that venue and sell out however we have had to reconfigure the room and go for the larger configuration as it seems like we are set to do 3 times the amount!
I don't put it solely on that match we are doing the numbers but building an exciting program across our venues, online, press has helped build the brand and in 2 weeks times we will feel the affect of building an exciting title story.
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Post by MKCS on Apr 6, 2016 23:20:44 GMT -8
I think with a World Champion they need something special about them. Rob Conway was the last champion who had something special about him and that something was the fact that he was regularly wrestling in NJPW in front of thousands of people.
Before him it was Adam Pearce and Colt Cabana for obvious reasons. Pearce was taking the belt around the world but was really building it up in the United States and defending 5-8 times a month whilst Cabana despite being a transitional champion is known as a big deal throughout the world.
With champions such as Jax Dane, Kahagas, The Sheik and regional guys like that you have the problem of selling them to an audience. Hypothetically in Sydney Australia if I somehow sold my social media audience (Who are most likely hardcore wrestling fans) on Jax Dane they're going to Google the guy which would lead to his Wikipedia page. On Wikipedia it shows he's very much an NWA guy and whilst he's had some big matches he isn't really a guy who the big companies want and that's obvious.
So how do they take this guy who started wrestling 4 years ago and has never really had a major run in a major company (He was a lackey in NJPW) seriously as the WORLD Heavyweight Champion? It's a hard sell, at least with an Adam Pearce or a Colt Cabana you've got ROH which has a great reputation, Rob Conway you of course have a major run in NJPW and a decent WWE run as well. Those guys are easy to take seriously, a regional NWA guy is not and unless you have the thousands to build him up as a star in your promotion you're not likely to see a large group of people paying just for him. Of course if you're in America and Dane lives 1 state over it probably becomes a lot more worth it.
I think Dane doesn't get booked more because of what I've mentioned above but also the fact that he's gigantic means you can't really have a strong back and forth. I look around at my local indies and most guys are 6'0, 220 pounds at the very best and they're very rarely ripped and muscular they're usually average or fat. At 6'4 285 with a relatively good physique it's a hard sell that your local guy is going to beat that guy and it's hard to book the match because nobody is believing that a 6'0, 220 pound guy is going to take a giant like Dane to the limit.
The NWA World Heavyweight Champion with the territory system in place should always be a smaller guy in my opinion just like Ric Flair was. The NWA needs a guy who can beg off, sell, cheat and escape by the skin of his teeth whilst the local baby face comes so close but just can't get there. Dane can't do that.
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