Support roles in a promo

Question
QUESTION: Hi Joe,

I am not certain, whether you are well versed with the wrestling industry in India, however, I have gone through some of your replies on this site, and I think you can help me here.

Unlike, many other queries you may have received, i am not really looking at becoming an in ring performer. I am more interested in what happens behind the scenes. More specifically something that has to do with the storylines and/or talent scout/development.

I understand, being a part of the creative team would require me to have certain qualifications or experience, which i lack. And talent development/scout would require great industry networking and contacts. Again, i lack this.

But, as you may know, the wrestling industry is barely in the nascent stage in India. I do not know much, but i think we barely have 1 training school and 1 TNA promotion named "Ring Ka King" in India.
That being said, I am certain that I do not face overwhelming competition for such opportunities.

Now onto my questions (more importantly the last one). What would you have done if you were in my shoes?
** How would you make a break into this Industry? I do not mind starting off in any capacity if it means i can gradually work towards the creative or talent management side of the business.
** how would you have gone about researching the industry and the people at important positions in India, knowing how little info is available as compared to the US?

** Personally, I think it would suck working with the TNA promo in India, since their storylines are pretty lame for our audience lol. And of course they wouldnt really veer off these since its in a tie up with a Broadcast Channel aimed for Family viewing. I'm not being picky here, but would love to work in a start up, or starting one on my own. What are your views on this?

I read a similar question asked by another person from India, about starting a promo. The answer was well detailed by James Triggs. However, I would like to know more about the legal work, the permissions, licenses, feasibility studies etc. You know, such info would help me with a feasibility study of starting a promo and also maybe in finding an angel investor.

Hope to hear from you and have a nice day.

ANSWER: Well starting a promotion can be very tough. In fact, over 90% of them fail within one year. Especially schools, because most promotions to make money, will offer training for guys and girls who want to become wrestlers.

They fail because it's so very tough to get backing financially. Add in that you have to be sure there is enough talent to use for the shows as well. It can all be very difficult.

However, India is a hotbed right now for wrestling. Pro-Wrestling has never been more popular there. In fact, most questions I get here come from India these days. The biggest thing India needs is a legit wrestling school in all it's popular cities.

Ring Ka King is not even a promotion, but a show. Highly successful though, due to the fact Indians seem to love it. Americans liked it a lot too.

As you said yourself, if you tried to get on with a place like WWE or TNA to be on the writing team or creative teams for example, they would not accept you. The best way to get there is to have a degree in an entertainment field or journalism. Then have experience working in smaller Independent promotions.

It's much easier here in America because there is probably about 2 or more schools and promotions in every state here. In Alabama alone, the state I live in, there is about 4 very good promotions.

All that said, what I would do is FAR different than what you could do in India.

I have two degrees in Broadcasting currently, and seeking a journalism one. I don't really care to be on a wrestling creative team any time soon or even in the future. I have other plans.

But if I wanted to. I would go to a place here in my state and tell them of my experience in journalism, as I have a lot. I'd tell them of my degrees and probably get a chance to work with them. I'd graduate work until I got to the top promotion in the state and send my resume out to top Independent promotions in the country. When one bit, I'd work with them for a while and then eventually, I may be able to work my way up to WWE or TNA, maybe ROH. I'd start the same way when it came to talent scouting.

That's the best way to go about it, but it would take a long period of time.

If I were Indian, I'd notice the facts of my country. My country has a massive amount of wrestling fans. I have millions of people in my country. I'd go to the capital and start a promotion there if I did one. Because it's popular and a center for people to know about. I'd get in touch with TV companies and show them the business facts about their country and pro-wrestling. I'd explain to them that sports like cricket and soccer, while popular, have an off season and do not have the global appeal that wrestling does. If you had the TV time, you could prove in 6 months, that it would draw TV crowds in the thousands and be a popular show on TV for an Indian audience that BEGS to see their own out there on TV. Plus, they want the chance to be a part of it and experience the shows LIVE.

As far as researching the industry. You need to look at all the places you can with hotbeds in wrestling. The UK, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and America.

Study all of them.

One thing that you'll see out of all of them, is that fans are in attendance. Basically it means that these places have a large fanbase that craves it's Pro-Wrestling, which is ever so important. You could succeed in these places as a promotion due to the fanbase there.

You'd look into which styles work best for which countries too.

What you notice in WWE is that there is a mix of all styles from across the world. Japanese Strong Style, UK technical, Canadian Technical, American Style, and Lucha Libre.

If you had a promotion, you'd want to feature all types as well.

If I were you, as far as breaking into the industry is concerned, I'd really look into going to other countries with wrestling hotbeds. Japan for instance has promotions that you could go to that are smaller and may take in a knowledgeable person if you could prove yourself. But again, it's all in what you can offer them really. What do you bring to the table that they do not have.

Hope this helped! Let me know if I can help any further


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Appreciate your reply. I have a follow up question though:

So when you mention 90% of the promotions fail, is this only in the bigger markets such as the US due to the big names dominant with a huge market share, and also smaller local competition? or is it true even in countries where the industry is smaller or newer such as Japan or India?

What i mean to ask is, do these promotions fail plainly because the business models are such that they leak money and are slow on returns? Or are they failing only in saturated markets such as the US?

How do you generally research markets in other countries? Any sources on the web i could use? In India we have no access to any of the NJPW or any other events.  

I really have very little knowledge about the wrestling industries in other countries since we have very little or almost no exposure to them out here. So am not sure what i can bring to the table from them. But from what ive read and feel, places like Japan and Mexico are already bigger markets than India and that probably means a well qualified or experienced talent pool already available to them locally. Plus the language barrier and culture change. But id still love to dig up some info about these and be sure what suits me best.

There is a training school named, MFW Wrestling Training School which is development territory for ICW in Punjab, India (someone had asked u about it a year ago, its not too big). MFWschool has its own website. They offer a referee training course for approx $1100 with a job guarantee (am skeptical about this part). But Would taking up this course be a good first step? Or would it just completely take me in the wrong direction?  
They even have commentator courses with no fees mentioned.
Is it a smart move taking up their courses to get a breakthrough? Or would I be better off investing my time in money in a broadcast journalism course?

Answer
Well, when I tell you 90% fail it's due to many things. Most notable of them all, finance. When you have little money coming in and you have little ways to pay wrestlers or pay for travel. Then you quickly lose money. So nowadays, it's so much harder to run a promotion.

Then add in that there are others who could be around you who already have a set audience that goes to their shows. Or that wrestlers go to other promotions already up and not yours because the other pays them more or guarantees payment. So the political side of it all is tough.

But again, this is all what you experience in big markets like Japan, the UK, Canada or America. Because there is far more competition.

In India, there is really only one game in town if you will. So you putting up your own would not be too bad because if ICW is on one side of the country and you're on the other, then you both build an audience up. I personally would try to be more central in the long run so that both sides could be in my area.

I would recommend going to broadcast journalism school, because you have a guaranteed degree there. Which means if wrestling failed, you'd have a back up plan. I recommend to anyone that does wrestling, to always go to school and get a degree because wrestling may not always be there for you to do.