Can wrestling promoters learn from this?

Vince135792003

Hatton Mayweather 24/7: http://www.hbo.com/boxing/events/2007/247/

Awesome video. Can wrestling learn from it? I think so.

You treat a match seriously and as something mega, you take 2 very different but engaging characters and tell us all about them and above all else you promote the whole thing extremely well.

No gimmicks. No swerves. Just a story that people will pay to see the ending for.

Within 90 seconds of watching it, I thought Ric Flair versus Dusty Rhodes.

moongoose

is just me or does mayweather remind anyone of rampage jackson with his thrash talk?

Fozzy

moongoose wrote: »

is just me or does mayweather remind anyone of rampage jackson with his thrash talk?

Mayweather comes off as a heel whereas Rampage is more of a face, if you want to put it into those sort of terms. Mayweather is more disrespectful while Rampage is just really funny

I'll give this a watch when I get the chance, I've heard some good things about it

Charlie

Vince, WWF used to do this a little bit back during the Attitude era.

For the buildup to Mania 14, they had an excellent package put together about the differences between Austin and Michaels;

Interviewing Austin about being a working class Texan, how he used to work on the docks, how he was let go from WCW, how he was told his black tights gimmick would never work etc.

But then bigging up Michaels as the arrogant flamboyant playboy, the showstoppa etc. but still emphasizing how he was a big match player, using the classic J.R "whether you like Shawn Michaels or not" quote.

Whilst I feel that many of the Attitude era angles are old and stale (looking at you DX), I really think the WWE needs to get back to how they would build and promote matches like they used to. The video packages they made during that era were phenomenal, loved the "I Know what you're thinking, i'm not a real athlete video"

I do think that Floyd is probably a stand up guy, but he is just very smart, and knows that him acting the prick sells ppv's. I can't see that fight being anything other than a Mayweather victory.

Bubs101

It's not a fair comparison. In order for the WWE to build something up this big they'd have to have 2 Superstars win every match for at least 3 years, most of them squashes, avoid putting them up against each other for that time and then start building the match up months before it happened. Impossible

Vince135792003

Bubs101 wrote: »

It's not a fair comparison. In order for the WWE to build something up this big they'd have to have 2 Superstars win every match for at least 3 years, most of them squashes, avoid putting them up against each other for that time and then start building the match up months before it happened. Impossible

So Hogan verus Warrior never happened? Or Rock versus Austin at Wrestlemania 17?

Nothing is ever pin point exactly the same but there are similarities.

Bubs101

There are similarities but that was a THIRTY MINUTE promo which really is impossible in Pro Wrestling. They certainly couldn't do it with their current roster but if they got Hulkster back they could maybe do it for Hogan vs. Flair maybe with Vince or Austin as a Referee

Vince135792003

Bubs101 wrote: »

There are similarities but that was a THIRTY MINUTE promo which really is impossible in Pro Wrestling. They certainly couldn't do it with their current roster but if they got Hulkster back they could maybe do it for Hogan vs. Flair maybe with Vince or Austin as a Referee

How often have you seen someone do a 20 minute promo at the start of Raw that accomplished nothing? They have 5 hours of tv each week. They have the time to do absolutely anything they want.

Bubs101

But there's a difference between someone speaking in the ring and showing something on a titantron. I know I wouldn't be happy to pay into Raw to see a live event and have a promo shown to me for thirty minutes. At a live show people a promo that long would not go over.Take the Rock's video for Wrestlemania, it was pointless, people heard the music, expected him to come out but just got a promo. It wouldn't work

Vince135792003

Bubs101 wrote: »

But there's a difference between someone speaking in the ring and showing something on a titantron. I know I wouldn't be happy to pay into Raw to see a live event and have a promo shown to me for thirty minutes. At a live show people a promo that long would not go over.Take the Rock's video for Wrestlemania, it was pointless, people heard the music, expected him to come out but just got a promo. It wouldn't work

Your completely missing my point. I'm not saying WWE should do a show exactly like that (although they could. TNA do them from time to time and don't promote them on Spike).

I'm saying you can take things from a show like that and apply it to wrestling.

Fozzy

I was just going to say what Vince said there. You don't need to do a show exactly like that to make people care about two characters and to tell a story and to promote it well. If anything, wrestling should be able to do it a whole lot better than this. In making that show (I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it's along the same lines as the Mayweather/De La Hoya shows) HBO just had to work with what the guys involved said and did of their own accord. Like with De La Hoya's coach having Parkinsons, that wasn't scripted. And Mayweather's dad getting involved, that wasn't planned by HBO (unless you want to look at it cynically I suppose). But wrestling can script stuff like that and they have complete and total control over what they do, unlike this 24/7 show. Looking at it logically, wrestling should be able to build stuff like this up better than MMA and boxing ever could. But it doesn't happen too often

Charlie

Fozzy wrote: »

I was just going to say what Vince said there. You don't need to do a show exactly like that to make people care about two characters and to tell a story and to promote it well. If anything, wrestling should be able to do it a whole lot better than this. In making that show (I haven't seen it yet but I'm sure it's along the same lines as the Mayweather/De La Hoya shows) HBO just had to work with what the guys involved said and did of their own accord. Like with De La Hoya's coach having Parkinsons, that wasn't scripted. And Mayweather's dad getting involved, that wasn't planned by HBO (unless you want to look at it cynically I suppose). But wrestling can script stuff like that and they have complete and total control over what they do, unlike this 24/7 show. Looking at it logically, wrestling should be able to build stuff like this up better than MMA and boxing ever could. But it doesn't happen too often

I think what makes those HBO shows is the reality of it all. WWE would have to broadly do the same for it to work, i.e if they we're doing Bret one interview Stu Hart in the Dungeon.

I don't think a WWE one would work if WWE went all 'WWE wrasslin' on it. The WWF package I referenced earlier in this thread worked because it was all based in truth. I think if they try and script it you lose most of the honesty and value of those programmes. Most of what has worked best in wrestling is the characters and angles that are largely real, just with a few notches turned up.

Fozzy

Vince135792003 wrote: »

Within 90 seconds of watching it, I thought Ric Flair versus Dusty Rhodes.

I watched the first show last night and that's exactly what it was. The everyday man versus the guy who has the money and isn't afraid to let you know. So of course something can be learned from it. The NWA did this 20 years ago, obviously not in the same format but they still got people to care about the two characters, they created an issue between them and then they promoted it

The main part where WWE fails these days is just getting people to truly care about the characters. You've got to give them a chance to talk and most of the roster doesn't get that opportunity

Brimmy

Bubs101 wrote: »

It's not a fair comparison. In order for the WWE to build something up this big they'd have to have 2 Superstars win every match for at least 3 years, most of them squashes, avoid putting them up against each other for that time and then start building the match up months before it happened. Impossible

They had the possibility to do something like this with Orton/Cena the two biggest youths in the company who rose to superstardom and who will both in all likely be carrying the company for the next 10 years.

It's unfair to blast the WWE promo people though, those guys can work wonders and have created the single best 3 minute montage ever (Rock/Austin Wm 21).