I had the pleasure of obtaining a couple of DVD's to add to my massive collection, and one that I picked up was AIW's most recent "Girls Night Out" event. This was a monumental night for AIW as it was their first live iPPV, being done through the great folks at Smart Mark Video. This event was highlighted by "AK-47" Allysin Kay defending her AIW Women's Championship against a mystery opponent, and a 4-Way Climb The Ranks Ladder Match for the #1 contendership for said championship. So, let's get into it.
First, I want to discuss the production value for this event and how spectacular it truly was. Smart Mark Video proved once again with this event that they truly know what they are doing when it comes to production. I wondered how things would transfer from the iPPV to the physical DVD and it was completely flawless. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had showed me a AIW DVD, and the this company has advanced by leaps and bounds. There is HD video, no shaky camerawork, flawless transitions and more important, multiple cameras. It makes it really hard to watch a companies show when they only have one roaming camera at ringside and no hard camera, and in my opinion, more companies should look to AIW and Smart Mark Video as an example as to why production means so much. If you don't know how to produce DVD's and content like this, find and hire someone who does because it means so much when it comes to hooking people into your product.
Hello blog readers. Long time no see. Yes, it has definitely
been a while since I took the time to type some of my heads inner workings onto
here. I wont come up with some elaborate excuse as to why I haven’t posted. My
schedule has been ridiculously crazy and I have been doing a lot of cool
things, so much so that I haven’t shown this blog any love in a while. First of
all, I got to write for an awesome website called “The Mandible Claw”, curated
by the great Danielle Matheson. I also wrote an excerpt for Danielle’s
acclaimed “Best & Worst Of TNA Impact” column for With Leather. So go check
out both of those through the links below, especially “The Mandible Claw”,
which features tons of amazing pieces from awesome people. I am still in shock
that a couple paragraph piece I wrote about the douchebag “Say Something” guy
is on the same website where Chikara’s Ophidian listed his Top 5 bad horror
movies. It’s a weird dream of mine that I never thought existed until now. But,
the point is, I am here now and I cannot wait to keep writing. So let’s jump
right into it.
I have mentioned before on this blog about Absolute Intense
Wrestling out of the Cleveland area, and how great they have become at
releasing a steady stream of content to their audience through Youtube and
other forms of social media. Too many companies fail to embrace their internet
community by dolling out content, whether it is in-ring action, promos, teasers
etc. But AIW has made sure to not shy away from releasing tons of great videos
for their fans, and as of late they have released a couple of full matches from
their past events. I gave them a watch and I thought they would be perfect
discussion topics for another edition of “What Wrestlefan Watched”.
The first match I witnessed was released by AIW to hype
their most recent “Girls Night Out 8” event, which from what I hear was a giant
success with it being AIW’s first iPPV. So as a treat, the company released the
match between American turned Joshi stars Hailey Hatred & Jenny Rose from
“Girls Night Out 6”. I have seen very little of both Hatred and Rose but they
definitely opened my eyes with this encounter. This was the first appearance
for Jenny Rose in AIW, which made it very difficult for the crowd to get behind
her in the early goings, since she would be facing home grown talent in Hatred.
Both ladies are the definition of “hard-hitters”, providing some cringe worthy
moments, including one of the hardest short arm clotheslines from Hatred that I
have seen in a while. Both competitors switched throughout between striking and
technical wrestling, and after a series of near falls, Hatred was able to put
away Rose with a nasty tiger suplex.
What makes a great wrestling promotion? That is an extremely vague and difficult question to answer, because there are so many factors, both inside the physical shows and outside of them, that could help to classify a pro wrestling company as "great". However, I think that for a company to even be considered apart of the contenders for the greatest promotion, the one thing it must have is a strong, well-run presence on the internet. I strongly stand by the statement that without utilizing the internet as a way in which to market your brand, upcoming events and so on, one can not honestly and un-doubtingly call themselves "the best". And, as a consumer of various wrestling products, a company's embracing of what the internet has to offer can take them from a group that I wouldn't give a second look, into one that I will make an effort to follow.
For example, Women Superstars Uncensored, out of the New Jersey area, has made amazing strides and changes since getting bought by the people behind Beyond Wrestling, a group that has been producing consistent internet content for their own company since it's inception. I had seen bits and pieces of WSU's work from around 2-3 years ago, and while the company looked promising, they gave myself, the viewer, no way of keeping up with their ongoings and events from my searches on the internet. Their website was subpar, the little videos they did have available were all over the place and were close to unwatchable, and it made trying to follow this group and become a fan of theirs into a chore. Now, with only about 8 months under Beyond Wrestling's leadership, WSU is releasing a steady stream of interviews, previews, teasers and more in order to get the casual internet viewers interested in keeping up with all of their storylines and shows.
But, WSU isn't the only company that has drawn my interest because of the stuff they are doing on the internet. Absolute Intense Wrestling from Cleveland is a group that I have been following much more closely ever since they regularly began releasing teasers, DVD trailers as well as their special "Behind The Curtain" mini shoot interview series, which is a unique, yet intriguing, form of content for them to produce. In fact, just a simple DVD trailer, like their one for their Hell On Earth 8 event, encouraged me enough to order their DVD for that event.
One of the lesser known groups that have taken a crack at creating internet based content is the Pittsburgh based International Wrestling Cartel. Being good friends with Sorg from the Wrestling Mayhem Show, who does the DVD production for this company, I have watched the growth of IWC through their focus on utilizing Youtube in order to promote upcoming shows. Every month they have been releasing their online show entitled "IWC Aftershock" which recaps the events from the month before and provides hype for the event coming up. It is something super simple, and it doesn't necessarily have a lot of fancy editing or graphics, but it is a vessel in which to sell their product and storylines to a wider audience that wants and desires accessibility.
Now, a lot of people may read this and say, "Oh, this is obvious stuff. Why would a company not utilize it?". But from the stuff I have observed from frequenting the Texas scene, it is not such an obvious idea as one may think. When you ask people what the top group in Texas currently is, many point in the direction of Anarchy Championship Wrestling. Now, are they the top in Texas simply because they do the best shows? While I definitely think the Anarchy product is top notch, the reason they are so successful is because they have an understanding of how to market themselves on the internet through various social media sites, they sell produced DVD's of their events to numerous amounts of wrestling fans, and they create great content on their Youtube channel, especially the things they do with "Anarchy Televised", and in turn their Anarchy Televised Title. The only other group that I see in Texas that is creating video content would be River City Wrestling out of San Antonio, who keeps their Youtube account properly updated with promos and hype videos. Other than those two, no Texas independent seems to be taking that route, which is a bit of a shame. Many of these groups tend to be marketing to their specific region, whether it be through flyers, radio spots or just straight word of mouth. Quite frankly, that is just not enough. In this age, wrestling companies need to develop their own virtual footprint in order to truly mean anything. I tend to joke a great deal about the WWE's overuse of their social media activities on their programming, but it is something that is necessary. A Facebook page with a flyer is not enough if one truly wants to be successful. You have to be marketable and viewable by wrestling fans that aren't just in your specific niche or area.
So, I seriously hope more people take the time to develop their internet presence, because a company can have the best shows in the world, but it is nothing if a sliver of the massive wrestling community sees them.
But that's just my thoughts. I would like to know what you guy's think. Is producing internet content necessary for a promotion to be successful? Let me know with a comment and I'll be sure to give it a read.
Hey folks, incase you do not know, tomorrow (February 2nd) is a national holiday. No, it's not "National Deviled Egg Day" (November 2nd) or "National Ice Cream Sandwich Day" (August 2nd). Tomorrow is the day where we celebrate men and women putting on spandex and rolling around on a 4-sided mat for our enjoyment and amusement. That's right, its National Pro Wrestling Day, and a celebration of this historic time will be held in Philadelphia tomorrow. Now, in the spirit of all things indie wrestling, things are changing. It was just announced yesterday that there has been a venue change for the event, and they have moved from Philly's "Derby Ink Gardens" into the "National Guard Armory" in Philadelphia, so keep that in mind for those that are traveling to the event. But, I thought it would be nice of me to give all of you guys a run-down of all the matches happening during both the afternoon and evening cards, and maybe even educate you guys on the people you may not recognize. And in turn, maybe you can educate me on the people I don't recognize, because there is a hell of a lot of them. So, let's get into it.
