Since y'all asked for it. Newt's deep south indie wrestling pic thread

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I'm fascinated by the economics of live entertainment. The first thing I do when I take my seat at a play or concert or whatever is do a quick headcount of the crowd, times that number by the ticket cost and then do a quick inventory of all the costs and figure out who's getting paid what. It's a sickness but I've budgeted enough live shows myself that I just can't help it.

How do these shows work? From your photos they look to have modestly sized crowds but there looks to be a fair few performers on the bill and there's halls to hire and a reasonable amount of infrastructure that needs to be set up. I can't get my head round how people would be being paid. Are they putting their bodies on the line for free? If so is it just the love of the game or is there an end goal that's being worked towards?

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

I will break down a BIW show,since I goto their events the most. On average BIW sells 350 to 415 tickets to each show. On average they sell 100 or so tickets in advance at 10 bucks a ticket. THen the rest sell the day of the show at 15 a ticket. BIW also has 5 local businesses that sponsor each show. Been told each sponsor ,besides Bumpers fast food,gives 100 bucks. They in return get 4 front row seats reserved. Plus mentions on every poster and radio or newspaper ad. Bumpers instead of giving the BIW owner 100 bucks pays the civic centers "kill fee". If the kill fee isnt paid the venue handles the food and drink vending and keeps all the money made off those items. Bumpers instead pays the kill fee and sells their stuff and also since Bumpers is located on one of the major streets in town they also have up huge signs advertising the shows. Another money source for BIW is they sell BIW logo shirts at each show. Shirts are 20 each and cost BIW 5 bucks each. They also sell magnets,stickers and other small items with the BIW logo.

As far as pay,there is normally 5 guys on ring crew. 4 of them get paid with 2 free front row tickets each. The 5th is the guy that owns the ring and drives the ring truck so his pay is the ring rental fee. That guy moved end of last year. So now BIW is renting a ring from a fed that runs about an hour away. BIW gets the ring for a reduced rate by giving the ring's owner 10 free GA tickets. That way he can bring his 5 kids plus some of their friends and give his wife a day off. The refs each get the standard 50 bucks,usually there is 2 refs per show. Ring Announcer gets 30 bucks. Security,video crew and sound crew get either 25 bucks or two free tickets to the event. I get 3 free tickets each show since I film and also do security work at the events.

As far as the wrestlers,they all get different amounts. The main event guys get usually 150. The earlier in the show someone's match is the less they get paid. From what I have been told BIW pays the best out of any fed in MS. And IIRC say a newer guy in the opening match is gonna get 50 to 75 bucks. Now lady wrestlers get paid more,wrestling is like porn in that the ladies get paid better than the guys. But that is also cause if BIW puts on their flyers that there is a woman's match the show draws more people. I know rookie women wrestlers usually get 100 to 150.Lady wrestlers that are becoming a name on the indie scene get closer to 200 bucks.

Most shows there is 5 matches. So that is at least 10 wrestlers on the card.
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Before most of the shows I sit there and pick the promoters brain. He has told me so far ,and he has been running my town at least 4 times a year since 2013,he has only had 2 shows in Brookhaven that he didnt make a profit off of. First one was his first show in Brookhaven. It was on a sunday and there was 80 paying fans. THe other show was the one when the big mega church in town fucked BIW and didn't do what they promised to do.

Now other feds do it differently. I know that Pro Wrestling EGO,a indie fed that runs the towns around Jackson MS,well they dont pay any rookies. If you have less than 2 years in wrestling you will not get paid.Which I think is bullshit. At least give the rookies say 25 bucks. But then for the rookies they just want to work in front of fans. Cause they realize the more shows they work the better chance someone sees them and they get a chance to break into the bigger leagues.

Battlezone Wrestling,the fed whos' show I hit on March 14th,before they got their new booker it was well known that rookies not only didnt get paid but they also had to help set up the ring,break down the ring and stuff like that. Every one on the BZ roster that wasnt a rookie and not related to the family that owned BZ would get a ten buck roll of quarters. The wrestlers that were part of the Williamson family would get 25 bucks.

THat is part of the reason why BZ was able to run weekly shows for almost 15 years. ANd they were lucky to draw more than 20 people for their last 2 yearsof weekly shows. Now that Battlezone has a new owner and booker they run once a month and pay better. But been told "rookies get 20 bucks,non-rookies get 40 bucks and vets and members of the Williamson family get 6 bucks." Saw the promoter filling up the pay envelopes at the show on the 14th and from the few glances I got looks like I was told the truth about the pay in Battlezone.

But honestly most indie feds ,at least in the deep south,either barely make a profit on a show or lose money. The biggest cost is a venue and event insurance. Cheapest event insurance in the state is 350. And for example the civic center in town costs 700 to rent on a Saturday.

To offset the rental of a building to have the shows some feds will run benefit shows at high schools. They get the school gym for free.Then if it is a good fed that wants to keep running that place they give the school say 1/3rd of the money from the ticket sales and the school runs the refreshment stand and gets all the money from that. THe bad feds,and there is one that does this all the time, gives the school a buck off each ticket sold. And lets the school run a refreshment stand. This fed is starting to have trouble finding places to run. They contacted the school out near me. "Yea we have a tv show that airs on 3 channels in MS. " they showed the school old footage back when this fed,SWA,was drawing 300 people a show. SO the school thought they would draw 300 and they would make 300 bucks just off ticket sales. What they didn't know is more and more people have stopped going to SWA shows for various reasons. Plus BIW's promoter contacted the school and made them a better deal." I heard yall want to have a wrestling event at your school to raise money. BIW has been drawing 300 people every other month to the civic center. How about you have a BIW show,we will give yall 1/3rd of the money made from ticket sales plus all the money from refreshments." The school cancelled the SWA show,I am sure the school learning the SWA promoter has ties to the KKK helped them decide to cancel the show. And once this virus stuff is over BIW is gonna run a show there.

Hope that answered some of your questions Dom.

Here's every match in order from Night 1 of Battlezone's Widowfest event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHb_...cX_z73MJl0ND_v
Koby didn't get on video the cake smashing event. So once I get my footage of it uploaded I will link it.

And here's a playlist with every match from Night 2. I joined in on commentary starting with the 3rd match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJJ...bQ1hGybjwBXMiD

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Cheers Newt, that's very comprehensive. I always like a peek behind the curtains on how events run.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Got to say, wrestling's not my thing, but I love this thread as it's about normal people doing it out of passion and not because of money.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Cheers Newt, that's very comprehensive. I always like a peek behind the curtains on how events run.

You are welcome.

From what I heard most feds in MS/LA/AL either break even on shows or lose a small amount of money.

You have feds that wrestlers refer to as "Income Tax Feds". Those feds will run like every 3 weeks from April till about June. Then maybe every 8 or 9 weeks after that. Cause teh promoter uses his income tax refund to pay for more shows.

FOr years I wanted to run a wrestling show. But seeing how hard it is to break even much less make a profit,I am happy now filming and vending at shows.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Got to say, wrestling's not my thing, but I love this thread as it's about normal people doing it out of passion and not because of money.

One guy that is totally doing it for the love is Danny Chance. Few shows back I had asked him to do a video interview before the doors opened. I didnt know at the time that it is a 13 to 14 hour drive from where he lives in TX to Brookhaven MS. He got there and sat down his bags,did the rounds shaking hands and sat down for the interview.

I got a good idea what Danny gets paid for each show he wrestles on. And what he gets paid covers his gas from home to the arena and back home. And maybe enough left over for him and his wife to grab 2 cheap meals.

A another example is current Impact Women's World Champ Jordynne Grace. Impact is the # 3 or 4 fed in the US/Canada. And Jordynne now gets at the minimum $500 for a match. But 6 ,almost 7,years ago she was a young rookie based in Austin TX. She rode from Austin TX to Bay Springs MS across three people's lap in the back seat of mid sized car for a $35 payoff.

Down here in the deep south there is very very few wrestlers that make their living just wrestling. They do it for the love of the sport and the younger ones do it also to get their name out there in hopes that a bigger group will sign them.

So happy that wrestling fans and on wrestling fans are enjoying this. Yall can ask Darcy I use to post these matches and stuff at a wrestling forum where they got almost no replies. Online wrestling fans are odd. They rather talk about something they hate,but still watch every week.Than try something new and maybe find wrestling they like.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

One guy that is totally doing it for the love is Danny Chance. Few shows back I had asked him to do a video interview before the doors opened. I didnt know at the time that it is a 13 to 14 hour drive from where he lives in TX to Brookhaven MS. He got there and sat down his bags,did the rounds shaking hands and sat down for the interview.

I got a good idea what Danny gets paid for each show he wrestles on. And what he gets paid covers his gas from home to the arena and back home. And maybe enough left over for him and his wife to grab 2 cheap meals.

A another example is current Impact Women's World Champ Jordynne Grace. Impact is the # 3 or 4 fed in the US/Canada. And Jordynne now gets at the minimum $500 for a match. But 6 ,almost 7,years ago she was a young rookie based in Austin TX. She rode from Austin TX to Bay Springs MS across three people's lap in the back seat of mid sized car for a $35 payoff.

Down here in the deep south there is very very few wrestlers that make their living just wrestling. They do it for the love of the sport and the younger ones do it also to get their name out there in hopes that a bigger group will sign them.

So happy that wrestling fans and on wrestling fans are enjoying this. Yall can ask Darcy I use to post these matches and stuff at a wrestling forum where they got almost no replies. Online wrestling fans are odd. They rather talk about something they hate,but still watch every week.Than try something new and maybe find wrestling they like.

To be honest, that board was so full of people who wouldn't watch anything but WWE, it wasn't much of a wrestling board.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

To be honest, that board was so full of people who wouldn't watch anything but WWE, it wasn't much of a wrestling board.

It is a wasteland now.

Since the April 11th show is cancelled trying to figure out how to do the two interivews I had planned. One guy lives about 10 minutes from my lady's place. The other is out in DFW TX. Gonna see how to record skype video chat and do that for the TX guy.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

If you need to use Skype, both of you should record your audio locally and then edit it together. Skype audio quality is total pigshit.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

If you need to use Skype, both of you should record your audio locally and then edit it together. Skype audio quality is total pigshit.

I got a few programs I used when I did the Asshat Podcast to run teh skype audio thru to make it much better. With Skype it all depends on what mic someone is using.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Ok this is the only video online from the cake incident at the show. I thought SHea had uploaded his version so was trying to brighten mine up. Found out Shea aint uploading anything anymore. So threw this up so Monty,the guy that gets teh cake in his face,would be able to see it. Was in line getting meds when he messaged me about it.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-wz9xu-daa235

Big Ramp,I know Ian is a fan,was on the King of Wrestling Podcast today.

This was recorded last week. Been telling Brandon from KOW pod to bring Ramp on. Then when I was on KOW pod last week Brandon mentioned interviewing Ramp "And Gallos you got mentioned".

But anyways Ramp's personality shines thru in this podcast. And it shows why he should be working for a big fed making a living as a wrestling manager. But nope he is stuck tending bar,doing music,and managing wrestlers all over the deep south.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

As of right now next show in my town is in October. But might hit one in July ,if it still happens.

Been building up more stuff to sell. A buddy hooked me up with some 1998 WWF Attitude Era Teddy bears. Yep when Beanie Babies were hot WWF released bears themed after various wrestlers. I got 8 bears for a total of 8 bucks. They still got the tags,originally sold for 8 each. I am gonna ask 5 bucks each.

Plus been getting more and more dvds to sell.

[Newt Cox Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Newt Cox]

Was gonna have a bunch of pics in my new mask to post today. Got a Green/red/white variant of my normal mask.

Then it got here. Not only is it one of those cheap foam lined masks it is too small for my gigantic head. So just gonna toss it on my vending table and sell it to some local.

[Darcy Parker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darcy Parker]

That's a bummer, man.

My daughter is finding herself amazed to have become a huge wrestling fan since AEW started up. She even has a NJPW World subscription!