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| Yes, Lenny, it was Philly's fault EVOLVE 10 got mixed reviews |
-- @BookItGabe [note: Gabe Sapolsky] I think you should have closed out the ECW Arena in Pine Bluff Arkansas if you wanted to be true to the comnpany legacy
The tweet that started it all. I grant you it was tongue-in-cheek, and I did take it as red meat looking for an argument, but at the same time, I was pretty incensed at what I had witnessed Saturday night. The problem here is the mindset that the legacy being celebrated here was solely that of ECW's. It wasn't. The Arena, though still bearing the colloquial name of ECW, had stopped being proprietary emotional equity of that promotion when it had closed down. As much as some of the more thick-headed ECW fanboys and national fans who don't "get" the indie scene want to believe otherwise, the building had become property of the pastiche of independent promotions that included the main company that both Leonard and Sapolsky are a part of, Dragon Gate USA.
-- Agreed.. then wouldnt that fact make what @bookitgabe ran on Saturday actually fitting?? Dont understand the uproar honestly
-- i dont see how 1 20 minute segment dominated by a young star to close a show featuring nothing but young stars is an ecw rehash
In light of the building becoming more of a roost for ROH, Chikara etc., what makes Sabu vs. Justin Credible and then Sami Callihan being used as a pawn in yet ANOTHER young guns vs. ECW originals feud fitting to close the building? It's not even like this is new ground. WWE and TNA, the two biggest companies in America, have traveled down this road before. Aren't the indies supposed to be innovative? Isn't EVOLVE supposed to be innovative? Then why is retreading something that this company professes to be an alternative to mainstream wrestling fitting?
-- perhaps those people would have seen something they liked that clicked with them the way ecw did and became fans of the product?
A noble idea, admittedly, but it's increasingly a fool's gambit. Marketing something to older fans as "An ECW Reunion! Last show ever!" is red meat for fans who left when ECW died and only came back for the One Night Stand-style shows. The writing was on the wall that the kind of wrestling purveyed by EVOLVE in its first nine shows was on its way to prominence back in 2000, when the Internet made trading puroresu tapes that much easier. Some fans stayed aboard, and they became the basis of what now constitutes DGUSA/EVOLVE's main fanbase. Others outgrew wrestling because they weren't into that style. What would make anyone think that the slow creep of time would make anyone's mind change? It's possible, but especially with wrestling fans, it's not probable. If anything, that kind of promotion sets up a legion of one-time buyers who will disperse after it's abundantly clear that there was a reason why Sabu and New Jack don't kill each other with weapons every night anymore.
-- the other 9 shows that Evolve has run were marketed to fans like you, and honestly. not financially successful for the most part
One of those shows wasn't financially successful because of a driving rainstorm that kept fans away. That was a fluke. The main reason why EVOLVE wasn't "financially successful" is that rarely any independent wrestling promotion or even business altogether is super profitable from jump. DGUSA is an aberration because it already came with an established brand name associated with it. EVOLVE though? Yeah, that was going to take time to develop. Two years is not unheard of for a company to have sluggish returns. Companies like Chikara, PWG, JAPW and probably even ROH probably didn't post successes right away, but they grew over time into something that was great. They did so by finding an identity and using it to collect fans.
Another problem EVOLVE has is that its identity might not be as clear cut as their mission statement might be. The emphasis on wins and losses is nebulous, and without that clear narrative pushing things forward, what does it have over ROH other than the fact that it's not ROH? For as much flak as ROH is taking critically, they're still recognized as the market leader in independent wrestling. One doesn't overtake the market leader by offering an exceedingly similar product to it, or worse, by muddling their identity so that it's too vague.
-- titles were defended in middle of the show for YEARS in wrestling.. did it mean Hogan wasn't the focal point of the show?
That clearly wasn't my problem with the marketing of Gargano/Ricochet. It might sound redundant, but the reason why I thought that match didn't have the proper focus on it was because it was marketed to people who were predisposed to crap on it. One of my favorite matches of 2011 was a WWE Championship match that jerked the curtain on RAW.
Me: -- In the interim, the top title and two awesome young guys were put down at the expense of nostalgia...
-- how were they put down? They were given the main event spot and 10 minutes more than the next longest match on the show.
Again, "...the reason why I thought that match didn't have the proper focus on it was because it was marketed to people who were predisposed to crap on it." It felt like he was poised to ignore that point through the entire exchange, but then...
-- we could have held that show in any building in Philly and the same reaction would occur.. Philly crowds shit on everything
And there we have it, the piece de resistance. The fans didn't like something, so it's obviously the fan's fault they didn't see the vision! More specifically, he plays into the utterly useless trope that Philly fans somehow are more mutant than other fans around the country. Let's patently ignore the fact that some of the best crowds for DGUSA shows have come in Philly. Let's forget the adulation that DGUSA fans in Philly poured on the company's first ever show, especially that match between the Young Bucks and CIMA/Susumu Yokosuka. Let's patently ignore that EVOLVE ran a bus trip bringing in SEVERAL fans from New York City for this show. Let's forget the fact that Leonard fully admits that other EVOLVE shows marketed to fans like me, fans who have cheered for matches such as Gargano/Ricochet in the past, have been financial misses for them, and this show had a great box office thanks to fans who by and large left their wrestling fandom behind BECAUSE of matches like Gargano/Ricochet. Nope, it's our fault that we shit on everything. Philly is the worst town ever, amirite guise? GUISE?
If that's the case, then why run a fucking show here? Why not let CZW close the building down? OR better yet, why not offer the spot to a company like Chikara who seemingly has no problem running their biggest shows (King of Trios, Chikarasaurus Rex, High Noon) in front of those awful, terrible, difficult to please Philly fans?
Honestly, the fallout to this event only proves that a "different" wrestling booker is so hard to find anymore. As much as people subscribe NOT to be like Eric Bischoff, the constant retweeting of differing extreme reactions by Sapolsky only reinforces the half-true mantra that the former WCW and current TNA producer titled his book, Controversy Creates Cash. Then, there's Leonard, who reflexively defends the decisions to the point of blaming the consumers for not "getting it", only reinforcing the idea that wrestling promoters, like Bischoff or Vince McMahon, feel like their fans are idiots who either should like the pap they get or are just serial complainers if they don't.
I may have fed the trolls here, or more accurately, I fully admit that I started things off as a troll, but at the same time, I expect this kind of bullshit from TNA or WWE officials. Okay, maybe not WWE officials, because they don't take to Twitter to engage angry fans. That being said, I thought indie companies were better than this. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I was wrong about it.
The funniest thing about all this? I wrote a blog praising Gabe a couple of months back about fan interaction. Man, don't I fucking feel stupid now.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography
