New Storm Commentary

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

This subject has been coming up a lot lately. I’ve received email as well as comment board posts about it, so I figured I would look at some of the plus and minuses involved with a Wrestling “Off Season”. Wrestling is really the only sport, which does not have a designated season, and thus a corresponding off-season. Is this Good or Bad? I honestly don’t know. I can see both sides of the argument and the most important factor (the effect on business can only be speculated)

 

Business: How would down time effect the wrestling industry? Wrestling having 51 weeks of original programming (recap show between Xmas and New Years) is obviously a big attraction to our network. Giving this up for an off-season is a huge financial down turn from a TV stand point. Even a 2 or 3 month off-season would create a 8-15 week void in programming and a huge cut in ad revenue and sponsorships. This is something that often gets over looked when an off-season is mentioned. As far as ratings and arena attendeance, there are two possibilities. An off-season may rejuvenate an audience. Fans can get burned out watching each week, forever, with no break. This may be the cause of the cyclical nature of our industry.

 

Fans may get tired of keeping up every week and simply tune out, and effectively create their own off-season. With a definite season, anticipation of each new season may remain strong as well as a fans willingness to stick it out through each full season. (I was always so excited about the start of the new Saturday Nights Main Event season as a kid) The opposite effect might also be true. People are creatures of habit. A couple months off without wrestling and fans may find other interests and be less apt to tune in next year. Out of site out of mind is definitely a possibility.

 

This is a huge gamble in that rejuvenation, should it occur, might only make up for the loss during the off-season. (Booming business for 9 months may not be better than 12 months of decent business). If rejuvenation does not occur you’ve cut your revenue 25 % and risk fans finding other interests in the off-season. Head you lose, tails you break even. (I’m not sure I flip that coin)

 

The Boys: An off-season definitely sounds like a plus from the boys standpoint; a definite break in the travel schedule to be with our families and rest our bodies. Truth is however even that statement is only true on the surface and may not be a definite plus. While I’ll be the first to admit that having an off-season to spend with my family each year would be great, there is a huge price for this. If we don’t work for 2-3 months each year we are going to be making less money. 3 months of is a 25 % decrease in the number of events we work. (You didn’t think the office was just going to keep paying us as if we were working 4 shows a week did you). If I earn 25% less each year I’m going to have to extend my career in order to make that up and be able to retire. A longer career is then going to take me away from my family again (a double edged sword). Now granted if the off-season rejuvenates our fan base and keeps the other 9 months “hot” the 25 % figure may be reduced (Huge speculation here).

 

Injuries and our Health: Now this has to be a no brainer, right? An off-season would definitely be good for your body. Even this isn’t completely true. Now granted after just having last week off my body feels 100 times better, but 3 months is a long time and wrestling has a weird effect on your body. There is this strange 2-3 week time period that your body has for adjustment. When I first started working full time (everyday) I thought I was going to die. Everyday my body got sorer and sorer. After a week or 2 my body was killing me I didn’t think I could go on. Miraculously somewhere between the 2nd and 3rd week, I just got used to it. Your body develops some kind of callus and stops feeling every little ache and pain.

 

The same can be said for time off after working full time. If I take an extended break from work (I did between ECW and WCW and again between WCW and WWE) my back started to ache like crazy. After about 3 weeks my whole body ached like you wouldn’t believe. After constant abuse your body puts up some kind of shield against it. When the abuse stops so does your body’s ability to ignore it. (I can’t explain it but I’m not the only one of the boys to experience this) I’ve been working for 13 years now at least 10 to 11 of that full time and I’m still in pretty good shape. I’m not completely sure dealing with ring rust, and re-callusing my body each year would be less painful than just working year round, especially when you consider my career would likely have to be longer.

 

All in all it sounds like I’m against the idea of an off-season, which I don’t think I am. I’m just afraid of change and the unknown. I’m pretty happy with my career and the way things are going. Anything that “may” have a negative effect on that scares me. If an off-season rejuvenation would occur and business would be consistently hotter over the shorter annual season, then it would definitely be good. Annual incomes would not decrease, careers would not be lengthened by necessity, and perhaps dealing with ring rust and re-callusing my body would be worth the time at home with family.

 

The thing is, it’s such a huge if. If it had no effect or even a detrimental effect on interest a down cycle year would be financial ruin for the boys and the elusive year of retirement would be farther away than “Bin Laden/Hussein Appreciation Day” in the US.

 

Till next week

Lance Storm