The importance of self promotion in the modern era

[GOTNW]

It dawned on me when Bray Wyatt called out Matt Hardy on twitter that his plagiarism and subsequent tweets made me care about him more than anything he had done for years. But more importantly it made me think of a bigger point. I imagine the current world would have been a nightmare for many promoters 30/40 years ago. The internet doesn't forget. Every bad gimmick and mistake they've made is name preserved forever. But it turns out wrestling fans aren't such huge douchebags after all and are willing to give wrestlers another chance even with their previous misses not forgotten-like Husky Harris. But it's more than that that we are willing to forget and ignore. Remember Punk's shoot promo? Of course you do. Do you remember anyone complaining about how he wasn't a credible opponent for John Cena because he spent most of the previous year jobbing to everyone, sometimes even in handicap matches? I don't. Suddenly it didn't matter. Just like how Ospreay went from being someone not worth signing for because "we have enough guys like that on the roster already" to being a surefire grab once his New Japan contract expires due to all the drama he generated. With so many incredible tools at their disposal it would make sense for wrestlers to use them for more than retweeting fanart and whatnot. Wrestling is still about working. You may say "Brock Lesnar doesn't deserve what he gets paid". And there's truth in that. But in a world where no one else is willing to blackmail Vince and work him into thinking he's worth more than he is it's much easier for him to get what he wants. It's easy to complain about WWE and call the people in charge devils but at some point performers deserve blame as well for not managing to present themselves as valuable.

[GOTNW]

So, how about that Cody Rhodes huh.

[Johnny Sorrow]

On 7/14/2016 at 9:28 AM, GOTNW said:

It dawned on me when Bray Wyatt called out Matt Hardy on twitter that his plagiarism and subsequent tweets made me care about him more than anything he had done for years. But more importantly it made me think of a bigger point. I imagine the current world would have been a nightmare for many promoters 30/40 years ago. The internet doesn't forget. Every bad gimmick and mistake they've made is name preserved forever. But it turns out wrestling fans aren't such huge douchebags after all and are willing to give wrestlers another chance even with their previous misses not forgotten-like Husky Harris. But it's more than that that we are willing to forget and ignore. Remember Punk's shoot promo? Of course you do. Do you remember anyone complaining about how he wasn't a credible opponent for John Cena because he spent most of the previous year jobbing to everyone, sometimes even in handicap matches? I don't. Suddenly it didn't matter. Just like how Ospreay went from being someone not worth signing for because "we have enough guys like that on the roster already" to being a surefire grab once his New Japan contract expires due to all the drama he generated. With so many incredible tools at their disposal it would make sense for wrestlers to use them for more than retweeting fanart and whatnot. Wrestling is still about working. You may say "Brock Lesnar doesn't deserve what he gets paid". And there's truth in that. But in a world where no one else is willing to blackmail Vince and work him into thinking he's worth more than he is it's much easier for him to get what he wants. It's easy to complain about WWE and call the people in charge devils but at some point performers deserve blame as well for not managing to present themselves as valuable.

If cocaine was a post.

And yeah, to answer the self promotion deal, the Bucks are the prime example. They're amazing and should be an example for anyone doing anything in any endeavor.

[clintthecrippler]

I would also point to Joey Janela as someone who is a master of using the new mediums of promotion. There are probably dozens of shitty indie wrestlers that would have taken that Zandig bump off the roof and three months later would have been stuck back in the deathmatch rut to diminishing returns. 

Janela - who at first glance appeared to be a dollar-store Shawn Michaels that takes Mick Foley level bumps - instead seized the notoriety from the initial bump and aggressively cultivated his social media presence to enhance his in-ring persona, smartly positioned himself as "not just another indie or deathmatch guy" by petitioning for matches against ex WWE/WCW names with notable followings of their own, and then with the first Spring Break, put together a show that was essentially designed to "go viral" from even just the match announcements, and has continued to build a following to the point where a wrestling show can be "presented by Joey Janela" can draw a rabid fanbase and get eyes on the show - and fans in the door.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Oh, yeah. I've never seen a Janella match and couldn't pick him out of a lineup but I know who he is and how successfully he's prompted himself and his brand.