----This was posted over at Mid-Southern Message Board and thought it was something the readers of this site would enjoy. This guy had to have been in MS!! LOL
I'm not normally one to give lots of unsolicited advice, but while attending an indy show last weekend (that will remain unnamed), a few things screamed out at me that I thought I should point out:
1. When calling spots, a) lower your voice and b) try to conceal the movement of your lips. Last night while watching a match, I knew every move that was about to happen because I could hear the guy calling the match call the spots. And I was in the fourth row...in a crowded gymnasium.
2. If you're in a spot that obviously misses, don't just sell it anyway! If a guy throws a dropkick that misses by a mile, don't throw yourself over the top rope and don't bump! Act like you sidestepped it and then put the guy in a resthold. Talk it over, regroup, and try it again. Selling a move that misses badly is cheap, and trust me, fans see it.
3. When booking a tag match, if you're going to cut off the ring, the guys cutting off the ring should be the heels, not the babies. Watching a heel get beat down and double teamed makes no sense and is no fun unless it's the early part of the match and you want to put the heels behind the eight ball early. But having the babies cut off the ring halfway into the match is anticlimactic and very, very poor for pacing.
4. Don't feel so compelled to tell so many ####amamie stories. Not every match has to involve the heel grabbing a microphone and droning on and on and on about some unrealistic, improbable chain of events. Not every match has to have some silly backstory. Just wrestle! Tell your story in the ring!
5. When you do make up a story, make it original. Don't just rip off some angle from an old episode of Raw.
6. There is heat and then there is cheap heat. Learn the difference. Heels, stop trying to insult fans by insulting their city or by "forgetting" what city you're in. That is way, way, way overdone. It's done at least once in every indy show and it's cheap. A truly good heel can draw heat without ever touching the microphone.
7. Promoters, take charge of your promotion. Don't run silly angles where the inmates rule the asylum. Don't let wrestlers "fire" your referee and demand someone else be the ref for their match. Don't let wrestlers book impromptu title matches. Don't let wrestlers "trade" titles, have someone else defend their title for them, or surrender their title to someone else.
8. Do NOT use a toy/replica title belt as your championship belt! Come on! It's better to not have a belt at all. And if you really must use a replica (and again, you shouldn't), at least have the brains to rub out or cover up the WWE logo.
9. While on the subject of championships, don't have the title change hands every time you run a show. Having the title changing hands so frequently cheapens the notion of a champion. Tell the guys in the back to stop whining about not getting a title run. It's an act.
10. Wrestlers, get in the gym! GET IN THE GYM! You have to look the part! Lift heavy 5 times a week! Get on the treadmill or the stair stepper and burn off your gut! Looking at your doughy gut is disgusting. And don't think wearing a t-shirt makes it OK. Promoters and bookers, do not book a guy if he's not in shape! I find it both hilarious and ridiculous at the same time when I hear guys talking about making it to the bigs when they have the physiques of the nerds in high school who always got picked last in P.E. and hung out at comic book stores.
