Is it ok to go in business for yourself when it comes to working for a local promotion?? If you are not familiar with the term, then it can best be described as not following the storyline lined out by the booker and doing something that will get you over more. At times it might just be a way for you to get back at the promoter. There have been some famous incidents, including one of my most memorable ones as a fan – Akira Madea shoot kicked Riki Choshu in the face as Choshu had a scorpion leglock on his opponent. This incident would totally change Japanese wrestling as Madea became a huge star because everyone thought he was REAL. The infamous Bret Hart-Vince McMahon incident may be considered a bit of “going in business for yourself”, but in reality Vince was just going to business for his business. Madusa pitched the WWE Ladies title in the trash on WCW. That really helped her career, didn’t it??
I went to business for myself one time. And, after all these years, I would probably do it again, but in hindsight – it was not the right thing to do. Brickhouse Brown was on a local show on Sunday afternoon for MSWA. I was able to see his payoff along with that of another guy he brought with him. Both guys got paid $50 or more. I was highly pissed. My crew of five guys would be lucky to take home $25 for all of us. I was pissed and it was the last straw in a long list of bad payoffs. I went to the babyfaces and told them to forget the finish; we had a new finish. We would enter the ring – chokeslam someone and pin him – we go home. The thing I did not tell the faces was that I was also going to get on the mike and say that if my team lost, then my whole team would leave MSWA. It was 10-man tag [if I can remember right] and we all packed our bags before the match started. I did the mic spill, they entered the ring – 3 count and we walked out the side door to go home.
Did I accomplish anything? Nah. Did it help my guys? No. Was it Brickhouse Brown’s fault?? No, it wasn’t. Brown is a freakin legend and whatever he asked to be paid – he deserved it and honestly it was NONE OF MY BUSINESS.
So, you might be saying to yourself, “Coach is telling us he did it, but don’t do it.” Yes I am. It falls in that category with “do what I say, not what I did.” If a promoter hires a booker for a promotion and puts his faith in that guy to run the show, then it is not ok to go against the booker’s plan, even if you are the promoter. You got one guy spending all his free time trying to book a show and the promoter changes everything five minutes before the show starts. Or, on the other hand, you got a promoter that [with help from the encouragement of a worker] decides it is ok to change an angle right in the middle of the show. Believe me – the promoter should stay away from the ring on most incidents unless your name is Ken Wayne or Jerry Lawler. If you think it is ok to go into business for yourself, then you know NOTHING about the business. If you don’t like the booker, then walk out the door. If you don’t like the direction you are going in, give your notice. Anything you will do to ONLY put yourself over will not do anything to help the promotion as a whole.
Coach's Corner is a weekly Wednesday feature at RRO by Brian Tramel. Tramel was wrestling manager Coach BT in a former life with Coach's Corner being published on the internet during those days. He has since added it to RRO as his signature column.
