“IF YOU DON’T BET ON YOURSELF, NOBODY ELSE WILL”—BEN SILBERMANN, FOUNDER OF PINTEREST.
Betting on yourself, as it turns out, is incredibly difficult. It isn’t the actual act itself that proves arduous, though. More often than not it’s simply starting that is the greatest challenge.
That fact is pretty much standard across the board. Everyone, from every walk of life and every situation, goes through it. The self doubt. The paralyzingly fear of whether or not the next move is “the right move”.
Truth is, most of us go back and forth deliberating internally about something as simple as our next haircut, worried some buddy might call it “dodgy”. So imagine, if you can, walking away from a lifelong dream employer, and the perceived gold standard of the industry in which you currently deploy your skills, on little else but a willingness to bite the bullet and bet on yourself.
Sounds crazy, right? And yet, this is the reality of the current state of professional wrestling, and for a select few it’s a way of life that is paying off in spades.
There’s a new breed of professional wrestler. And, in a bizarre twist, they’ve discovered themselves by throwing it back to the territory days of old, plying tips and tricks learned from those Wild West-like cowboys of the past.
When the-then World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW and subsequently ECW in 2001, many predicted dark times for the world of professional wrestling. With “only one show in town”, those within the business mused how jobs would become more scarce and opportunity sparingly provided.
And for a while they were mostly right.
Sure, there were wrestling tours around this time that tried to help fill the void (WWA among them). And sure, NWA-TNA as it was then known was in its infancy and trying to provide an alternative. But for all intents and purposes, if anyone wanted to accomplish anything in the wrestling business, it had to be done through Vince McMahon and the empire he had created.
It was a time where the entire industry seemed to run through him (although one can argue it always has and always will). Releases from WWE were greeted with about the same glumness as a death sentence. Some performers even went on the record afterward stating they simply stayed on the roster in spite of being outwardly miserable because it beat the alternative of scratching and clawing to fill the dates of their calendar on their own.
Sometime in the mid to late 2000’s that all changed.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when, but the world of professional wrestling as a whole became much larger and accessible all the same. For that we largely have to thank the explosion of social media, allowing talents from all over the world reach out to fans from any and all walks of life.
While social media has allowed them to interact with fans, it has also become a sort of live, constantly updating highlight reel, allowing them an additional tool to promote themselves to endearing fans and curious bookers alike.
What has resulted is a type of self-sustaining organism, connecting professional wrestling federations, performers, and fans in a unique way never before experienced.
And certain groups of wrestlers were quicker to realize this than some, and capitalized on it to the fullest extent.
The poster children for such movement, of course, is the Young Bucks.
Nick and Matt Jackson bounced around various promotions, including a run in TNA, as “Generation Me”. The duo were entertaining, but there was something missing. One night in Burbank, everything changed. The tandem debuted as the Young Bucks at a PWG show, and really haven’t looked back since. Wrestling almost exclusively for Ring Of Honor, NJPW, and the aforementioned PWG, they have gone on to become one of the most successful tag-teams in the history of professional wrestling.
And they’ve done it all by mastering the art of betting on themselves.
Twitter feeds that are active and engaging. YouTube accounts with exclusive hand made and edited videos taking fans behind the scenes. Articles inside the pages of Rolling Stone. A merchandise empire that humbly began by being staffed by the two men and their families, working hard to fill orders in between travelling, wrestling, and somehow having a social life. That merchandise empire, by the way, has gone on to do great things including garnering an exclusive deal with the chain store Hot Topic.
As of this writing, all Bullet Club shirts (and shirts of affiliated members) are available in all Hot Topic locations. When you think of very idea that a couple of “Indy wrestlers” have this deal, it staggers the mind, and truly highlights where the world of wrestling is as we hit the halfway mark of 2017.
While the Young Bucks may have set the blueprint, they’re far from alone in this endeavour.
Dalton Castle, Jay Lethal, Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, Donovan Dijak, and countless others have taken the self-promotion game to the next level. Hell, Lio Rush has a sponsorship deal with Jimmy’s Seafood.
The latest in a long and seemingly never-ending line, of course, is Cody (Rhodes).
Having entered the WWE with great hype and expectation, the youngest of the Rhodes family was quickly on track to become a pillar of the company. From his time with Legacy, to his run as an Intercontinental Champion who was vainly obsessed with his appearance, it seemed whatever Rhodes was given he took to great heights.
And then Stardust came along.
Although, in defence of the gimmick, Stardust actually was also taken further than just about anyone thought it could go, which is more a testament to Rhodes as a performer than anything else.
After months of mounting displeasure, Cody asked for, and was granted, his release from World Wrestling Entertainment. Rather than stick with a somewhat steady gimmick the company obviously liked to a certain degree, Rhodes decided to bet on himself, and branch out in search of making his own indelible mark on the industry.
So far it is a bet that is paying off handsomely.
Rhodes is the Ring Of Honor World Champion, marking the first time a Rhodes has been World Champion in over thirty years. He has headlined shows for both ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. He’s become a valuable member of the Bullet Club, one who appears poised to eventually challenge Kenny Omega for the leadership alpha role in the group. By proxy of his ties to the Bullet Club, Cody too has shirts available across the continent at Hot Topic (shirts which, by the way, are hotly contested for. Visits to stores in London, Canada and Niagara Falls, Canada have produced shelves nearly bare, ravaged by fans).
All things considered, it’s a big difference for a guy who this time last year was searching for some sort of cosmic key.
At the heart of all of this, of course, is the viability of these stars from a financial standpoint.
With help from their social media platforms to market them, and the feeling that they finally have people who believe in their true vision for their professional wrestling careers, the wrestlers themselves are in the drivers seat, controlling their own destiny.
And as Sean Walkman so aptly pointed out in a recent Twitter post, more professional wrestlers are making full-time livings in this business than they have since the territory days. The wrestlers are being amply paid, and the business as a result is thriving.
In fact, the dynamic of the industry has changed so, that when the Young Bucks were believed to have been asked by WWE recently about their interest in a guaranteed contract, the two brothers simply looked at their full calendars and their stacks of merchandise money and thought ‘eh, maybe next time’.
Professional wrestling is thriving greater than arguably any time since the big expansion by the McMahon family in the 80s. Vince, of course, pulled off several audacious moves that he knew would ostracize him in the wrestling world amongst other promoters. It was a move he knew he had to make though, a move he knew would bring success and happiness the heights of which he or any other promoter had never experienced.
In short, Vince McMahon created the blueprint for the art of betting on yourself. A blueprint that these wrestlers, in some form or another, are following today. A blueprint hwhich has greatly aided the current boom the industry is experiences.
In that way, I guess the world of professional wrestling still very much flows through Vince McMahon. The power moves McMahon used to essentially kill off the territory days are the very same ones performers are harnessing to revive them today.
And the world of wrestling is reaping all of the benefits.