The Business of Kayfabe Read online

  TURNING WRESTLERS’ SECRETS

  INTO A MILLION DOLLARS

  BY SEAN OLIVER

  Also by the author:

  Non-fiction

  Kayfabe

  Fathers’ Blood

  Fiction

  Sophie’s Journal

  No part of this work may be duplicated or reproduced in any form, in print, electronic or otherwise, without written permission of the copyright holder.

  Cover photo and rear photo by Mia Oliver.

  Copyright © 2019 Sean Oliver

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 9781795165808

  www.seanoliverbooks.com

  For Matt and Nicky. World champions.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Part One: The Business of Blood

  1. The Blood: It’s the Passion Flowing Through Your Business

  2. Know Your Market, Part I: Know it Like a Fan

  3. Passion vs. Business Acumen

  4. Bad Blood

  5. Brand

  6. Hire Yourself: Working While You’re Working

  7. Outside-In vs. Inside-Out

  Part Two: Running It

  8. Building a Moat

  9. Innovation

  10. The Idea Is Not the Innovation

  11. Differentiation is a Promise

  12. Personalization

  13. Negotiation

  14. Assessments

  15. Collaboration

  16. Diversify

  17. Know Your Market, Part II: Know It Like A Scientist

  18. Adjustments

  Part Three: Growing It

  19. Targets and Goals

  20. Meetings

  21. Bottom-Up Marketing

  22. Give Them What They Want

  23. Marketzilla

  Part Four: Saving It

  24. Winds of Change

  Introduction

  IT DOESN’T MAKE a damn bit of difference how good you are at business, directing, or talent relations. Wrestlers, and the wrestling business, will consistently find ways to circumvent your talents and abilities. The best-laid plans are subject to turn on their heads, due to the nature of this minefield industry. You’ll eventually question whether you can get anything at all done without a migraine.

  And Jim Powers was making my head pound like a Tommy Lee drum solo.

  The weekend was all set and despite plans to start production on a brand new series, the schedule was easy-breezy.

  Several months prior, we were breaking down the set of Breaking Kayfabe with Scott “Raven” Levy, when Vince Russo called me. Vince is the controversial former writer for WWE, WCW, and TNA and he’d just started a podcast. On it, he was recapping past episodes of wrestling TV for which he wrote and those recaps of classic WWE RAW episodes were doing great downloads for him. He thought of his old pal in New Jersey—the guy that scooped him up after the implosion of his stint at TNA and set him on his feet again with our brilliant YouShoot: LIVE!—and pitched me a show that he envisioned as the video compliment to the audio podcast.

  With some tweaking, we came up with Vince Russo’s Attitude, wherein Vince would host and sit with a member of the WWE roster from the era when Vince was writing its TV. We knew his trips down memory lane would be fun as he sat with the guys and gals from the era that saved wrestling’s biggest federation from certain doom at the hands of plumbers, pig farmers, and hockey goons in their ring. We would fly him out and shoot a few episodes of the show to pilot.

  We booked the first two guests—Ken Shamrock and Terri Runnels. After slating the new show for release and having Anthony research Vince’s time writing for both Ken and Terri, we sent it all to Vince and put it all on the shooting schedule for a Friday and Saturday.

  Then I got a call from a talent booker that we sometimes used named Nick, who offered us Paul Roma for one of our shows. I’d heard Paul on shows before and knew him to be outspoken so I made an offer for him to appear on our show Breaking Kayfabe. I thought we could talk to Paul about his time in WWE and his issues with them, as well as the not-so-friendly break-up with his Young Stallions tag team partner Jim Powers.

  Nick called me and said Paul rejected the offer out of hand, solely on the money. I forget the words exactly and I don’t want to put any in Paul’s mouth, but I know I was pissed because it was dismissive. Apparently the money offer offended the former member of the Four Horsemen.

  Well, that was that. Mr. Roma and I were clearly on separate sides of the universe regarding his drawing power in the wrestling aftermarket. I wasn’t moving on the money. I thanked Nick for reaching out and got to work coordinating flights for Terri and Vince so they could land in Newark at roughly the same time. Then Nick called me again.

  “Hey since it didn’t work out with Paul,” he began, “how about booking Jim Powers for the other side of that story?” I was intrigued. Jim was another very honest interview guest who I’d never worked with before. Well, unless you count his spontaneous appearance on Ring Roasts when he tried to wrangle Scott Hall out of the ballroom after he disrupted the entire event and attacked a comedian on stage. But hey, that would be something to talk about on camera.

  I made an offer through Nick that was accepted, and just like that Young Stallion Jim Powers was booked. The plan was to shoot Terri Runnels’s edition of Vince Russo’s Attitude on Friday afternoon, that would wrap around 5 o’clock and she would be whisked away to an appearance for that night. Russo could go up to his room and watch the San Francisco Giants and read the Bible while we shot Breaking Kayfabe with Powers, then on Saturday we would put the second Vince Russo’s Attitude in the can.

  Though I’d never worked with Powers, he reached out to us back in July of 2010 and said he loved our work. I sent him some DVDs and he emailed me back the following:

  “Sean,

  First of all I would like to thank you very much for sending me the 3 DVDs. They were very entertaining as well as insightful.”

  I do not remember what I had shipped to him, but clearly it wasn’t Missy Hyatt’s Pajama Party. Back to the email—

  “When you get a chance please call me personally so that we can discuss doing something together in the near future. Your product is the most professional and classy thing out there and I would love to be attached to that. Thank you in advance.

  Sincerely,

  Jim Powers”

  Well as I said, that was in July of 2010 and though I didn’t ring his phone, I did book him for a KC show a mere seven years after reading his email. Seven years. Aren’t I great?

  After booking Jim for the Breaking Kayfabe appearance in October 2017, Nick reached out to me a few days before the shoot. Seems there’s a problem with the schedule. Jim has asked if he can shoot either earlier on Friday (Answer: No, because I have Vince and Terri coming in and we have to nail that show before Runnels is taken from my set to make an appearance somewhere else.) or Saturday (Answer: No, because we have Russo at a convention appearance Saturday morning and then as soon as Shamrock is done signing, we are shooting his editions of Vince Russo’s Attitude).

  Nick called back. Powers was upset that we weren’t rearranging our schedule to accommodate him on Friday.

  I’ll retype that.

  Jim Powers, who agreed to a slot on Friday night that I created when his promoter called and asked me to book him, was now angry we weren’t juggling the production schedule of our new series that covers the explosive Attitude Era with its head writer and the stars of the WWE. I told Nick, rather succinctly, that we have a slot on Friday night if he wants it. If not, that’s it.

  I was putting the eighth coat of red exterior paint on my front door so I was already frustrated when I saw an email from Powers. It said: “Call m
e” and other than the fact that it was sent from his Verizon Samsung Galaxy smartphone, it offered me no other information. I put the roller down and prepared for the kind of phone call unique to producers of entertainment. The talent was about to create a problem—not the set design, not the writing, not the crew, not the flights, not the promoters, not the money, not the show…but person that should be most flattered and appreciative that we’ve taken a chance on them.

  I paced the house, my mouth agape, as I listened to a very different Jim Powers than the one who wrote me a goddamn love letter seven years prior. He was mad that I was treating him like a “jabroni” by prioritizing Vince Russo and Terri Runnels over him.

  I’ll retype that.

  Jim Powers, who took an open slot I had between shoots of our new series about wrestling’s biggest boom period of the last twenty years, was mad because I was making him feel less important in our slate of shows that weekend. I know—you’re going, “He took the gig! He agreed to the schedule!” And of course, you are right, because you are sane and therefore, not in the wrestling business.

  But the stupid ass with red paint on his fingers who decided to begin producing this kind of programming ten years ago stood there on the phone and nicely explained that we were booked on this other project already, and I created a slot for him and we wrote a show that we would fit into our Friday night. I did not yell, “Jim…I need this episode of Breaking Kayfabe about as much as I need this fucking phone call right now so the money is off the table and so is the show!”

  I did the talent relations thing and even resorted to the, “Hey, a fellow Jersey guy wouldn’t insult you, brother.” He laughed and it disarmed him. I assured him that Vince Russo and Terri Runnels were not seen as any more important than him. It was just scheduling. He explained that he wanted to have dinner with his daughter that Friday evening and couldn’t fit the show in. I didn’t want to come between a family situation, one that had apparently arisen and been agreed to after agreeing to do the show we had just written for him. But hey, family is family. What could I say?

  What I did say was that I’d be willing to extend the workday of the entire crew on Saturday, now costing us more in pay as well as the expense of providing another meal for them, and shoot Jim’s show when we wrapped Shamrock and Russo at around 4 p.m. It was all I could do for him. We left it there. We thanked each other, agreed to meet up the following Saturday, and I went back to wondering why in Christ’s name this red paint was going on so thinly.

  I did make one more phone call.

  I called Kayfabe Commentaries’ co-owner Anthony and explained the entire exchange, at which point he no doubt reminded himself how great a decision it was that I dealt with all talent relations. I asked him to write an edition of Breaking Kayfabe for Vince Russo, in addition to the Powers one. From talking with Jim, I had a feeling this booking was on shaky footing. I have a sixth sense about people and my conversation with the “new” Jim Powers, seven years removed from the email he sent me, told me he could flake out with a change in the wind’s direction.

  If a show falls through before production, then that carries minimal inconvenience. I’ll cancel the hotel, tell crew they have the day off, and we shelve the script. We can shoot it next year, so most times the writing is not wasted energy. But when a show goes belly-up while we are on the set, that’s catastrophic. So I wanted to keep another show in my pocket for that weekend. Russo was in town for the two days anyway. If Powers pulled a Powers—or a Konnan…or a Jake The Snake…or a Buff Bagwell—we would just bring Vince down and nail the Breaking Kayfabe with him instead. We’d be set up for that show anyway.

  If you’re a fan of our content, then you already know the world saw the release of Breaking Kayfabe with Vince Russo, and not Breaking Kayfabe with Jim Powers.

  My Friday was plodding along fine—Vince’s flight was on time and we had about an hour before Terri touched down at Newark. We were able to grab a cup of coffee and catch up. I can count the number of times I’ve gone to the airport myself to grab talent. I’m usually buried in production issues and Brian or Craig from our team or the booking agent himself heads to the airport. But the last time I had Vince in town it was an absolute catastrophe. You’ll get that entire story later if you’re not fully convinced to start any business other than one centered around wrestling.

  So Russo was in-hand, Terri was airborne and we’d see her soon, and Jim Powers was likely looking forward to a nice dinner with his daughter. All was right with the world. I could sip my coffee and enjoy counting the “bros” Vince was dropping as the caffeine jacked him. I did ask him how Terri was, because I’d never worked with her. My discussions with her were very pleasant and she said she got a good vibe from me and she already loved Russo. She said she could talk with him for hours—always a good sign for a producer of talk show content.

  “She cool?” I asked.

  “Bro, total sweetheart. But bro—she’s a lot.”

  “How do you mean? Like demanding?”

  “Bro…she’s a loooot.” That ‘loooot’ hung out there for a few seconds. I just nodded and sipped my coffee. That’s fine. I knew girls that were a lot. I’ll listen and nod. I’ll carry bags. All good.

  I got the text that Terri had landed so Vince and I headed over to her baggage carousel where I met Terri, her bags, and her dog.

  Terri is the tiniest little lady, but could immediately fill the biggest room in the castle with her personality, as well as dogs and bags. We headed out to my car that was prepared for people and bags, though not necessarily dogs and this cart-thing for the dog. The little guy was very cute, even tinier than Terri. I just didn’t know what to do for the dog in a car. Do they get seat belted? He was the size of a cotton ball, how the fuck was that going to work? She had a pillow gimmick to lay him on, but he weighed nothing. He would have slid all over the backseat as I drove. How well trained was he? We were in my Mercedes with cream interior—shit skids all over the backseat would’ve been an issue.

  Everything went fine. Terri sat in the backseat and held him, and he was the most well behaved living thing in the car that day. You wouldn’t have even known he was there. He didn’t smell, didn’t bark. Well, he lived with Terri. He knew not to even try to get a word in.

  For the trivia-obsessed fan, here are the KC shows that featured dogs on our set. Does Jimmy Kimmel deal with this?

  1. Vince Russo’s Attitude Starring Terri Runnels. He sat in his cart-thing right beside Terri for the entire interview, just outside the frame of Camera A.

  2. YouShoot: Chyna. She held the dog on her lap for the entire two-hour interview without a peep. The show sucked, but the dog was great. I should’ve interviewed him.

  3. Breaking Kayfabe with Marty Jannetty. He arrived with a small entourage, so the dog probably wasn’t his. But it was there.

  Terri’s dog was so well behaved, as they all were actually. But we were running late. Terri’s flight was delayed out of Florida, so I was on the phone consulting with Anthony during the ride back about how this would work. I’d agreed to a “hard-out” for Terri at 5 o’clock so she could get to an evening appearance somewhere. We were headed out of the airport at 2:45 and it was a half-hour drive to our set. Terri said she needed to “freshen-up.”

  “How long will that take?” I asked her. Before she could answer, Vince tapped me from the passenger seat.

  “Bro—forgetaboutit.”

  “Just like ten minutes,” Terri said from the back seat.

  “Bro—half-hour…easy.”

  “Oh, shut up, Vince,” Terri said through laughter. I felt like I was backstage at RAW watching them argue about segment times.

  Regardless, our cameras probably wouldn’t be rolling until 4 o’clock, and that was generous. But since promoters and their drivers are sometimes late, I decided we would power up the set, start shooting, and whenever they grabbed Terri, we would cut. I told Vince and Terri to have the same clothes available the next morning and we could get
up early and nail the second half of the show. We would edit it into one seamless interview, and that’s what we did. See, you never knew.

  Now, lest anyone forget that by splitting Terri’s show across two days we were adding a third shoot to our Saturday schedule—first the pick-up for Terri’s show on Saturday morning, then Shamrock’s edition of Vince Russo’s Attitude in the afternoon, and a full set turnaround for the Jim Powers Breaking Kayfabe. Throw a couple of meals in there somewhere, as well as a convention appearance for Russo and there’s the kind of day that makes me double-up on my Nexium.

  After Terri was picked up from our set rather promptly (unfortunately) at 5 o’clock, we prepared to break for dinner. It seemed we had the rest of the evening free so I asked Vince if we could grab that edition of Breaking Kayfabe that I’d told him was tentative. Powers was still slated for Saturday, but we had some time on Friday night and Anthony and I thought we should just get it. We shot the show and wrapped. The following day was going to be a monster so I was quite happy to have loosened my tie and undone my top button, free to head home shortly after 9 p.m.

  Before leaving the resort, I headed into Yogi’s bar and grill to say goodnight to the crew and maybe grab a quick scotch before I hit the road. There were some things I was not surprised to see in there—like Brian Knobbs and Jerry Saggs, The Nasty Boys, at the bar. But alas, there was also something I was surprised to see—Jim Powers drinking at the bar.

  Powers looked very comfortable; the glass that sat before him was likely not the first he’d been served to that point. Seemed that dinner with his daughter wrapped up a little earlier than he’d predicted when he told me he would not be available at all that night.

  Do I go in?

  No one saw me yet. I could turn and walk out, shake Jim’s hand tomorrow afternoon, shoot his show, and that’s it. I could pretend I didn’t know I’d been worked—just pay all the expenses associated with the additional Saturday shoot, and save myself the headache. I could play along.