Pre PPV Era Booking...

[AneesMoha]

Hello Everyone

 

With the ability to book "Lesser" events I was wondering how one would run a company like say 80s JCP or 80s/ pre 1995 wwf? Should It be a Tv taping once every 4 weeks (To make a months worth of tv) with a lesser show everyday (To simulate the "House show loop) and a "big show" every quarter? Also i'm struggling to find the right balance as what product to use for such an approach?

 

Any suggestions??

[jesseewiak]

So, my two cents is -

 

1. Yeah, tape 4 shows per TV taping. It reduces costs, it allows you to tape when everybody is available, and maybe this is just me, it allows me to be structured in my booking.

 

2. The thing about booking beyond that is each territory did it slightly differently, based on the size of the territory and the type of booking the people were used too.

 

For example, Memphis was a loop of big cities in that territory weekly, with the TV tape on a 'bicycle', which meant that TV taped on Week 1, would be seen in Memphis on that Saturday, in Knoxville that next week, Johnson City, the week after, and eventually someplace like Little Rock 6-8 weeks later.

 

On the other hand, in a territory like Portland, it was also weekly, but they recorded the weekly show in Portland and all of it, except the main event was shown on TV.

 

However, JCP booked someplace like Greenville, SC weekly, while Charlotte was a monthly show. On the other hand, each major city in the WWF territory got their monthly, before the expansion, then less often (outside of Boston, NYC, and Philly) as the company expanded.

 

So, if I was doing JCP in 1985, what I would do, depending on how much work you want to do is this -

 

Book your weekly TV at the start of the month, then book 2 or 3 'Lesser' shows on each weekend for places like Raleigh, Columbia, Greenville, leading up to a monthly big show in Charlotte.

 

Of course, if you want, you could just book the TV and Charlotte, and just pretend the other shows are happening "off screen." Downside is you'll get no money, but the upside is you don't have to book those shows.