SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
According to a post by the Smyth Casting Agency, Impact Wrestling is paying up to $50 per day for “extras” to appear in the crowd at this week’s Impact tapings in Ottawa. Smyth Casting is searching for 50-75 audience members per day. A post on the company’s Facebook page (see below) says that audience members may be given signs to hold, but they’re also encouraged to bring their own signs.
McMahon’s Analysis: This is obviously a terrible look for a company that’s coming off a pay-per-view that was almost universally panned by critics. Impact defenders will say the media is being “too negative” towards this company, but the wounds are self-inflicted. Give people a product that they can invest in, and care about, and people will pay to see you, not the other way around. Asking for 50-75 people per night isn’t asking to fill up the building, it’s asking for people to show up and be excited. They’re looking for people to hold signs. They want to pay people to be enthusiastic. That should be a major red flag for Impact management. They should be drawing that emotion with their product, not their wallets.
On top of all that, remember, they’re also trying to sell tickets to these events. Why on Earth would anyone pay to see a wrestling show when they can get paid to see a wrestling show, and probably get better seats? Impact’s going to want these excited, paid extras to be the ones on TV. It’s completely backwards. And at the same time, it’s the perfect epitome of the company right now. I genuinely feel bad for the wrestlers and production people who are there and working hard.
Lucha Underground does it and Heyman did it when it booked OVW, it’s nothing new. The wrestlers and production who are there working don’t care and they do what they are told.
It certainly is nothing new and you would think that would be known by the dirt sheet writers. 🙂 A lot of tv tapings for various organizations are free. This really is just a spin on that. Much ado about nothing.
Btw, the PPV was sold out. The “writer” of this “article” isn’t going to tell you that though, because he does not like the product and seems to be a WWE mark. Oh well, the truth will set you free.
T-Bone, it may have been sold out but obviously the show and product suck so much they can’t sell tickets to their shows now. How they don’t see this as a bad sign I don’t know but even a blind man can see this is how badly booked and managed this company is. And I’m not a WWE mark. haven’t watched them in years so that excuse won’t work for you.
When Tito Santana and SGT. Slaughter had the AWF back in the 90’s they paid ‘non-wrestling fans’ 50 bucks each to attend. No matter how many people have done it, it still shows that the product must really suck if you can’t get people to pay to SEE it, but you have to PAY people to come to it.
If you pay people to basically be cheerleaders I have no problem with that. All sports have people paid to yell and scream and wave signs, clap and get the fans energized and they are called cheerleaders. That’s all these are.
why pay people to do that when you can actually improve your product so that way people PAY to come there and do the same thing?
Hey they can do both, you think they purposely try to have a bad show. Even if the shows were great having some Cheerleaders/Plants is a good idea.
Right now Corwin after all the bad shows leading up to BFG and then booking BFG so crappy? the answer looks pretty obvious or, the creative team really shouldn’t be ‘creating anything’, anywhere. Especially since they seem to be going along the Jarrett is Russo route for booking things illogically.
Lucha Underground has fans lined up all day in the hot sun DYING to get inside and then they do standing room beyond that
bottom line is when a company has to PAY people to come to the shows because people won’t PAY to see the show? That shows you how badly managed and booked Impact is. But of course nobody there will; have the balls to admit that.
and from the spoilers I read? Turkey suits and food fights continue to show why I’m right. The let’s book like Jarrett is Russo road continues.