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| When will I get to see this on tape? Photo Credit: Joel Loeschman |
Hey, how are you doing? It's been awhile, and that's actually hitting at the root of the problems I have with you guys. I hate to get right down to brass tacks, but the date is May 2, 2013. It's a good date, four months into a year that has been good to me personally, professionally, and as a wrestling fan. I mean, whoo, far be it from me to have beef with any company this year, especially when the stuff that I've been privy to watching has been as good as it was. Women's Superstars Uncensored, Squared Circle Wrestling, the free stuff on YouTube, and most of the National Pro Wrestling Day card were all great offers so far this year, and what I've heard about promotions whose shows I've purchased and haven't even gotten to yet? Yeah, I'm salivating. It seems like I really shouldn't be worried about one promotion who doesn't have much of anything that they've produced this year on tape for me to consume, but you guys aren't just any promotion, are you?
No, in fact, you guys were in my estimation the best promotion in America last year. So, it should stand to reason that I look forward to what you guys have to offer with a bit more anticipation and scrutiny, no? So, when I heard that you were taking March off to get caught up on DVDs, I got excited. Finally, I was going to be able to get to see Guilty by Association before Halloween of the same year! But then I check back to Smart Mark Video, and the most recent offering is from September of 2012. Even more disheartening, the last two videos on demand available are from August. That's important, at least to me, because VODs are my first and foremost mode of watching indie wrestling nowadays. That was eight months ago.
In that time, Rachel Summerlyn - hey, remember her? - had an entire reign as Anarchy Champion contained within. She won the title at the Lone Star Classic in November, defended it successfully at Delusions of Our Childish Days in December, and lost the belt at Guilty by Association in January. Oh yeah, she left the company after that event. That's a monumentally huge two-month arc in a company, and I, along with the thousands of other potential customers out there who don't have the pleasure of living in Central Texas, can't even begin to experience because it's not on tape.
See, I'm not privileged enough to be able to live in Austin, which from the many people who live or have visited there is reputed to be the best city in the country, if not the world. I really want to go someday, but circumstances are a bear sometimes. I'm sure you guys know that firsthand. I desperately want to be able to support your company and give you money in exchange for wrestling and entertainment, but for me to do that, I have to rely on the tape. I can't do that if it's not available. In the world of wrestling nowadays, you can't put the tease out there to fans who can't get to your shows live and then keep them dangling. I mean, it's great if you just wanted to be something that belonged to Austin and was meant just for the Austin audience. Empire Pro Wrestling in Georgia/Chattanooga is like that, and they have no pretenses about making money off of their shows outside of the live gate. If anything pops up from them, it's on YouTube for free.
But you put yourselves out there by being on Smart Mark, and the pot gets sweetened substantially because mostly everything that you guys have produced has been good if not great so far. See, that's the thing about this whole plea. I am not trying to be a dick. Other companies have encountered these kinds of lags before, and they've reacted to the people begging them for releases on their highly-anticipated shows by acting like they're better than everyone and yelling at the customers like they were the ones doing something wrong. All those people wanted was to give them their money. How stupid is that to blatantly piss off a potential customer through yelling at them for asking about when they can give you their disposable income? People like those who wanted to watch a certain tournament that happened in Florida in late 2011 and people like myself only want to buy stuff, and in this case, I want to buy the stuff you're selling.
So, here's the deal. You guys took a month off to get caught up, but you didn't. Okay, what's in the past is in the past. Can't change it, so there's no use of harping on it. I don't even want to know what you did in that time either. Again, that might only cause hard feelings. I don't want to judge. I also realize that you guys edit your videos almost entirely in-house, which I can only imagine is a long, arduous undertaking. Here's what I'm proposing. Either you guys should dedicate yourselves to getting this video editing done in-house, or maybe you could send raw footage out to Smart Mark or to another third party to do it for you. Whatever is easier for you is what you should do. I don't really care if it tacks an extra few bucks onto the VOD or DVD price. Again, you know what I think of your product, and I'm not sure I would refuse to pay more for that quality if it meant getting things out in a timelier manner.
I just don't want to have to sit and wait epic amounts of time anymore. There's something about watching something in or close to the moment, and that gets lost when there's an eight-month lag time between staging and release of shows. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla catches a lot of shit for one month of lag time, but even I think that's reasonable in this day and age for an indie company. Eight though? That's disappointing at the very least. I don't like it when a company that I know produces excellent work disappoints. I know I'm but one fan, and yeah, who gives a fuck about one guy right? But at the same time, if I were an entrepreneur, I wouldn't want to dampen the enthusiasm of a single customer on an issue that I know is more a shortcoming on my end than theirs. This isn't about me not liking your shows because my taste is different or any other aesthetic difference. It's an issue that I think would be detrimental to any company looking to release footage in this day and age.
Hope everything else is great on your end.
Yours in Zoidberg,
TH, if you will