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| Jervis is just one of the things that sets the Extravaganza apart Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein |
Who has new ideas in wrestling? Who takes the plunge? Who drives innovation? The answers to these questions are not easily attained. Many wrestlers, promoters, and fans are so stuck in the past that things like the umpteenth ECW reunion or the new startup promotion that is a warmed over version of 2006 Ring of Honor gain enough traction to drive off the cliff after a couple of shows. If you're lucky, you can try to create a wrestling promotion in an area where none exists, or fill a void with a traditional vision executed better than what their competition in the area are doing.
Depending on how wide the theme of which you're providing a variation on is how much room to succeed you'll have. Obviously, "ECW reunion" is a narrow niche. "Wrestling promotion" is a broad scope. Innovation can be attained more easily in narrow niches because from jump, those kinds of boutique promotions or shows need to have a hook or else they don't grab a headline. Obviously, putting decals on the side of a tire and calling it reinventing the wheel doesn't work. You gotta come fresh.
Paradoxically, Marion Fontaine has drawn from the past for his splash of newness in the wrestling world. The Extravaganza of Wrestling Exhibitions will put a bunch of modern wrestlers (albeit a few with gimmicks entrenched in the past as a rule) and putting them within the trappings of the carnival barked world of a Turn of the Century wrestling ring. The throwback ethic certainly falls in line with a modern cultural niche, as many people are enamored with the early part of the 20th Century.
Regardless of how large the "market share" (ugh, I feel dirty for just typing those words, even in sarcasti-quotes) is for an event like this, the sheer fact that it is different should get eyes on it. So many times, fans in the wrestling world ask where the new stars are being created, where the new concepts are being ideated, oftentimes with "I WANT TO SEE THE ATTITUDE ERA AND STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN AGAIN" coming out of the other sides of their mouths. Oops, there I go building straw men again. I've gotta stop that. Anyway, rather than waiting for WWE or TNA or even ROH to roll out with something new, people have to train their attention to other venues.
I don't know how far this concept is going to stretch beyond this coming Sunday, yet I also feel that while I would love to see Olde Timey Wrestling become a semi-regular promotion, that "future dates" past the singular Extravaganza are irrelevant. Sometimes, different concepts only have a shelf-life of a single show. The fact that Fontaine is promoting this show at all shows that auteurs in the wrestling world exist who think outside the box. If anything comes from this show, I hope more people in wrestling start running with their ideas, no matter how esoteric they seem.
I loved ECW, and I don't want to discount memories or any kind of fondness folks may have for them. However, Sabu and Justin Credible bashing each other with foreign objects in 2013 is sad given that the original spirit of the company was to be different, to be innovative. Variety makes the world go 'round, and the Extravaganza of Wrestling Exhibitions certainly adds to the pastiche of different colors and tones in the current wrestling landscape.
Depending on how wide the theme of which you're providing a variation on is how much room to succeed you'll have. Obviously, "ECW reunion" is a narrow niche. "Wrestling promotion" is a broad scope. Innovation can be attained more easily in narrow niches because from jump, those kinds of boutique promotions or shows need to have a hook or else they don't grab a headline. Obviously, putting decals on the side of a tire and calling it reinventing the wheel doesn't work. You gotta come fresh.
Paradoxically, Marion Fontaine has drawn from the past for his splash of newness in the wrestling world. The Extravaganza of Wrestling Exhibitions will put a bunch of modern wrestlers (albeit a few with gimmicks entrenched in the past as a rule) and putting them within the trappings of the carnival barked world of a Turn of the Century wrestling ring. The throwback ethic certainly falls in line with a modern cultural niche, as many people are enamored with the early part of the 20th Century.
Regardless of how large the "market share" (ugh, I feel dirty for just typing those words, even in sarcasti-quotes) is for an event like this, the sheer fact that it is different should get eyes on it. So many times, fans in the wrestling world ask where the new stars are being created, where the new concepts are being ideated, oftentimes with "I WANT TO SEE THE ATTITUDE ERA AND STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN AGAIN" coming out of the other sides of their mouths. Oops, there I go building straw men again. I've gotta stop that. Anyway, rather than waiting for WWE or TNA or even ROH to roll out with something new, people have to train their attention to other venues.
I don't know how far this concept is going to stretch beyond this coming Sunday, yet I also feel that while I would love to see Olde Timey Wrestling become a semi-regular promotion, that "future dates" past the singular Extravaganza are irrelevant. Sometimes, different concepts only have a shelf-life of a single show. The fact that Fontaine is promoting this show at all shows that auteurs in the wrestling world exist who think outside the box. If anything comes from this show, I hope more people in wrestling start running with their ideas, no matter how esoteric they seem.
I loved ECW, and I don't want to discount memories or any kind of fondness folks may have for them. However, Sabu and Justin Credible bashing each other with foreign objects in 2013 is sad given that the original spirit of the company was to be different, to be innovative. Variety makes the world go 'round, and the Extravaganza of Wrestling Exhibitions certainly adds to the pastiche of different colors and tones in the current wrestling landscape.