The Territories Shall Rise Again

The death of pro wrestling territories was authored long ago.  Maybe it's time for a rewrite.

Credit Vince McMahon, blame cable television, whatever.  They're gone.  For now.

Conventional wisdom is that advances in technology preclude a return to the territory days.  Information technology is too cheap and production technology is too expensive.  The former allows people to explore beyond their local wrestling product.  The latter makes it too impossible for local wrestling to compete with WWE.

Perhaps.  Conventional wisdom is often wise, but sometimes it's off base.  (I'd insert a line about politics, but I don't want to be banned by Indy promoters.)

Conventional wisdom goes awry when it masquerades as fundamental truth.  Is it fundamentally true that, when people are allowed to sample a "major league" product, they ignore their local product?  Does flashier television production fundamentally disqualify simpler productions from being embraced?  No and No, I'd argue.

Real sports make the argument for territories.  Major league sports in North America are increasingly provincial.  The Toronto Blue Jays' Wild Card game drew 4 million Canadian viewers.  Game 7 of the World Series -- a do-or-die thriller that drew the largest American baseball audience in twenty-five years -- was watched by one third fewer Canadians: 2.66 million.  Summarized, Canadian baseball fans want to see their team, the Blue Jays.   More than seeing the "best" or the "highest stakes", they are drawn to the locals.

The trend goes beyond the micro example of baseball's postseason.  Local pro baseball, basketball and hockey ratings dominate local television viewership.  National sports ratings are falling, even those of the mighty NFL.  Sports fans, who carry much of the demographic identity of wrestling fans, want Their Team.  They carry less affection for the sport at large.

Authors of territories obituaries point to the failures, of which there are many.  ECW carried a loyal, passionate fanbase that is unthinkable today.  They still died.  TNA lives on television largesse.  So does ROH.  Other contenders (New Japan, CMLL, Lucha Underground, etc.) have made even less of an impact in the English-speaking wrestling world.

The question isn't, "Who's failed?".  The question is, "Who's done it right and failed?".  The answer to that, arguably, is "Nobody".

Some promotions, like TNA, have pursued a promotional concept that could best be described as, "WWE Lite".  That's a day-one loser, and it always will be.

Many promotions, however, have at least succeeded in creating a promotional concept that is different than WWE's.  We'll call them the Rebels.  

Rebel promoters deserve a lot of credit for taking a risk.  They offer something different, either to suit their tastes, the tastes of lapsed WWE fans or both.  

None of the Rebels has grown.  At least not to the level where an established WWE wrestler can make a viable, long-term decision to work there, as was common with the territories.

Rebel promoters may not differentiate by location, as the territories did, but they do differentiate by style.  For example, Lucha Underground bears little resemblance to PWG, which differs significantly from New Japan, ROH and so on.  

Most of the Rebels would like to be big enough to be akin to a territory.  They would like to be able to offer disgruntled ex-WWE wrestlers a place to earn a prosperous living.

So, why haven't they grown? 

It could be because, from ECW on down, Rebel wrestling promoters have strayed from the first rule of The Game: "purse first and ass last".  Translated, it essentially means "business before pleasure".  A promoter needs to pursue business first, then they can start to have fun.

Where is the Rebel promotion that embraces kayfabe?  The Rebel promotion that is willing to sacrifice match quality at the altar of character and story?  The Rebel promotion that treats pro wrestling as a fake sport -- it's original concept -- and embraces all that entails?

Such a promotion doesn't exist.  Today's Rebels are ass first and purse last.  They want to have fun -- indulgent matches, crowds that are "in on the work", etc. -- even if it keeps them niche.

That's fine.  Fun is great.  I've enjoyed every PWG show I've attended, and I hope they don't change a thing.

But the fact that PWG and other Rebels are forever niché doesn't mean that modern territories can't thrive in a WWE dominated world.  

Evidence is manifest that lots of wrestling fans don't like WWE.  They are ready to embrace an alternative.  But it has to be an alternative that allows its audience to suspend disbelief.

The un-fun stuff -- the basic matches, the adherence to kayfabe, the "fake sport" concept -- is the stuff that allows for suspension of disbelief.  And suspension of disbelief is how audiences get separated from their money.  It's how a Blue Jays fan cares about all of those Jose Bautista home runs that, ultimately, mean little to one's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.