Professional wrestling is now more popular than ever. Pro wrestling has been featured on 7 of the top 10 cable TV shows every week for the past year. Jay Leno from Tonight asked Shaquille, a NBA Superstar Shaquille Owens-Neal, what his favorite thing was to watch on TV. Shaq quickly responded that professional wrestling was his favorite thing to watch.
The NBC Television Network released the results from a survey it conducted last February. It listed the ‘#8220’ top viewer sports in America as:
- National Football League
- Professional Wrestling
- Major League Baseball
- National Basketball Association.
Professional wrestling is family entertainment. It appeals to all ages, with 40% of the audience being female and 40% being male. Additionally, 35 million people tune in to professional wrestling every week. Millions more attend sold-out arenas to see it in real life.
The top two pro wrestling organizations in the industry are the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) guided by its president Vince McMahan, Jr. and the Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
TV Guide predicts that the WWF will earn $550 million and WCW $350 million in this year’s earnings. Vince McMahan made the WWF public in the first quarter and raised another $250 million. McMahan’s wealth is so great that he announced recently that he was creating his own professional football league, The Extreme Football League, to challenge the National Football League.
There is a significant gap between the top pro wrestling organisations and all other organizations at this time. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) is the closest thing to third. It’s a small group from New York/Philadelphia. ECW’s violent and “hardcore” nature makes it difficult to attract mass audiences and maximize its profit potential. ECW’s weekly Friday TV program on The Nashville Network has seen ratings hover below the 1.0 mark while TNN promised advertisers a 2.5 rating. IWA Championship Wrestling (IWA), has set as its goal and mission to create a family-oriented TV product and live events to maximize it’s appeal to television viewers and advertisers.
The IWA aims to become the third-largest pro wrestling organization within three years. They also aim to make at least 10% of the current monies made by the #2 (WCW), or approximately $35 million annually. Projected costs are approximately one quarter of that amount. This will create a profitable and viable scenario for all involved.
1.1 Objectives
IWA Championship Wrestling aims to achieve the following goals during its three-year period of expansion and growth.
- You can be the third most loved professional wrestling organization in the world.
- Secure a national cable television contract for a weekly one-hour program.
- Start producing the weekly, hour-long pro wrestling program.
- Find the best existing talent and train new writers and managers.
- Send television programming to the globe.
- Promote live events in areas that have television programming.
1.2 Mission
IWA Championship Wrestling will create a family-oriented television show for sale and distribution in the United States and internationally. It will help the television program with live events tours. These additional revenues will come from:
- Quarterly Pay-Per-View Events
- Sponsorships and advertising revenue
- Merchandising souvenirs and other concession items. Also, a collection of videos that can be purchased via mail order, live events, or the official IWA website.
- Creation of an IWA Professional Wrestling School .
- For IWA talent, personal appearance fees may apply.
Within three years, the IWA is expected to be the number 3 professional wrestling organisation and a major industry player. Our programming will continue to receive TV ratings in between 2.0 and 2.5. We will use established stars to entice viewers to tune in and will also have outstanding new talent.
In five years the IWA can challenge WCW’s second place in the industry and earn approximately $35 million annually.
The IWA’s appeal will be to fill the major void in professional wrestle by providing a “family-oriented” and “family friendly” professional sports entertainment programming. The IWA is committed to family values and will appeal to more people than just hardcore fans.
There is currently no pro wrestling programming. The WWF and WCW are the only options for fans, and they look identical in format and design. There is a high emphasis on extreme violence, vulgarity, disrespect of authority and women, nudity, and use of alcoholic beverages in the ring and locker room areas … all seen as part of their weekly television programming.
The only alternative to WWF and WCW programming currently is Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) which appears on the Nashville Network (TNN) and appeals to the hardcore, extreme fan only.
IWA fans are encouraged to encourage their children to follow the IWA’s programming. We will establish role models that are positive, strong, and family-oriented in every way. The IWA will bring “rasslin”, or professional wrestling back to life. They will emphasize talent, skill, abilities, and not the ridiculous, demented stories that are in fashion with the others.
It makes strong business sense to appeal to the majority or masses of wrestling fans who range in age from 3 to 93, are 40% female, and very strong in the 21 to 49-year old male segment of the population. Pro wrestling does not need to be only for kids. By tapping into the “main stream,” the IWA will have a unique and very strong position within the industry that will yield maximum profit potential.