Non-televised live events.
House shows.
Whatever you want to call them, they are important.
WWE and IMPACT Wrestling Hall of Fame legend Jeff Jarrett spoke on the latest edition of his “My World” podcast about running IMPACT Wrestling house shows back in 2017, as well as the significance of non-televised live events in general.
“I mean, the short answer is, and this is something that I’ve had this conversation multiple times over the last six months,” he said. “Look, live events as a part of rebuilding the brand or a startup brand. Live events are in, in no particular order. You know, they can be profitable, they can be a profit, you know, a revenue stream. But for me, it is, it’s, it’s a marketing initiative that you get out and your brand is being advertised in markets across the country. That’s a marketing initiative. And if you can make some money off this marketing initiative, what a great deal. And on top of that, you get to evolve storylines.”
Jarrett continued, “And nowadays, you know, it used to be non-televised house shows. You never thought about capturing content. I’m a huge believer in now, cuz we live in a 24-7, 365 era, that if you’re gonna go run house shows, capture content on social media, and keep your audience engaged as much as you possibly can. So live events are marketing, storyline development, revenue streams, uh, and also there are some guys out there that, I mean, me and hundreds and hundreds of others, that’s how you learn to work. I mean, that truly is learning your craft. If you just are on TV, you’ll never truly learn the essence of working a crowd. You’re just not, it, it, it doesn’t happen. You have to have rep after ref, after rep because on TV you’re working toward that red light. And the red light will not give you any feedback. If you’re in a non-televised live event, you’re working to j as you said so eloquently talking about live events. You’re just talking, working, performing for those 500, 5,000, 15,000 people in that arena. So you get instant feedback on what works and does not work. So running house shows, if you will, is a multi-pronged strategy that I think’s absolutely necessary for building a brand, like necessary if you’re building a brand.”
Check out the complete episode of the show at Apple.com, or via the YouTube player embedded below. H/T to WrestlingHeadlines.com for transcribing the above quotes.
