Indy Wrestling Wrestlers Who Draw

[Lardlad]

I was trying to convince my Dad to go to an indy show around here this month that has wrestlers like El Generico, Franky the Mobster and Player Uno on the card. He doesn't reconize any of those names, and then says "If they had Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole I would pay to see that." *insert frustration here*

That said, this summer they brought Tommy Dreamer in, and although it was a decent sized crowd, I don't know many people who bought a ticket because Dreamer was on the poster. I think most people were going whether he was going to be there or not.


So I'm wondering who still draws these days? Is it pretty much only wrestlers we would have recently seen on Monday Night RAW?? Could guys like Dreamer and Raven still draw or do they just cost a promoter money with no really benefit in terms of making extra money due to bringing a former name in?

[Urethra Franklin]

It's a catch-22, really. Indy guys normally can't draw without exposure and the way to get exposure is through a fed with a TV deal and, if they get that, are they really indy anymore?

[Steveweiser]

Some can draw through word of mouth - surely El Generico is one such wrestler.

[mattyy]

well way back when Daniel Bryanson was on the circuit, I'd say he was. For the 2010 Chikara Show in Michigan he was at, it was packed. In 2011, when they ran the same building, it wasn't nearly as full.

[Andrew is Good]

Samoa Joe used to be a mega draw before he had his career destroyed in TNA. Man, I'd love to see a shoot interview of Joe if he gets let go.

[molson5]

I think Punk/Danielson/Joe were the first and last three to draw on the indys the way they did. Indy's were mostly old/untalented guys before that, and nobody's really stepped up to replace them.

[Lardlad]

Would Michael Cole be able to do indy dates if people wanted to book him? If so, why haven't any indy feds booked him yet? Yes he is annoying, but I'll bet he'd draw a lot of people.....

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Jan 6, 2012 21:07:35 GMT -5 Lardlad said:

Would Michael Cole be able to do indy dates if people wanted to book him? If so, why haven't any indy feds booked him yet? Yes he is annoying, but I'll bet he'd draw a lot of people.....

I assume he is under contract with WWE and therefore can't work anywhere else.

[Lardlad]

But I thought announcers like Lawler and agents were able to take indy bookings as long as the office clears it, no?

Lawler still works Memphis all the time, plus other indy dates. So I figured Cole might be able to do the same?

[Azrael from Outerspace]

People like Generico/Colt/Richards won't draw for PWG/ROH/Chikara in that they already have fan bases who will go to see the company regardless. So if any of those 3 left the shows wouldn't take a hit in attendance. But if you put those 3 on a small time fed they might be able to draw in a decent gate if the promotion is decent.

Really though if you've not made a name for yourself in WWE (and to a lesser extent, TNA) you probably aren't going to draw much from the casual fan.

[Crusty Ruffles]

The way I understood it, announcers don't have talent contracts and can be booked outside of the WWE. AAW in Chicago just announced Lawler for a date in February. Assuming Cole has an announcer contract, he's fair game.

It'd hard to think of an indy guy now that could draw big, but I think there's a few promotions like ROH and SHIMMER that usually don't announce much (if any) as far as matches and still sell a ton of tickets from their name value.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Jan 6, 2012 21:57:33 GMT -5 Lardlad said:

But I thought announcers like Lawler and agents were able to take indy bookings as long as the office clears it, no?

Lawler still works Memphis all the time, plus other indy dates. So I figured Cole might be able to do the same?

I assume that since Cole works a bigger schedule than Lawler (i.e. he does Raw, Smackdown and PPV's) and pretty much is the "Voice of the WWE" (in the sense that he commentates all of the major shows) that the E' wouldn't allow him to take indy bookings. But, I could be completely wrong.

[The Spelunker!]

The idea of Michael Cole doing Indy shows as a character that hates Indy Wrestling is both amazing and terrifying.

[jagilki]

Jan 7, 2012 1:31:10 GMT -5 The Spelunker! said:

The idea of Michael Cole doing Indy shows as a character that hates Indy Wrestling is both amazing and terrifying.

A modern "Jerry Lawler invades ECW"?

[Mozenrath]

Jan 6, 2012 22:34:06 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Jan 6, 2012 21:57:33 GMT -5 Lardlad said:

But I thought announcers like Lawler and agents were able to take indy bookings as long as the office clears it, no?

Lawler still works Memphis all the time, plus other indy dates. So I figured Cole might be able to do the same?

I assume that since Cole works a bigger schedule than Lawler (i.e. he does Raw, Smackdown and PPV's) and pretty much is the "Voice of the WWE" (in the sense that he commentates all of the major shows) that the E' wouldn't allow him to take indy bookings. But, I could be completely wrong.

It's possible, but I think it's just as likely he just wouldn't want to much. He probably is very busy, so odds are he spends his other time with family, or doing stuff like fishing with HBK.