Build a roster to compete with WWE

[cool guy]

Scenario: A powerful media company have decided they want to compete with the WWE, and you're the person they put in charge of building their new roster. Who do you get?

You can use guys from any non-WWE fed. You can also take up to three guys from the WWE itself, but only if they've never been WWE champion (free agents that held the title are fine, you can use Del Rio for example).

Working within those parameters, do you think you could build a roster with the ability to compete on an international stage?

[bmfjules]

I would hire Jim Ross to be talent relations and make roster decisions, Cornette and Lance Storm to run developmental\training and Heyman and Gabe  Sapolsky would be in charge of creative and let the chips fall where they may.

[giraffe4hire]

The problem here is that "compete with WWE" and "build a roster" are considered to be related. If TNA has proved anything, it's that roster has nothing to do with competing with WWE. And if WWE has proved anything, it's that brand is more important than roster to the majority of fans.

If I was told to compete with WWE, I would put all my power into building a recognizable and separate brand. The brand is key. The brand is what I promote. Once the brand is established and has it's own identity, then the roster and stars will begin to be recognized as being under the banner of that brand. But over the years, as stars come and go, the audience will not leave because they are not there for the roster necessarily, they are there for the brand.

But to answer your question, I would have very few "established" talents. Perhaps three hand picked guys to start out on top, and help get the young guys over. The reason I don't want "established" talents is because they already made a name for themselves and are synonymous with the brand they made their name in. I don't want people to think, "hey, that's so-and-so from WWE", I want them to say "wow...this guy is awesome. I've never seen him before" and keep them thinking about my brand.

[MichaelMartini]

If Steve Austin is still capable of working on a part time basis, he'd be the face of the company. He would be a big enough name to generate interest. The 3 picks from WWE would be Cesaro, Zack Ryder and Paige or maybe Naomi for the women's division.

Rounding out the roster would be Punk, AJ Styles, Okada, Samoa Joe, Chris Masters, Del Rio, Jon Morrison, Hardy Boys, Jay Lethal, Brodus Clay, Ethan Carter III, Lashley, Rhino, Nakamura, Doc Gallows, MVP, Carlito, Jinder Mahall, Drew McIntyre, Gran Guerrero, Blue Panther Jr, London & Kendrick, Homicide & Hernandez, Beth Phoenix, Kaitlyn, Eve, Maria, Taeler Hendrix, Hamada

Jim Ross as talent relations and maybe commentary. Foley for creative and booker and maybe commentary.

[mattyy]

I actually wouldn't go for well known names. The focus would be to find an hour and a half timeslot on a decent network(Hour of content, after cutting out commercials). Basically, I would shoot to have a product similar to the Wrestling Retribution Project or whatever it was called. Three matches in a show, with backstage segments more than in-ring segments. Honestly, very much like Lucha Underground.

[The Spelunker!]

For sure. It'd all be about presenting something different. I'd run it in a league format, where wins and losses are tallied. Keep stats on everything, and present it as sportlike as possible, while still keeping storylines and drama. Think like WMAC Masters crossed with modern sports presentation.

Roster:

Punk
Del Rio
Tanahashi
Styles
Samoa Joe
EC III
Okada
Low Ki
Alex Shelley
Daniels
BxB Hulk
Akira Tozawa
Seth Rollins
Kevin Owens
ACH
Drew Gulak
Wade Barrett
Fenix
Ricochet
Rich Swann
Brian Cage

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Ok, this can be fun but realistically it going to be hard to compete against them. This how I would handle it as it will not be an over not deal to get close to the WWE. I would start with smaller goals and takes steps to that level. Like first get a TV deal and shot for a reasonable rating. Lets say Spike TV and getting a 2.0 a realistic number. That would be my first deal is getting on a Network that CAN draw a number like USA could. Spike TV maybe the best Network for that. Here the roster and in a realistic level of yes this is possible.

First I would get in contact with ROH and getting a work relationship with them. Making them the Developmental for this company. The Main roster will look like this.

AJ Styles
Christopher Daniels
Kazarian
Jay Lethal
Alex Shelly
Chris Sabin
John Morrison
Adam Cole
Michael Elgin
Homicide
The Young Bucks
The Wolves
Samoa Joe
Bobby Roode
Kurt Angle
Jeff Hardy
Low Ki
Paul London
Brian Kendrick
Doc Gallows
Evan Bourne
Justin Gabriel
(There's more just trying to make it go on and on.)

Woman's Divison:
Awesome Kong
Mickie James (She wrestled since having a kid)
Havoc
Athena
Mschif
Cheerleader Melissa
Mia Yim

The biggest thing is having a Marketing plan to get the name out and promote the company. Every town we hit they know we are there or coming. The first year of touring would to hit mainly all the major wrestling hot beds and become established with those area first. Getting a booking team together in a realistic form.

I would hire JR for Talent relations and maybe Play by Play. Don't want to over use him but in some way have him on board. Kind of leaving it up on him. I hire Victoria as the Ladies Agent working a deal that unlike TNA did. HELP promote her restaurant. If she still wants to wrestle no problem adding to the roster. I would get a creative team of Tommy Dreamer, Gabe Sapolsky, and if he leaves with Brock Paul Heyman. Now here the deal, going against the rules so to speak. Since after WM Brock is possible to becoming a free agent. What if I try to destour him to join us instead of the UFC.Having Brock verses Joe would be money. if Joe is built back up as the force he once was.

Now CM Punk is unlucky as he did SIGN with UFC. Other wise I try for him. Right now it unrealistic. Now after the first year I book a NFL arena for my first WM event about mid second year making this event. That how you make a statement by being the first company since WCW to also book a big arena for a wrestling event. If able to get Brock to came in have him vs. Joe as the headliner match.

Having four titles World, Tag Team, Womans, and No limit (X-Divison title belt)

Main thing is having all the title pictures well balance and competitive.

The show layout would be more in ring action less talking format. Fans are watching a wrestling show for a reason. If talking is over coming the wrestling there's a problem. be lest "Sport entertainment" and more in your face action. Angle that are easy to follow and doesn't insult your intelligence.

Also have the kind of deal that GFW did with partnerships with New Japan and ext. Making the big "WM" stadium show bigger by having the stars of New Japan for example crossed into the show with a good build.

[Rave]

As pretty much everyone else has said, the idea shouldn't be to directly "compete", but rather to present enough of an alternative to be able to compete in some fashion. If one can properly promote and market their roster as must-watch and not completely shit all over them in the process with stupid booking, one wouldn't need that many "names". Plus it's too easy to crutch-book if you've got too many people who made their names elsewhere and, without massive retooling which isn't possible for much of them, wouldn't be able to establish them as your own talent.

Before hiring anyone, I'd want to know if I had the option of deciding the feel of the promotion, or if the hypothetical media company already had an idea in mind. Gritty? Whacked out? No nonsense like early ROH? There's so much indie talent out there that one actually could get away with tailoring to a specific feel. There's the high-flyers, the hybrid styles, the guys who'll throw down and wreck shit, the goofy gimmicks that get written off at first but end up being amazing. Once the feel was decided, then I'd start hiring, with a sense towards that feel.

I feel that there needs to be a balance in the roster, no matter what the promotion's feel is. Stack a roster too much, and there will be marginalizing and jobberhood for people who very likely don't deserve it. Too little, and there's not enough to create interest.

I'd want to take someone who isn't a "name" in the classical sense and, with time/effort/good booking, develop them into the promotion's ace who people can associate with the promotion. Someone talented as all hell who can go with anyone and put on awesome stuff to get the fans talking. Like Prince Puma for Lucha Underground. I think this would depend on the promotion's feel, but if I could get away with it, I'd want my ace to be Josh Alexander.

Backstage, I'd want people who actually know what they're doing, yet wouldn't have severe personality clashes or try to go into business for themselves. Not necessarily "names" here either, and definitely no one onscreen or related to/involved with anyone onscreen. Nepotism sucks.

I love the idea of partnerships and talent exchanges. If done right, it just makes wrestling better as a whole by exposing fans to wrestlers they'd never have seen otherwise. Crosspromotion, special featured matches, the works. You scratch my back, I'll gladly scratch yours.

As for the format, it's "wrestling" on the marquee. Less talk, more action. This is something else where Lucha Underground has the right idea. The talky bits and backstage stuff should serve to back the matches and give them meaning, not be the center of attention. I don't expect everything to be stellar, but it's going to be focused on the wrestling.

[Reflecto]

I wouldn't use WWE steals yet- or if I did, I'd wait until they MEAN something. Having a lot of WWE roster members would just make this look like a WWE clone immediately. By the same token, there's not a lot of big names with WWE experience who'd work for the indy circuit- for instance Chris Masters would, naturally, get signed- but when Masters is the BEST WWE castoff on the indies outside of a national promotion, depending on WWE castoffs is a fool's game right now. This ties into something Bischoff said about WCW when Nitro was forming- you can be BETTER than WWE (not happening), WORSE than WWE (a formality), or DIFFERENT than WWE (and then, you have a prayer at taking them down.)

For partnership/talent exchanges, I rent out the name of the company, similar to how the NWA does, to get the name out on a grassroots level and get to scout small-time promotions (plucking as many people who have talent, but could be sold as homegrown stars, as I can.)

The only BIG TICKET promotion I try- and by try, I mean "do whatever it takes to get them to partner with me"- I go with is SHIMMER, solely because then the women's division is set for the promotion's duration- a steady stream of top independent women will come in and make sure that the women's division has a more wrestling-oriented, high-quality roster...which will fit my goal of being DIFFERENT than WWE or TNA. Meanwhile, for other ones, I try to focus on scouting wrestlers who have the talent, but just enough flaws so that they'd never get signed by WWE or TNA- also to focus on "DIFFERENT".

[Deleted]

My preliminary focus would not be a roster, but strategy and the philosophy behind my brand. As others have said, I would want to create an ALTERNATIVE product and establish an IDENTITY that I stayed true to.

TNA never established an identity for itself, and that's why it is the way it is. From the outset, it has always been like WCW from 1999-2000, constantly rebooting itself with a new direction because there is no philosophy there beyond "We want to have wrestling shows and make money."

[Chip Chipperson]

I won't do a whole roster because quite frankly it'd just be a bunch of ex WWE and TNA guys simply because I'm not educated on who's hot in the indies anymore but I'll do 10-15 guys I'd want.

Roster:

Alberto Del Rio (Former WWE Champion, huge in Mexico, big star elsewhere. Wouldn't even try and do this without having Del Rio under an exclusive deal)

Barbie Blank (Has a huge fan base. Wouldn't be able to call her Kelly Kelly but I'd slap her on every poster or commercial I had and just call her Barbie)

Brian Cage (Has WWE development experience, is a good worker and is in phenomenal shape. I'd take him)

Chris Masters (Improved tons since the WWE. Would hire him and have him work as a patriotic baby face just like Luger did for a little bit)

Chris Sabin (Would be the star of my Cruiserweight Division)

Crime Time (Allegedly both working the indies. You can use their team name with a simple mis spelling and they were always over. Would be my tag champions)

Colt Cabana (Talented, comedic, has a cult following. I'd use him as a midcard comedy act)

Drew Galloway (Best guy on the indies right now with name value. Would take him)

Eric Bischoff (I don't know how to run a company let alone write week to week of TV and run production or deal with wrestlers. Bischoff does so he'd be a must hire for me.)

Great Khali (Probably not popular here but a huge star in India and has 8 years in the WWE. I'd use him for a year or two in my midcard and do a tour of India in hopes of drawing huge with him)

Harry Smith (Don't know how loyal he is to NJPW but I'd sign him, call him Davey Boy Smith Jr and have him do the exact gimmick his father did. Build him up for a year and he has potential to be a main eventer)

Lance Hoyt (Team with Harry)

The Von Erichs (Lacey, Marshall and Ross. They've got a recognizable last name and Marshall and Ross were okay in their TNA match whilst Lacey is attractive enough to hook a male audience)

[Square]

First thing I would do is get a hold of Matt Hardy's number and bring that man in to be the main guy backstage. A promoter in his own right, one of the first people to use social media to create a brand in the wrestling world, experience in the indies and in the big leagues and someone sharp as a stick for wrestling. Also with the direction I would go he is one of the most experienced people at it. Tag team wrestling.

Most of the major companies don't give tag wrestling the time or effort to make it worth anything, so why not use that gap to build on? Have tag team wrestling be the focus and you could always branch a singles division later. Make 2 titles, the main tag belts and a secondary belt where if you have lost a title shot for the main belts or been champ you can't go for the 2nd belts for a year and at the big show of the year champion vs champion for the main belts. Also have the Freebirds rule in effect to spice things up.

First picks would be Paul London and Brian Kendrick, a great tag team with name value could be slotted into a top role rather convincingly.
Next Drew Galloway, at 29 years old this guy is unbelievable and watching his stuff on the indies reminds you how good of a talent he is. He could be the guy you send to do media and you wouldn't have to worry. Also put with him Joe and Mark Coffey, two brothers who are f***ing BEASTS who can go with luchadores and brawlers, as well as someone who will be a big star in the WWE in 10 years Joe Hendry.

Keeping with the International flavour to make your company look like "all the best talents in the world come here to show that" The Sumerian Death Squad from out of The Netherlands along with Bad Bones, Team Single of Rampage Brown and T-Bone along with Sha Samuels and Marty Scrull from England, David Finlay Jr (Fit's lad) and Dunkan Disorderly from Northern Ireland, Super Smash Brothers and Monster Mafia from Canada, TMDK and Australian Suicide from Australia, Alberto El Patron, La Sombra, Fenix and Drago from Mexico, No Limit and Shibata and Goto from Japan

From the US picks like The Young Bucks, Red Dragon, The Colony (Green,Fire and Soldier), Taylor and Gargano, ICMG, Guns and Gallows, War Machine, Areoform, Devestation Corportation, The Joyville F***-Its along with guys like Brian Cage, Matt Cross, Rocky Romero, Masada, Pepper Parks and Joe Doering.

John Pollock on commentary with MVP as colour, Larry Legend as ring announcer. Truth Martini, Cherry Bomb and Val Venis as managers, Matt as the on air authority figure and you're golden

[Cyno]

CM Punk would be my obvious first choice. He still has a lot of chants for him at WWE events, is going to be a comic book writer, and I can use his connection to UFC for some genuine cross-promotion and not in the half-assed way TNA did it. Like, I would be hanging out with Dana White and such at the big UFC events.

[________ has left the building]

I rather build a roster to be an alternative than compete with WWE. Trying to do that shit is like the XFL taking on the NFL.

[molson5]

Jan 27, 2015 16:33:27 GMT -5 giraffe4hire said:

If TNA has proved anything, it's that roster has nothing to do with competing with WWE.
.

As much as TNA is considered a debacle, it's hard to see anyone else competing with the WWE as much as they did. Their highest viewership was 2.2 million - that's starting to get into the conversion of competing with RAW. You could put on an objectively great wrestling show with indie guys on Spike and I don't think it would get anywhere near 2.2 million. Pro wrestling is a niche thing. So I think a new company could learn from the positives of TNA as well as the negatives. You need to be different, and you need to have some mainstream name that attracts lapsed fans, and kids of lapsed fans.

[Chuck Conry]

I'd go the old WWF route in a way. I'd find one star to hook my wagon to, find a heel, and then find some celebrity to hook in with the angle for media attention. Built the first event around that and let the undercard and the workers there hopefully help bring people back.

This female wrestler and some heel tried to strong arm up Katy Perry!! Good thing the top face made the save. Here's a train-wreck main event mixed tag I hope you want to see, folks!

ps: I'd find some dummy like Ted Turner to back it.

[giraffe4hire]

Jan 28, 2015 17:42:37 GMT -5 molson5 said:

Jan 27, 2015 16:33:27 GMT -5 giraffe4hire said:

If TNA has proved anything, it's that roster has nothing to do with competing with WWE.
.

As much as TNA is considered a debacle, it's hard to see anyone else competing with the WWE as much as they did. Their highest viewership was 2.2 million - that's starting to get into the conversion of competing with RAW. You could put on an objectively great wrestling show with indie guys on Spike and I don't think it would get anywhere near 2.2 million. Pro wrestling is a niche thing. So I think a new company could learn from the positives of TNA as well as the negatives. You need to be different, and you need to have some mainstream name that attracts lapsed fans, and kids of lapsed fans.

I believe the Hogan debut show was TNA's highest rated show, correct? TNA put a ton of hype and press behind that debut show, and made sure everybody knew they were coming to Mondays and they were coming for WWE. People tuned in. Now, you could say that people tuned in to see the stars like Hogan, but I feel people tuned in just to give TNA a fresh look. TNA made as much noise as they could and people showed up to see what all the fuss was about. Now, I feel relatively comfortable saying the majority of people didn't show up to see Hogan and the stars because TNA's ratings dropped immediately after that debut show. Hogan and Flair and the nWo were on the following shows for months, but the ratings kept dropping. If people did show up to see the stars, they certainly didn't stick around for them, proving my point that brand is what keeps fans tuning in, not who is on your roster.

[Bang Bang Bart]

I'd basically combine the NJPW and AAA rosters (most of whom are featured on El Rey's "Lucha Underground"), with Drew Galloway (fighting champion face), Brian Cage (monster heel who wrecks everyone), and Cesaro/Claudio Castagnoli (tweener-ish character that's cheered, despite being officially a "heel") as my "marquee" guys that I build the company around. The program would be an hour-long program with (usually) three matches and a segment. The program would air on Fox Sports One. Angles would usually be straightforward feuds and would be free of the usual WWE trappings, instead emphasizing in-ring battles for having guys settling scores.

[EyeofTyr]

In an ideal world, I'd build it around four divisions. Heavyweight, Junior Heayweight, Women's and I'd have it where the three divisions' members are able to intersect in the Tag Team Division alongside some stable teams.

Women's
Addy Starr
Cheerleader Melissa
Christina Von Eerie
Kana
Leva Bates
Mickie James
Veda Scott

Heavyweights
Brian Cage
Cody Rhodes
Doc Gallows
Kazuchika Okada
Luke Harper
Shinsuke Nakamura
William Regal

Junior Heavyweights
Alex Shelley
Jimmy Jacobs
Jushin Thunder Liger
Kenny Omega
Ricochet
R.D. Evans
Tim Donst

Tag Teams
Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga)
F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor & Icarus)
Jumonji Sisters (Dash Chisako and Sendai Sachiko)
Osirian Portal (Amasis & Ophidian)
The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
Tremendous Investigations Inc. (Bill Carr & Dan Barry)
World's Cutest Tag Team (Candice LaRae & Joey Ryan)

Melissa, Nakamura, Shelley and the Osirian Portal would likely be the faces of their respected divisions. With James, Cody, Liger and the Young Bucks playing the definitive #2's in all of their respected divisions and being the constant threat to the face of each of their divisions. Kana, Harper, Donst and the Bullet Club would be the destroyers of worlds, building each up to be a massive threat that either the face or the #2 eventually will have to slay. And, probably make Addy, Cage, Evans and the Jumonji Sisters the plucky darkhorses of their respected divisions.

I'd also have Regal and Jacobs working half the time as wrestlers, and half the time as mouthpieces for other talents. Likely building a heel stable around Regal, with him as the mastermind of the faction that pulls the strings from afar.

[berlynwright]

I'd run a one man show with Nakamura doing his stuff.