In our industry work rate is often emphasized above all else, you can commonly see people tweet in retort to a valid point "Well what have you done?" This mindset has fostered a tendency for individuals to join multiple shows in order to fill their resumes, this however creates a few other and in our opinion far more dire issues.
1. Overexposure Tainting the Specialness or Value of Performers
2. Inconsistent Booking
3. Conflicting Storylines
Overexposure Tainting the Spectacle and Value of Performers
Every performer is valued by what they can offer to a promotion and the fans. Performers provide promotions with spectacle and gives fans a reason to watch and follow the content, if a fan can simply tune into another show to watch their favorite performers there is no reason for them to watch your show.
For example Joshua Phoenix is widely considered one of the best wrestlers in the world and provides shows with a spectacle for fans, he gives them a reason to watch and tune in for matches from a competitor that they won't see in many other promotions. Shows perform well when they market performers and matches that can't be seen anywhere else, they market wrestlers that can only be seen on their shows.
Some may say that oversaturation is no longer an issue with how sporadically and rarely shows are released, however, the issue still remains when the shows that are released have similar rosters to their competitors. More and more people are incidentally becoming exclusive even without them really knowing just due to the fickle status of various promotions but a drive to intentional exclusivity should be promoted and emphasized.
Inconsistent Booking
It is an inescapable fact that different bookers present the same wrestlers differently, the way a wrestler may be booked in True-1 Pro is very different than to how he/she would be booked in Victory Wrestling. This is not to say one is better than the other but just to acknowledge the different booking philosophies that different promotions and bookers possess, sometimes this can be detrimental to a wrestler's character. The inconsistency of a wrestler's booking derails most character development and their character doesn't follow an established arc but rather an unchronological conglomerate of stories that vary from promotion to promotion. A wrestler may be a face in one promotion and market himself on social media as a face but then be a heel in another, a wrestler may be on a losing streak in some promotions but be a world champion in another.
To prevent these inconsistencies it would require inter-promotional cooperation of booking and production teams, release dates would have to be coordinated and chronologically consistent to all other promotions that said wrestler is currently in. Exclusivity solves this issue as wrestlers will have a consistent and established story in their promotion and this is not to say they can't appear on other shows but for the sake of consistency their appearances should be booked in cooperation with their home promotion and they should be as sporadic as possible.
Conflicting Storylines
Much to go along with the inconsistent booking a storyline for a wrestler in one promotion may be adverse to their storyline in a competing promotion. Each promotion has a specific style and pattern they follow when booking storylines whether they acknowledge it or not and sometimes wrestlers have to modify their characters depending on the promotion. If a wrestler modifies themselves for one promotion but remains in the same in another it presents a clear inconstancy.
If a wrestler is facing career ending stakes in one promotion but in another promotion they are simply in a friendly feud with another member of that roster it undermines the seriousness of their most high stakes feud. A wrestler's storyline should consume their character and all their actions should be dictated by said storyline but that is impossible if they are in multiple promotions peddling multiple stories.
To conclude we cannot emphasize enough that these are simply our opinions and you are more than welcome to disagree and if you do in fact disagree feel free to DM any of the accounts listed below to present you own opinions.
Written By: Philip Nelson
Twitter: @TodayInCAW and @PhilipNelsonTIC
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