Social Exploitation at it's Best

Too many wrestling fans and writers recognize only the critique of a wrestling product and take for granted what they do right. I like to think I'm "not that guy". Take In Your Face wrestling, for example. Their biggest single flaw, from my perspective, was their lack of social media promotion. I doubt I need to tell of the power of Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook. You can reach dozens, hundreds, thousands of fans whenever you want. Capturing the attention of "the plugged in consumer" is essential for a company to grow in these times. It's free to produce and adds to the overall experience.

In the last few weeks, In Your Face Wrestling has done a tremendous job grabbing the low hanging fruit of social media and literally feeding it to their fans. Use of their Facebook page to promote events, news updates, match announcements, etc, has exploded. People are sharing the links. They've answered as "attending" upcoming events. They've linked it with their twitter and - surprise - have picked up a handful of new followers! It was announced a few days ago, via their feed, that they had added Google's +1 functionality to their webpage which, with the emergence and surge of G+, is an absolutely brilliant move. (however, on my iPad, I am not seeing the +1 button on any of their pages. Otherwise, I'd be clicking like mad - especially on a few of the recent INTERFACE's! They've been out of the park as of late, but more on that later. Perhaps it's just an issue with the iPad's safari browser?)

This use of social media can only help them in the long run! Something I'd like to see, perhaps, is a list of links hosted on the page, linking to the Facebook and twitter handles of IYFW performers and personalities, either in our out of kayfabe. Further use of their YouTube account would certainly be welcome by the fans. As great as the audio stuff IYFW puts out is, few things capture the imagination of fans more than video and I think, if done with a slightly harder edge to them - a different feel - it could be a huge win for the promotions growth if used in tandem with what they're already doing with Twitter and Facebook. Just something to think about.

Speaking of the recent audio stuff... Two more HUGE matches were announced on a recent INTERFACE:

Roman Dominguez and Pierre "The Beast" Vachon VS Bobby Ocean and Drake Evans
IYFW Tag Team Champions - Adam Badger and Michael Monroe (C) VS The Killer Steves

I am insanely stoked for these match ups. Vachon and Vigo are confirmed to be in the same building for the first time since Defy the Odds back in April. Evans and Ocean teaming up? Facegasm. Then there's the tag match... The minute Badger stepped through the curtain wearing that mask, his standing in my eye sky rocketed and Monroe has been nothing but fun to watch between bells. Then there are The Steves. So so so entertaining and two genuinely good dudes. This show is just getting better as it builds.

Hoping for some clarification on the In Your Face Rumble matches number of competitors and the actual rules of the match, before the events date. This looks to be the main event and final match of the show.

Also hoping for at least ONE more blog update here before my IYFW Summertime Bruise PREVIEW/PREDICTIONS post in the next few weeks! So... Look forward to that!

Big Announcement

COMNG SOON...

As I touched on a few posts ago, I'm looking to interview a handful of IYFW personalities. Judging by the image above, my first victim is all lined up!

Sometime following IYFW's Summertime Bruise event (August 13th at the BACC), the Mighty One and I will sit down for an in depth look at his beginnings, his wrestling career, and just about everything in between!

Exciting stuff! Stay tuned!

Shaking My Head

Go ahead and jump to 2:20.

The first YouTube promo for IYFW's Summertime Bruise is up! But... It's not their best.

In it, IYFW Management Representative and not-so-friendly neighborhood authority figure type, puts over his douchey character; taking a mildly gratuitous moment to brush his chest hair. The verbal content was fine, don't get me wrong. He denies being on the payroll of Scott Scarsdale and bashes Maxx Burton. He confirms what Joey LaRoque told us a few weeks ago on the INTERFACE regarding the participation of Pierre "The Beast" Vachon at the event and teases the arrival of a European wrestling machine to IYFW.

(pardon me, but Fronz Roddy's Austrian heritage makes him the greatest thing to come to IYFW by way of Europe. So I automatically take issue with this.)

All of this is fine... But it's not the words, nor the bubbly graphical accompaniment that has me shaking my head... It's the curtain just behind Touch'ole that FALLS towards the end of the promo. Ignoring the fact that it reveals a few ultra-creepy dolls on the case just over his shoulder... Why wouldn't we re-record this? I get that this was filmed at home and there's no huge budget involved... But come on. Gotta be some quality control up in this piece. I have mentioned in earlier posts that social media (like Facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc) is an untapped resource in IYFW, in my humble opinion. I LOVE that they are putting stuff out there to promote the product and get excited when I receive a notification when they do, but it's too important to be THAT flawed. Imagine a new fan stumbling across that, or one who is on the fence about attending the next show. As much as I enjoy IYFW, that looked really bad.

Before anyone implies that "maybe the curtain falling was intentional", I would first ask: what money is there to be made by looking second rate?

Again, I get that they don't have the money to throw towards promotion like a WWE, TNA, or ROH. That's fine! But you've GOT to put more effort into putting out a more polished product. I am afraid to see the YouTube comments left by viewers.

Alright. Enough about that. How about some promos from some competitors? Even if it's a five minute montage of guys from all over the card putting over their character, their current storyline, and the August show in a few lines each? I recall how the old school syndicated ECW shows would all end. A video montage of wrestlers ranting in the camera with music blaring in the background, putting over their upcoming shows, story lines, or doing something wacky to convey their character. They had next to no budget at the time, also... But so, so effective. The promos weren't "perfect", but it made you wish you could make the drive to Philly to see the show.

I would absolutely LOVE to see IYFW pull something like that off. But, please, let's keep the set together, can we?

:)

Bruise Cruise Control

The build to IYFW's Summertime Bruise in Ballston Spa, New York is ongoing over on IYFWrestling.Com. On the heels of a solid Coronation Cup event back in June, the story lines are moving in a very organic and natural fashion. Two big matches have already been announced that are sure to have major ramifications at the top of the card for the foreseeable future and there are a handful of match-ups, or probable interactions, that we can expect to see that DON'T involve the IYFW Championship belt.

Before we get to that let's talk about the IYFW Title picture.

Vigo left the Ballston Area Community Center with a mammoth victory in the Coronation Cup Tournament that also earned him the vacant IYFW Championship. That victory in the finals was filled with controversy and intrigue that saw the interference of more than half of the wrestlers in the building and was earned against "The Millennium Millionaire" Scott Scarsdale. Summertime Bruise will be headlined by a rematch of this bout with an added, intriguing stipulation.

It's a submission match.

Now, Scarsdale notably secured his first round win in the tournament by (in addition to buying off one of the competitors and having a second competitor handcuffed to the outside of the ring) forcing "Loverboy" Ricky Williams to submit in a vicious choke hold; a chokehold that Williams sold all the way through intermission. Vigo, on the other hand, is not a submission wrestler.

In a recent interview on IYFW's INTERFACE, however, Vigo sounded ready! He was able to overcome Scarsdale's deep pockets in June (with a little surprising help from Maxx Burton) and expressed confidence that he could pull out another miracle. As I have said before, and as the Champ himself referenced in the aforementioned interview, Vigo isn't necessarily the flashiest or fastest competitor on the roster (next time you quote me, could you plug the site, Mr.Vigo? ;) ) but the man knows how to hold the crowd in his hands and bring them along for a fun ride. His arsenal of high impact power moves and barebones, bare knuckle brawling may prove to be enough to fend off Scarsdale's checkbook long enough to slap on a submission. But we all know that Scarsdale has a plan. We have to assume he didn't break the bank at Coronation Cup and still is looking to buy that coveted IYFW Championship. It's been established that he already has company authority figure, Harold Touch'ole, on his payroll and firmly in his pocket. That right there, along with the submission stip, tells you that he has the advantage. More on this match as we get closer to the event...

Also announced for Summertime Bruise is the promotions annual In Your Face Rumble! A Royal Rumble style attraction that features an undetermined number of participants entering the ring at predetermined intervals all striving (and determined!) to be the last man standing... the man who will be named the company's #1 Contender to the IYFW Championship! No names have been confirmed for the match, yet one has been confirmed as NOT being in the match - Pierre Vachon. The bad blood between Vigo and Vachon has been well documented both here and on IYFW's home site, and it doesn't look like IYFW is going to sign the match anytime soon. Which makes me wonder if we might see an Unsanctioned match take place between the two down the line... And if Vachon were to win, what might that mean for the IYFW Championship (if Vigo held it at the time). A lot of questions to be answered. Among them...

We ever going to see former IYFW Champ, Guillaume deSade in an IYFW ring again? And if so, wouldn't it be interesting if he returned as an unlikely babyface looking to exact vengeance on Touch'ole, who CLEARLY stripped him of the title at the behest of Scott Scarsdale? Right? Right? Hmmmmm...

No other matches announced yet, but here are a few predictions:
"MIGHTY" Fronz Roddy VS The Northern Stud - Grudge Match
Roman Dominguez VS Shiloh Robinson - rubber match for New Breed Title
Adam Badger and Michael Monroe VS Jamar Justice and Ricky Williams - tag title grudge match

The rest of the roster I'd like to see slug it out in the Rumble.

Looking to be another fun show! More to come as it comes my way!
As a side note, may be looking to interview an IYFW wrestler or personality in the next month or so (likely after Summertime Bruise) and since I know a good amount of IYFW talent read this blog I'm putting it out there now. Reach out to me via email, Facebook, twitter, whatever... Would be a fun exercise and learning experience for me and good promotion/exposure for the talent.

Until next time!

IYFW Quick Hits

Not all that much going on in the world of my favorite independent promotion. Off the heels of an extremely eventful June event, the slow build to next month's "Summertime Bruise" has begun! Here are some thoughts to keep you busy until actual matches are announced:

- it's been teased on the IYFW website that we may see a one on one showdown between former tag team champions, the International Egotrip, The Northern Stud and "Mighty" Fronz Roddy, at the BACC in August. Anytime I get to see Roddy in action, I am excited. Stud was positioned as the baby face following the teams implosion and, up until his part in the run-in save during the Main Event, the crowd wasn't buying it. However... one thing is certain. Few performers in IYFW have the ability to turn the crowd against them as effortlessly and magnificently as Fronz Roddy. If anyone can make a sympathetic figure out of the wife beater wearing Northern Stud it HAS to be the Mighty One.

- there was a fun feature on the IYFW INTERFACE a few days ago. Joey LaRocque conducted a phone interview with Maxx Burton, covering the lead-up and fallout of the Coronation Cup. Not a LOT was actually revealed that we didn't already ascertain, yet it was still fun to listen to. Be sure to give it a listen. Very clever, and I am sure, a blast for them to put together. If you listen with a careful ear, you'll understand why. Either way, you should always check out the Interface.

- received another message via theburninghammer.com from another IYFW wrestler who went out of his way to praise this blog! Don't know if he'd want me to identify him, so I won't, but it was a very cool gesture. He aked me what else I would like to see from IYFW shows and, since it's something I feel strongly about, I will share it here:

I wouldn't change really ANYTHING about the content, pacing, and flow of IYFW events. They're well thought out and brilliantly executed. As I have said a million times, everyone works very hard and they put on a very fun show! Yeah, I mentioned way back that I was disappointed in the plastic ring apron, the old ring, etc. But, ultimately, if the product between the ropes is solid the average wrestling fan can look past stuff like that. My only real "frustration" with IYFW, if it can even be called a frustration, is their minimalist approach towards use of social media and promotion via social media. I'm not saying they even need to dump any more money into it! Their website suits their current needs just fine. Given the huge number of rabid pro wrestling fans on twitter I am shocked at how infrequently they use it and by the shockingly low number of followers they have. It takes time to build, naturally, but the payoff could be tremendous. The same goes with Facebook. How about YouTube?!? Would it be that difficult to have wrestlers involved in major and minor story lines consistently film vignettes before/after live events to be later uploaded to YouTube? IYFW does this from time to time but I have to believe there is a TON of untapped potential there - it's not used nearly enough to really promote their live shows to it's fullest. I emailed IYFW several months ago expressing these concerns and did not hear back from them, which is sort of what I expected. I would like to reiterate that I am certainly willing to help in any way I can, as a fan, whether it's by offering more ideas, helping them push their social presence so that more people can learn about In Your Face Wresting and the company can grow.

- another thing to reflect on that came out of my exchange with this other IYFW performer, as fans of independent wrestling, one thing we neglect thinking about is the distance most of these wrestlers travel to put on a show for what can't be a huge payday. The average wrestling fan takes that for granted. These dudes fork over cash for gas, etc... all to perform for fans that they hope will appreciate it. I have a ton of respect for that.

Hope to have more to talk about soon. May weigh in on the CM Punk/WWE situation if I feel inclined. A lot has already been said eloquently by others, heh.