Oh. Okay. So you're gonna fly me out there,
get me a hotel, AND you're gonna pay me
my asking booking fee? Huh, you got it!
Savannah Evans here. The Sexy. Young. Cannibal.
And you're watching Coach Josh Gerry.
Hey guys, Coach Josh Gerry here and this
video is how to get a pro wrestling
booking 101. Now, I'm not gonna
give you a straight ABCDEF guided tour.
And I'm not gonna tell you exactly, how
every time you try to get a booking, how
it should go. But I'm gonna give you a
lot of hints and tips that'll make this
process a lot easier. Now, before I start,
two things you got to remember. One, you
got to be good at the wrestling. Okay? If
you're not to the point where you're
having good matches, and great
experiences, and crowd interactions, you
don't quite have the psychology down, get
that part first. The bookings will come
later. Second of all, don't be worried
about the green. Don't be worried about
money when you're first starting out,
trying to get your first couple of
bookings. Let that be later. So with that
being said, this video is mainly going to
help out those guys that are in that one to three year period where you're first
trying to get your first bookings. Okay,
there's going to be some tidbits in
here that these salty veterans might be
able to glean a little bit of knowledge
from as well. But mainly, that one to three years. At first, trying to get you
traction to get your first couple of
bookings. Now, first thing big, is where
you're training should be able to
introduce you to some people. To be able
to get you your first handful of matches.
If you haven't had a match yet that
should be your first goal. Is to be able
to get that first match. Now, if you've
already had some matches, and your school
already set that up for you,
all the more better. Now in professional
wrestling, it's all about networking. It's
all about people. And so it's gonna take
you a while to build up your Rolodex. For
you kids, that might be a little too
young, the Rolodex was an actual, physical
item, that had paper and you kept people's
names and numbers in it. Anyway, your
digital phone, your black book, whatever.
It's gonna take time to grow that, okay?
You're gonna meet promoters. You're gonna
meet talent. You're gonna meet
referees. You're gonna meet all sorts of
people in the
professional wrestling business, and
that's where your bookings come from. Now,
this piece of advice is gold: the key to
making those pieces work, and those
network connections get you bookings, be
kind. Be generous. Be a person people want
to do things for. Care for people.
Actually be positive. Being a kind, fun to
be around, helpful human being will get
you more bookings than being a talented
professional wrestler. Now I know there are some
veterans watching this video going, "Yep
he's right" and there's some salty
veterans watching this video going "Man,
this guy doesn't know what he's talking about". You'll see. OK? So,
be gentle. Be kind. Care for the people
that you do business for, ok? That helps
you, because, what happens is, is you meet
people and they start to put in good
words for you and that helps build up
bookings, ok? But that's for future. Now
the training school should get you your
first ones, ok? We've already established that
Now,
what's, what are you going to do if you, say you
want to work in another state, you want
to work in another promotion that
you've never worked for, you don't know
anybody for? Well, there's this great
thing called the internet. Google.
Facebook. All the social media things.
Search out companies. Search out
promotions. Search out schools that you
might want to possibly work for. Twitter.
Instagram. Facebook. All of that. Search
"pro-wrestling in.." whatever state you're
in. Search "pro wrestling in..." whatever
state you want to be in. You might have
to sift through some information that's
old and is no longer relevant, but it's
there. Do the homework. You are
responsible for your own bookings. Once
you understand that, and you put in that
work, it will be so much better for you.
Don't rely on other people. Rely on
yourself. Learn these tools now, ok? Now,
everybody sends the resume, and the promo
shots, and the highlight reel, or the
matches, right? Everybody does that. And if
you're sending that out, that is
perfectly ok. There's nothing wrong with
it but if everybody's doing it, don't you
want to set yourself apart? So, one thing
that you can do, instead of sending a
message to an owner saying, "Hey, I'd like
to work for you. Here's my resume. Here's
my headshots. Here's my videos. Let me
know what'll work for you."
Say, no, "Hey, I would be interested in
working for you in the future. I'll be at
your next show. Whatever you need to have
done, I will do. Set up chairs, set up the
ring, run concessions, whatever. I'll have
my stuff and if you want matches or film
or whatever I can get it to you."  Then,
actually go to that show, and help that
promoter set up, and do the ring, and
concessions, and chairs. When I was
wrestling, way back when, if there was a
weekend that I was not booked,
I found a show. Whether it be an hour, two
hours, three hours away from me.
And I would just show up. Of course, we
didn't have social media back then, so
contacting these promoters was a lot
harder. I would go to these shows and I
would help out. You know what? I had my
stuff with me. Always take your stuff
with you. Nine times out of ten, somebody
no-showed. Somebody, whatever, had issues.
And there was a hole on the card. Guess
what? I helped set up. I helped this
promoter. So guess what? "Hey, you got your
stuff kid?", "Yes sir, I do!"
And I was booked. It's really that easy
okay? You meet people and you show that
you're reliable and you show that you're
willing to work. And you get bookings. And
then you get return bookings. And it
really, it does, it helps. If there's a
state that you want to work in, you've
never worked there before, try sending
those messages out. Let people know what
you're trying to do. Build those
relationships. Don't ask for the work
straight out of hand. Yeah, yours,  you're
gonna have to work for free sometimes. I
used to tell promoters, "Hey, let me come
in. I'll work for free. Let me show you
what I got, and if you like me, and you
want to bring me back, then we can talk
money." It's all about getting your
product out there. And that's what you
are, you're a brand. You're a product. And
you have to be able to get it out there.
So, your wrestling school gets you
bookings. Doing the social media and the
Google searches for wrestling promotions
and schools gets those. Then, you know
what? If you know somebody and they're
going to a show and you've never worked
for that person before and it's in
another state, you don't have anything
going on, "Hey man, can I hop in the car?"
It happened at an event I was at last
weekend, somebody was coming to the show,
from about six to eight hours away. Told
this other talent,
said, "Hey, you want to hop in the car?"  They
hopped in the car and they were on the
show because they just made that trip.
It's all about putting yourself out
there. It's making connections and making
networking. People. And places. And
promoters. And talent. It's all about
working together. I used to tell students,
and I still do,
that getting involved in professional
wrestling, and making those network
connections, and getting booked, it's like
getting stuck in the mud. You sit there,
and you press the gas, and the wheels
spin, the wheels spin, and you're spinning
in mud, so you get that friend to kind of
rock you back and forth.
Well, eventually, you kind of gain
traction, and you get out of the mud.
Professional wrestling's the same way. It
takes a while. You got to sit there and
you feel like you're spinning your
wheels. You're meeting promoters. You're
networking with talent. You're doing the
social media. You're doing the emails.
You're doing the texts. You're doing the
calls. It eventually helps you. If you
don't get that booking the first time,
don't say, "Oh, it was a no." No means Next
Opportunity. Look at it that way. Stay
positive. Keep driving and striving.
That's why I keep saying it. You got to
keep at it. You got to keep at it. You got
to keep at it, okay? That's how you get
bookings. Not sending the blank resume
and a copy and paste message to a
promoter. When I promoted, nine times out
of ten, those got ignored. The guy that
was liking and sharing my stuff and
doing stuff that helped me, they got a
chance way before the guy that sent me
the resume. I've got two talents. One,
doesn't do anything. He shows up, he
wrestles, he leaves. I got a guy that's
same amount of talent but he helps set
up, he helps tear down, and he helps
promote my show. Guess who's getting
booked? This guy. That's right. I know this
is just a collection of tips and things.
that I've got so much up here, that I try
to get out and I try to keep them in
video bite size format for you guys. So,
if you want to know more, if you have
questions about some of the things that
I just said, comment below and I will
try to answer them as best I can. Maybe
even do another video, that, we'll just
have to see. There's a lot more that is
involved in getting a professional
wrestling booking but this is, at least,
get you going and get you out the door.
Okay? If you want more, definitely
subscribe and
click for additional videos and, of
course, always, you can find me at all the
social media channels in the description
and until then guys: keep driving and
striving
