Don't Watch Wrestling For The Drama. Watch For Business Advice.

I'm a self-confessed wrestling fanatic.

And before we get into it, don't go judging me. I'm sure you have a guilty pleasure you wouldn't think the world would approve of.

And before you ask, I don't think it's real. I know it's scripted. I know the moves don't always inflict pain (in-ring injuries aside).

I watch wrestling because it's like watching an ongoing soap opera. It's all about the storylines, the personalities, the action, and the on-the-edge-of-your-seat unexpected antics that could happen at any given moment.

Yet, if you can't stand wrestling, if all that appeals to me appalls you, there is something wonderfully educational about wrestling. Not only the shows, and the performances you see on screen, but the business as a whole.

If you want to indulge in some of the best lessons in business, the what to do and what not to do, start watching wrestling.

Here's what you will learn.

Good guys versus bad guys

Even if you haven't seen a minute of wrestling, you understand it's fighting. One ring, the opponents, a referee, a winner, and a loser.

The characters are always trying to win something; a championship, a shot at a championship, supremacy, the list goes on.

It's much like a business. Everyone has their goals, and what they want to achieve. Wrestling teaches that within business everyone has their own match to win. Or as we would see, our own race to run.

And in business, there is always someone you're working against. The competition.

In the wrestling business, it can be a rival star trying to steal your spotlight. Or a rival company trying to steal your popularity.

Back in the late 90's, it was Stone Cold Steve Austin versus The Rock for WWE supremacy. And at the same time, it was WWE versus WCW in the rating war.

ABOVE: The Monday Night Wars, as it was called. WWE (Raw Is War) vs. WCW Monday Nitro lasted from 1995 to 2001. WWE would become the winner, eventually buying WCW | Img: Kayfabe News

Probably thanks to the physical fighting and wrestling's unique way of documenting the journey, we can see firsthand how cutthroat business can be. For the wrestlers, for the promotions, when you think you've made it, someone is out there trying to steal your spotlight.

The competition in business never ends, much like the battle for wrestling supremacy.

The Family Business

If you've ever wondered about working with family, take a good look at the wrestling business for inspiration on what to do. Also, what not to do, too.

Wrestling is an extremely tight nit industry, with family being a very big deal.

One of the most famous wrestlers in the world, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson comes from the Anoi Family. His cousins Roman Reigns, Jimmy and Jey Uso, and Solo Soka are currently dominating WWE television.

ABOVE L-R: Jimmy Uso, Paul Heyman (Manager, former owner of ECW), Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Solo Soka | Source: Instagram@Roman Reigns

You could say if you were born into this family, you were born to be a wrestler.

Working with family has its perks. The McMahon family solely built WWE into what it is today. It started with Vince McMahon Snr, who sold it to Vince McMahon Jnr. 

Vince Jnr then worked with his wife Linda and children Shane and Stephanie to the present day. Even Stephanie's husband, Paul Levesque (aka Triple H) is close to the top of the executive ladder.

It shows the bonds a family has within a business. Used in the right way, working with family can mean big success for you.

There are of course examples of wrestling family dynamics that haven't worked well. 

And the McMahons aren't the picture-perfect family with no scandals to their name. But the wrestling industry demonstrates how family and business are very much still together. 

Especially in niche markets.

Dirt Sheets

Within the wrestling world, there are things called dirt sheets. They are like TMZ for the wrestling world. They report all the drama, gossip, rumours, and spoilers for every wrestling promotion.

If you love surprises on live TV, don't read the dirt sheets. They're often too right in what they report, unlike a lot of rumours you see in traditional media.

What these dirt sheets facilitate is a conversation about the wrestling world. It turns what is seemingly a "show" into a "world".

Dirt sheets are wonderful from a business point of view because they teach you everything about PR. Though a lot of us think we're too small for PR, dirt sheets demonstrate that no matter how famous, or successful you are in the wrestling world, you're never too small to talk about.

And for you, no matter how big your business is, people are going to talk about what you do.

They're going to speculate. They're going to try and trip you up, make you feel like you've made a mistake. They're going to call you on what you've done wrong.

Now, it might not be a media outlet. Your dirt sheets might be Instagram trolls or unhappy customers, for example.

Dirt sheets also remind us some people in this world know your business better than you do. 

The dirt sheets cover every single wrestling promotion; they're analysing the competition.

In many ways, these dirt sheets know what's going on better than the company owners do. I doubt WWE is paying attention to what Ring Of Honour (ROH) is doing every single day. 

But the dirt sheets are.

This can be scary. But you shouldn't ignore the reality. You have fans and customers who obsess over what you do. They're paying attention to things you don't have time to give any thought to.

Whilst you're thinking ahead about what's next, they're remembering the past. It's a relationship after all.

ABOVE: An example of one of the wrestling dirt sheets; Ringside News. Here is a typical headline from RSN's Twitter. 

Education Versus Experience

There's no school for running a wrestling promotion. You can't go to university or college and walk out with a degree in wrestling. It simply does not exist.

You can become trained to wrestle, by those who have wrestled before you. And you can go to business school to understand how business works. That's as close as you're going to get.

Once you dig deep into the wrestling world, you will quickly discover how much of it's run on experience rather than education. The people who work behind the camera are often former talent, who've transitioned away from being on-air talent.

Here is the list of current WWE producers, courtesy of Wikipedia. 

They are the ones who create matches and help execute storylines. Every single person on this list is a former wrestler.

ABOVE: Wikipedia; WWE - January 2023

There are no ring-ins. There are no people like you and me who've been trained to do this job. The way to get this role is to have wrestled first.

Education means nothing in this context. It's all about the experience. Sometimes in business, we devalue the experience. We're hunting for educated people to guide us. 

Or looking for educated staff to hire. 

Or we're completing education before we can call ourselves business owners. 

Wrestling teaches us the power of experience when education isn't valued.

Best For Business

When you become a wrestling fan, when you watch every single second of the theatre they offer you, it's hard not to want.

You want certain wrestlers to become the champion. You want certain iconic names to return to the ring for one last bout. You so badly want those wrestling rumours from the dirt sheets to be true.

Yet, when the stories play out, when the periodic sackings take place, we have no control over what happens. We're bystanders. We don't always agree with what happens. And through social media, we try to voice our displeasure. It is some sad attempt to change what happens.

But the wrestling promotions don't make decisions based solely on what the social media warriors want. They have to balance their decisions with what the customer wants and what's best for the business.

ABOVE: Yep, I've been one of those people. A disgruntled wrestling fan who wanted something they didn't deliver. | Img: Twitter.

It's on a large scale like this we can learn how making decisions best for business won't always keep everyone happy. 

Even though you make decisions ultimately to get more money from the customer, you can't always make them happy.

And the more customers you have, the less chance you have of keeping everyone happy.

The Scripted Fighting

But there is something undeniable about it. The biggest wrestling promotion in the world, WWE, boasts immense success. The company made $306.4 million in the third quarter of 2022, is worth $6.508 billion as of January 11th, 2023, and has 92 million followers on YouTube alone.

For a bunch of people faking fighting, people seem to like it. And they seem to make a lot of money off it. Well, not seem, at all. They do make a lot of money, more money than people who think wrestling is stupid can deny.

Some of the silliest business ideas make money. What you might think lame, boring, immature, ridiculous, other people love. 

Just because you don't get it, because you don't want to give your money towards it, doesn't mean someone else won't.

Some people will tell you there is a market for everything in this world. I would agree. Based on the success of WWE and wrestling in general, there's no denying that. As long as you find your audience, and build a loyal following of diehards, anything is possible.

Business is business, right?

Now I know wrestling is a business, like any business. You could theoretically watch any show and learn these, right? 

Call me biased if you want, but wrestling paints this picture better than any other entertainment or sporting code I know. Perhaps it's the way two worlds come together. 

Perhaps it's the way the wrestling business carries out its operation.

Yet, either way, I don't think there is anything quite like wrestling to put your business ideas, goals, and commitment into perspective.

And if you're struggling with these concepts, a few hours out of your life to watch some matches won't do you any harm.

You might even enjoy it.

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