As usual, the following are the opinions of Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey

Let's say you just get hired to do your dream job. Whether it's being a fluffer for porno movies, working a hotdog cart, being a waiter or even flipping burgers at McDonalds, it doesn't matter. Now take that job, and imagine having to drive 200 miles roundtrip to it. Also take into consideration that while going to work, you will be responsible for paying for gas and tolls, which can easily add up to $50.00 a trip. Despite being 50 dollars in the hole, everytime you drive to work, let's say you accept this job. Now once you get to work, imagine sitting in a smelly, shitty, puss covered building 90% of the time. Your work also requires you to get physical and put your body on the line every minute you work. Even though you physically work for only 10 minutes or so, you still will spend anywhere up to 6-8 hours at the location. Now let's imagine at the end of this day, you get paid a 20 spot. Doesn't sound too great does it? Well unfortunately, this is the tale of the majority of wrestlers on the indy circuit today, and that's only the wrestlers who are lucky enough to get paid.

Let's take a quick look at just the women in wrestling. Their costs to be successful in wrestling is way more than the men. They need money for their hair, money for their nails, money for their outfits, money for cosmetics and so much more. Let's be honest- unless your name is Stacy Keibler, if you don't have big tits naturally, you're going to have to pay for them if you ever want a check signed by Vince McMahon. Add in the fact that if you don't look pretty, you're never going to have the chance to work as a face on the indies nor be looked at by the WWE. Oh and we didn't even discuss having to go through a "rat" period, where you will be accused of blowing and messing around with various people around the indies. Great job right?

An indy wrestler is probably the least gratifying job in the world today. Drive all day, blow money on gas and tolls, and kill yourself, and for what? Some cash that will hopefully cover a meal at the local diner. Now figure in that you must spend your free time on training, working out your body and eating right as well. Shit, we didn't even talk about having to try to balance your wrestling life with your family life. Your weekends are gone. Your son has a little league game? More times than not you're going to miss little Jonny's first home run. Now even with all that, you have to find a real paying job, that will understand why you can't work weekends and why you're spent on Monday's. Your boss also has to understand that you will come into work with black and blues and all bruised up. Also, your boss has to understand that you need a phone and AOL IM to set up some weekend warrior work. Sounds easy right?

Go to any random person not involved in wrestling. I'm asking you to do this, and send me in your responses. Go to anyone, it can be a teacher, outside of wrestling friend, or some random schmo in a chatroom. Ask them if they will drive to another state, on their own dime, get beat up and take 20 bucks to do it. They will look at you with four eyes. Shit, just thinking about this alone is probably what is causing homelessness. Homeless people are just indy wrestlers who couldn't make a living!

So why do wrestlers do this? Why do I even do this, by covering these shows out in Bumblephuck, Anystate? Jeff Jarrett said it best in an A&E documentary. "If you don't get it, no explanation will do, but if you do get it, no explanation is necessary." While I don't agree with Jarrett's thinking in TNA, I 100% agree with him on this. Wrestling for people is a dream job. It is a fantasy world. It is a life of drama and excitement. It does mean fun road stories. It does mean you might get the chance to wrestle one of your idols growing up. It does mean that you might have a chance to wrestle in front of thousands. It does mean that you might get that rare WWE contract. Shit, it even means fake posting on the damn DOI Message Board! Indy wrestlers accept the crap pay and living a unique life for wrestling. It is what makes them special and shows their desire to the sport, but are they getting taken advantage of?

Promoting is not for everyone, even though in NJ, it seems like anyone can do it, despite if their shows get less than 100 people consistently. A promoter is a special breed of person who must be ruthless and sly at times. A union is a laughable thought in wrestling. There is a better chance of Carmine Sabia walking the moon then there is of union for wrestlers, referees and managers to take part of. Without a union, the promoter is the person with all the power. If Wrestler X wants 100 dollars to do a match, but Wrestler Y, who is almost as good only wants 50 dollars, 9/10 times, Wrestler Y will be booked, while Wrestler X is wondering what he is doing wrong. Are the fans being cheated by this? Shouldn't promoters pay more for talent to show appreciation? Let's be honest- without GOOD wrestlers there are no GOOD shows. Without any GOOD shows, there is no market for indy wrestling.

Something that commonly happens, which lesses pay for indy wrestlers, is straight up bullshit. Promoter A may pay a wrestler 100 bucks. Promoter B might pay the same wrestler 100 bucks too. These two promoters get together and talk. A couple of things can happen here:
1- Both promoters are honest and agree that they are paying too much, and will decide not to pay them that price anymore. If that wrestler doesn't accept that, then they will lose two bookings and might be subjected to these promoters talking to other promoters in hopes of reaching a similiar deal.
2. Promoter A lies to Promoter B. A tells B that he only pays the wrestler 75 bucks, because he has an ego and wants to seem superior to Promoter B. So Promoter B hears this, gets pissed off and either fires the wrestler or asks the wrestler take a pay cut.
3. In the rare case, both promoters say what a valuable asset this wrestler is and both agree to give him a raise.

Another thing I see is that some promotions are known not to pay people very well. If wrestlers work that promotion, then why should another rival promotion pay you handsomely, if you will drive somewhere else for cheap? Promoting is all about good business and ego, and no promoter wants to be known as the guy who pays wrestlers the best, or else they are deemed as "money marks" by many. It is a shame that for promotions who do treat talent well, are frowned upon by their peers.

In a promoters eyes, you have to be the best businessman as possible. There are a few wrestlers who will be truly loyal to you, and the rest are only there to get exposure. As a promoter it is your job soley to get ads, get sponsors, flyer an area, get buildings and run tight shows. You have to lay out alot of money. If a show bombs, you take the sole loss, not the wrestlers. Rarely, do wrestlers give their money back on a bad show. If there is a good crowd though, some wrestlers might ask for more money. Do these wrestlers have an obligation to you once booked? Some wrestlers might no-show your show, making you look you false advertised them. Some wrestlers might ditch you for a better payday. As a promoter, you learn from these mishaps and develop a thick skin where you don't care about wrestlers.

A good promoter relies on his promotions letters, not his individual wrestlers. If a promotion is successful, it should draw no matter who wrestles in it. Should a promoter show loyalty to his employees that built his promotion up? I believe so. The business world tends not to see that way, as in any industry, it's usually out with the old, in with the new. Likewise if wrestlers don't draw 50 dollars worth of fans, should they be paid 50 bucks, whether they drove 2 miles or 200 miles to a show? It's tough being a promoter and it takes alot of unpopular decisions to be profitable.

So what's the solution in all this? Obviously a union will never happen. There will always be an available body looking for an opportunity, no matter if the person is prostituting themself out or not. The show will go on. The indy scene right now can be considered on an upswing from a year ago. There are certainly alot more promotions out there for wrestlers. There are alot more wrestlers out there for these promotions. It is up to the promoters to reward loyalty and be aware of raising gas prices and tolls. If you're booking someone, you should pay for their transportation. Likewise, if you're a wrestler, you should accept any booking that you take first. Why should a promoter give you a raise if you'll go to another show in a drop of the hat? I can see why wrestlers would cancel a booking for an international tour in Puerto Rico or Japan, and I'm sure promoters don't mind. After all, after that wrestler does that tour and comes back, you can now promote him or her as an international superstar. That wrestler just needs to remember that he would've never became an international superstar if it wasn't for that promotion giving him work in the first place to get noticed.

So in closing, the purpose of this was for the promoters to realize how tough it is to be an indy wrestler today. Another purpose of this was to show wrestlers that it isn't always easy green for a promoter. Trust is far and in between in the wrestling business, but hopefully little by little, it can be established.

Oh, and at the next show you see me at, feel free to buy me a beer! Writers have to pay these steep gas prices and tolls too! These costs are still expensive when splitting them with people!

Sean "The MiC" McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com