Thursday, June 28, 2012

When a Headliner No-Shows

Reby Sky, an independent wrestler who is best-known as Matt Hardy's girlfriend, has received both strong support and fierce opposition for her recent Twitter comments about former WWE Champion Sid Vicious/Sycho Sid's, who appeared on Raw Monday Night.

Here are some of her comments from @RebySky:
That piece of sh*t Sid no-shows almost EVERY show in the last yr but prances onto Raw.  Please tell us again how much you LOVE "the business".  Guess he managed not to "lose his wallet" this time.  Sad thing is, now that he got 10 more mins of fame he'll get more bookings to NO-SHOW.  F*CK people like that.  You f*ck with peoples' time, money & professional integrity because you're too much of a douche to keep your word.  I'm all for hustlin, but BLACKMAILING promoters into giving you more $ after threatening not to show then STILL not showing after they do...makes me sick.

Many fans and wrestlers have passionately picked a side.  Some have blasted Reby Sky for disrespecting one of wrestling's all-time great big men and dismissed her as a wrestler's girlfriend who shouldn't have an opinion.  Others agree with her 100 percent.

Among those opposing her is WWE Hall of Famer Sunny who, like Sid, is notorious for no-showing independent events.

As someone who has wrestled on the independent circuit, I have mixed feelings on former stars being booked on indy events at all.  Between airfare, hotel, and booking fee, they usually make more than every wrestler on the card, often just to sell and sign their own photos and other merchandise.  I don't think their appearances usually draw enough fans who wouldn't buy a ticket otherwise, but if the promotion has a solid product they might turn some of those new fans into regular fans and maybe it pays off in the long run.  Some former stars are a pleasure to deal with and show a genuine love for the business, interacting well with fans and with the locker room, while others make it painfully obvious that they are just there to get paid.  Some don't show up at all.

When a former star no-shows an independent wrestling event, everyone suffers: the fans, who've spent their hard-earned money to meet the star and are left disappointed; the promotion, which now has its reliability questioned when advertising the next star's appearance; the wrestlers, who suffer right along with the promoter when a no-show hurts ticket sales short- and long-term; and the wrestling business, which comes off even sleazier than it often does anyway.  But some former stars don't care about the business or how their actions affect it.  They only care about what they can take from it, not what they can give back to it.

Reby Sky might be an independent wrestler who doesn't have 5,000 matches under her belt.  Her greatest claim to wrestling fame might be as Matt Hardy's girlfriend.  We don't know each other and I doubt we'll ever meet .  But she spoke for a lot of us who work these small shows and feel the negative effects of stars such as Sid no-showing.  We respect the stars and what they've achieved in the past, but when they start squeezing out the little breath independent wrestling has left, they shouldn't expect a warm response from the fans, promoters, and wrestlers their selfishness affects.

4 comments:

  1. Reby is jealous that Sid was invited to Raw and not her pill popping steroid using boyfriend. I enjoyed the Reby and Sunny twitter/facebook fued rant. I love when two ring rats go at it.

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    1. Love how this moron isn't man enough to post under his real name. If ignorance is bliss, then this guy is blissful to the max!

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  2. Matt,
    My experience is that most "Legendary" headliners don't affect the gate that much, at least not at the indy shows I've helped promote, which surprised me a great deal in the beginning. The bottom line is that many of those who remember or idolized "the legend" while they were growing up are no longer fans and won't buy a ticket, even if they smile when you mention their name. In addition, younger fans are not satisfied unless the headliner was on RAW last week, and the hardcore fans are going to show no matter what. The exception to that is if you can get a "mega-legend" such at Shawn Michaels or Ric Flair.
    John Warring

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  3. FYI. Reby Sky was exposed as having no-showed 3 events in the past for CTWE to attend ROH shows despite being paid in advance, probably to pick up a new boyfriend or network, back in 2010...so she wasn't speaking out against Sid for the sake of her fellow indie wrestlers, since she's done the same thing herself.

    And showing up to sign 8x10s? While she and Matt do wrestle these events, from what I've seen they don't help set up the ring like the rest of the talents. They come with their photographs and t-shirts to sell, just like any of the major names signed.

    It was just a fight between 2 people, both complete divas and rats in the business calling the pot/kettle black.

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