Author: publickayfabe

Hello, and welcome back to Public Kayfabe, your one-stop shop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite!  As it was announced on our social media updates, this installment was delayed due to some unforeseen schedule changes.  However, Vince McMahon once said; “Anything that can go wrong in wrestling, was meant to happen.  You’ve got to make the best of the cards you are dealt.”  Despite the hiccups, we’re taking the Chairman of the Board’s advice to heart and bring to you the main event of our wrestling extravaganza!

Our journey together has been incredibly special, and we’re going to take you back to the era in which Public Kayfabe is inspired from, the “independent wrestling boom”. 

When sitting down with any talent, most of the time their fondest and most vivid memories will start with a locker room tale.  One where their patience was tested, and their stripes were earned.  The place where comraderies are built and some of the greatest matches are booked. 

Similarly, Public Kayfabe’s history also began in a locker room, when our wordsmith stepped into her first one, on April 16, 2010.  On the cusp of the revolutionary shift, the makeup of the future rosters of WWE, NXT, AEW, Impact and Ring of Honor, were opponents across the ring from one another.  Fighting for sometimes a $10.00 nightly payout, amongst a half-capacity crowd in places like Covina’s Knights of Columbus, and the American Legion Post in South Gate, you could feel the intensity among the roster, instantaneously.  You could sense the dedication and persistence these men and women had to perfecting their craft, while still trying to balance out every aspect of their adult lives, all with the hopes of one day making their mark in the business.

Let us paint this 2010 wrestling landscape picture for you.  WWE ratings hit a major slump that were reminiscent of the Attitude Era when WCW ran supreme throughout the 1990’s Monday Night Wars.  Main event matches were almost identical on every pay-per-view, and McMahon’s global touring juggernaut with its once powerhouse roster, seemed to be proverbially pulling at straws on who to bring back or promote, to sell out arenas.  Additionally, the WWE’s commitment to an outdated archetype of a muscle-bound bodybuilder who was flanked by beautiful and dainty women as their valets being billed as the “top talent”, no longer connected with fans, and audiences soon took notice of the regional talent on both coasts.  “People were realizing some independent wrestling was actually better than what they were used to on TV,” SoCal veteran wrestler Charlotte Sia, said of the wrestling fanbase shifting their attention during the start of the “independent wrestling boom”.

The performers who sent shock waves with their aggressive style, no longer looked, or built themselves up as a character like Hulk Hogan or Ultimate Warrior.  This was an era that witnessed women took center stage, no longer residing to being ringside eye-candy.  They could hold more than their own in the ring and were better than many of their male counterparts.  This new breed of talent looked, spoke, and thought like their fans.  It was that relatability that allowed these athletes to turn the business upside down, and started to shape it in their own image.  The Midwest and East Coast fans had performers like “Johnny Wrestling” Gargano, Adam “Bay Bay” Cole, Tyler Black, Kevin Steen now known as WWE superstars Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens, Bryan “American Dragon” Danielson and CM Punk make waves in their territories. They showcased smaller guys or as WWE’s Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon would refer them as “B+ players”, could put on some of the best matches in the business.  It was history-making feuds like the one Danielson and Punk had in Ring of Honor that trailblazed a path for talent to be bred on the West Coast.  “When guys like Owens/Steen, Punk, Danielson and Black (Rollins) assumed to the tops spots in what was the ‘major company’, that was the start of the shift,” said Adam Woods from the According to Woods Podcast, when asked about the wrestling business shift towards independent talent emerge to the “big time”. 

Coming up during that era, you could see the business and revenue shift, as local promotions started to boom with more bookings, talent, and attention.  Alternative Wrestling Show gave women dedicated time on every card, the chance to be developed and utilized as core members of the roster.  Santino Bros. out of Bellflower, and the Empire Wrestling Federation from San Bernardino helped form the independent circuit by hosting training sessions and teaching aspiring wrestlers the tips and tricks of the trade.  While promotions such as PWG and Wrestling Cares Association helped Gargano, Cole, Timothy Thatcher, and Drew Gulak to get exposed with the local fans.  Even with the fly-in talent coming to perform, it was OUR homegrown talent who have made some of the biggest marks on the business.  From NXT superstars Candice Lerae, Shaun Ricker – now referred to as LA Knight, and Russ Taylor who was a founding member of the Diamond Mine.  To ROH’s Tyler Bateman, one-half of the AEW inaugural tag-team champions, Scorpio Sky, are just a few of SoCal’s wave of talent to hit the “big time”.

Currently, we find ourselves amid another shift.  The world dropped to its knees as the COVID-19 pandemic catastrophically hit in early 2020.  The beautiful irony with today’s landscape is those same men and women who were able to push their merch at the tables in those dingy halls of the independent scene, have become innovative in their hustle.  They have taken those marketing skills to connect with their fanbase online, but also recoup their performance payouts.  The future is uncertain for our beloved business, but what rings true is that no matter the medium, wherever you build elite talent, success will come.

Thank you once again for tuning into Public Kayfabe’s nine-part series! We hope you enjoyed this experience, and we’ll see you down the road!

#Interviews #professionalwrestling #ProfessionalWrestlingBlogs #professionalwrestlingpublicrelations #prowrestlingblogs #publickayfabe #WomenInSportsEntertainment professional wrestling

Hello and welcome back to Public Kayfabe!  Your one-stop shop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite.

Here we are at the eighth installment of this eight-part series!  The main event, the grand finale!  Or is it?  Like any good story line, there’s ALWAYS plot twist! 

Ladies and gentlemen, mark your calendars as we will be wrapping up Public Kayfabe with one last blog post! Our ninth and final installment will drop two weeks from today, Thursday, December 1^st!  We will be taking a trip down memory lane, reflecting on your success in landing your top interview, and where to go next if you’re looking to pursue a professional career in sports entertainment.  Additionally, we will be looking back through the last 10 years of wrestling history, highlighting the independent wrestling boom and some of the most notable figures of that time.  We’re going to laugh, cry and have a slew of surprises in store for you, that we’re keeping close to the vest for our last hurrah!

Make sure to stay tuned and follow Public Kayfabe on all social media platforms for updates, and we’ll see you back here, December 1^st for the main event of this wrestling extravaganza!

#Interviews #professionalwrestling #ProfessionalWrestlingBlogs #professionalwrestlingpublicrelations #prowrestlingblogs #publickayfabe #WomenInSportsEntertainment professional wrestling

Hello and welcome back to Public Kayfabe, your one-stop shop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite!  We have a special treat for you, as Public Kayfabe sat down with one of wrestling’s elite free agents, for an on-record interview! 

Russell Taylor, otherwise known as Ryan and Rust Taylor is a former NXT superstar and 15-year professional wrestling veteran.  Dubbed as the “earthly grappler” Taylor is a southern California native and has been mesmerizing audiences long before his star-making debut performance on NXT in December 2020.

At its core, professional wrestling is cyclical in nature.  Every decade witnesses a popularity boom where the business has a spike in global notoriety.  The 1980’s saw Hulkamania, the 1990’s had the Attitude Era, while the early 2000’s saw John Cena begin his ascension to main event status.  The 2010’s pro-wrestling shift saw independent promotions begin to boom in popularity, and companies like Ring of Honor and southern California’s Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) taking center stage, showcasing a product not seen with WWE.

“Talent could run a little faster and hit a little harder than what you see in WWE,” Taylor said.  Throughout the “independent wrestling boom”, various options outside of the “big time” began to present themselves globally, for pro-wrestlers.  Taylor continued and said, “there was a life outside of WWE where you could make a living without them.”  Throughout the decade, independent talent found themselves in a WWE ring, with prestigious contracts once solely attainable by a collegiate type, muscle bound non-wrestling athlete.  One who fit a certain physical aesthetic, and who could be molded into a wrestler rather than being one naturally.  With the odds stacked against him, Taylor persevered, working relentlessly while gaining global recognition from audiences in Japan, Mexico and Germany.  Standing amongst his peers with natural talent and exceptional work ethic, he landed one of those prestigious spots on the NXT roster.  Despite Taylor only being with WWE a year, he marks it as an incredibly fulfilling experience, and hopes to pass down his knowledge to the next generation.  Currently working with ROH for their final 2021 engagements, Taylor is optimistic about anything that comes his way.  Noting that “so long as you keep focused on your craft, everything will fall into place.”  That’s a wrap on part seven, folks!  Stay tuned as we roll into our main event, and final installment of the eight-part series, next week!

#Interviews #professionalwrestling #ProfessionalWrestlingBlogs #professionalwrestlingpublicrelations #prowrestlingblogs #publickayfabe #WomenInSportsEntertainment professional wrestling

Well, hello, and welcome back to Public Kayfabe!  Your one-stop shop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite.

During our last installment, you finished the final draft of your feature and were set to publish your work!  This week we will focus on how to follow up with your subject, after everything is complete.  24-hours before your piece is published, it is best practice to send a thank you note to your interviewee.  This is one of the smallest acts that leave indelible impressions with your subjects, and often leads to future interviews with them or someone else.  Email is usually the best method for this, and your note should be no more than a paragraph in length.  Thank your legend for their time and express your excitement on the feature. 

The same editing rules apply to your note, as they do to your article.  Check it twice, once by yourself and the second time have someone else review it.  Once the note is finished, attach a PDF copy of the article to the email, and include your contact information underneath your signature before sending it off.  Stay tuned here for next week’s installment for a surprise we have lined up!

#Interviews #professionalwrestling #ProfessionalWrestlingBlogs #professionalwrestlingpublicrelations #prowrestlingblogs #publickayfabe #WomenInSportsEntertainment professional wrestling

Hello and welcome back to Public Kayfabe!  Your one-stop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite.

Let us take a moment to reflect on this process, so far.  From your initial research to the story pitch, your question prep and interview day, you have done a tremendous job at every step!  These types of interviews are not easy to land, and you deserve a moment to bask in your success.  Once you are ready, we’ll dive into the best methods to use when writing your article.

If you were allowed to record the interview, listen to it in its entirety, and jot down parts of the conversation you may have missed while you were notetaking.  If you do not have a recording, review your physical notes.  A great technique is to draft out a short outline on how you want to structure the flow of your material.  Doing this can help minimize the chance of writer’s block, and keep you focused.

When you are writing, remember the acronym “KISS”, which means “keep it simple, stupid”.  Research has shown you have only 10 seconds to engage your audience from the first word.  So, it is ideal to keep your paragraphs short, concise and purposeful.  Keep your tone conversational and authoritative; a great way to accomplish this is by writing your piece as if you were talking with someone.  This allows your audience to be hooked from the start and will entice them to read the entire feature.

Once the draft is complete, it’s editing time!  Go over the piece once by yourself, while reading it aloud.  If you can’t read the article with a continuous rhythm, scrap some of those sections and rework your verbiage.  Next, ask someone to read your piece and see if they have any feedback. This is a great way to catch other mistakes you may have missed. Most importantly, be authentic to yourself and your subject when writing this story.  Take this opportunity to show who your legend is outside the squared circle and showcase their personality beyond the character they are famous for.

Once the piece is ready, you then have a post-interview follow up with your subject, which is what we’ll be covering next week on the sixth installment of this eight-part series!  Make sure to check back here and follow the handle @PublicKayfabe on all social media platforms for updates!

#Interviews #professionalwrestling #ProfessionalWrestlingBlogs #professionalwrestlingpublicrelations #prowrestlingblogs #publickayfabe #WomenInSportsEntertainment professional wrestling

Welcome back to Public Kayfabe!  Your one-stop shop on how to land and execute top interviews with wrestling’s elite. 

This week we’ll be concluding our second part of interview etiquette techniques!  No matter the venue, make sure to always have water with you.  Drinking water during interviews prevents cotton mouth and is great to combat anxiety.

Make sure to take a deep breath and thank your guest for meeting you.  To set a light mood, start with some small talk before diving into your questions.  If you know your interviewee traveled far to meet you, ask how the commute was.  Once you start with the interview (and if you are cleared to bring one), set your recording device off to the side where it can pick up your conversation, and is concealed from view.  Take notes of the highlighted points you want to feature in your story, and most importantly – listen intently to your interviewee.

Take in these moments and observe their mannerisms and quirks.  Enjoy seeing their authentic selves break through and absorb the transformation, as these larger-than-life personalities become an average Joe, right before you.  Once your time is up, the hard part begins; which is our next installment; the article’s write up!