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Does the Show HAVE to Go On?
Well, the weather outside IS frightful, and getting here to there isn't delightful. Everyone in New York, New Jersey, and the New England area found that out the hard way this past weekend as the area was hit with a double shot of snow, totalling up to two feet in some places, as winter came early. The term "Nor'Easter" sounds cute and the media loves it, but it still brings a lot of misery and headaches.
Commutes home from work get tripled. Accidents, spinouts, and collisions can be seen on every single street or highway, as people automatically forget how to drive, or think because they have an SUV that they can plow down the Turnpike at 65 mph with no problem. Well, they're wrong- a 45 minute ride that took two hours last Friday saw pileups and carnage that looked like it came right out of a Godzilla movie.
Of course, the inclement weather meant several closings and cancellations. Any lucky bastard sweating out their SATs (no, not Joel and Jose) for Saturday got a two week to one month reprieve, and most logic-centered companies and businesses sent their workers home early and/or told them not to come in the next day based on the forecast and the current weather conditions.
But that didn't stop some people! No, right out of PT Barnum, the show HAD to go on. Or did it?
Take, for example, the FanSlam, scheduled for Saturday in Totowa, NJ. Dr. D, David Schultz, was coming out of whatever rock he had hid under for the past 15 years to meet and greet. He was supposed to be there along with several other workers and managers, like Ted Dibiase, Kamala and Captain Lou Albano. An event like this, of course, is going to bring out most of the local indy workers and any interested fan in the Tri-State area.
So the Tri-State area, for the most part, gets blanketed in about two feet of snow. Ever defiant, the promoter says that the show, regardless of the snow, WILL go on. Well, how magnanimous.
The NWS had a show already scheduled for Toms River, NJ, on Friday night- while seven inches of snow and more are getting dropped all over the state. With Toms River being a hike for anyone coming from the city or...well, anywhere, and it being accessible primarily through the already congested Garden State Parkway, one would think that the promoters, thinking first of their paying customers, would cancel or reschedule the show, since it's starting at the height of the mess that was coming into the area.
You'd think that, wouldn't you.
Nope, the show went on. Supposedly, they got about 100 fans. FanSlam went on, getting maybe 150. Sounds like a real success, doesn't it?
It's not. Here's why:
Expecting paying customers to come out to see your show, no matter how great and wonderful you may think it's going to be, in weather that authorities are recommending you NOT travel in, is selfish, stupid, close-minded, and ignorant.
The promoter of FanSlam took a loss. No way they were going to make back the five figures spent on securing the room and bringing in the talent. Business-wise, it was better for them to let the show go on, since some of the talent was already there, so cancelling it would have meant a bigger loss, and for any fan who was smart enough to stay at the hotel the night before the convention, it was a real boon, as they pretty much had the place to themselves.
However, that doesn't make it right. The press release that went out the day before the show was, as mentioned, defiant, but it was also flat out disgusting. It talked about 600 fans coming out for an NWA show despite their being a blizzard. Well, first of all, the blizzard for that show was long gone. The roads were cleared, and people were able to get to the show even though there were about 18 inches of snow on the ground.
When the release went out, there were about three to four inches on the ground, with at least three to four more coming that day. And that wasn't the worst of the front coming- it was predicted that there was going to be about a foot more the next day. So there's a big difference between 18 inches and clear roads and eight inches on covered roads with more to follow. Unless you've got a plow on the front of your Civic, it's not going to be a fun ride, no matter where you're going.
And that wasn't even the worst part of the release! It also went into what "die hard" fans would do to get to a show, how snow wouldn't stop them or FanSlam, and "Who's to say that it will even be that bad on Saturday, or who's to say it will even snow at all?" It went so far as to tell people to come out, "regardless of some snow."
So now we're playing weatherman. As far as who's to say there's snow coming...How about every single forecast in the area, Nostradamus? As far as whether or not it was going to snow, how about LOOKING OUT YOUR FUCKING WINDOW- assuming you were already home and not out there with the 150,000 people trying to GET home on Friday- and seeing the disaster that was on your local roads?
To attempt to minimalize the already serious conditions just to ease a few people's minds so they can say hi to Ted Dibiase is just abhorrent. Most of the talent scheduled for FanSlam couldn't make it in, obviously, because of flight cancellations, so that should have told them something right there. Guess it didn't.
The mindset of some promoters in the business is just baffling. Rather than trivializing things and proudly declaring that the show WOULD go on no matter what, it would have went a long way if they had stated the following, in some form or another:
"Look, we're already here, along with a few of the people scheduled. We don't expect you to come out in this, but appreciate it if you were able to- even though the Department of Transportation says you shouldn't. If you're here already, we're going to have a fun time and make the most of it. If not, please ensure your safety as well as your families, since it's not even conceivable to us that you'd bring a small child out in this weather to sit on Kamala's lap, and stay home. We can do this another time, and we'd feel terrible if something happened to you or a loved one if you trudged your way out here for the convention."
Wouldn't that piece of fantasy have been a breath of fresh air? Almost as nice as the fresh air that poured into the car of one of the workers driving to get there who cracked his head on his windshield- but never mind, it was a "special day," for sure.
Too bad the carnys at NWS didn't even bother to show any concern and had their show anyway. Al Snow doesn't pay for himself, you know! So you get your ass out here! It's doubtful they would have cared a bit if someone's car plowed into the building- as long as they paid their way in.
The worst part of this is that FanSlam did draw about 150, and the NWS supposedly had about 100 people there, so in their warped eyes, they were "right" not to cancel. After all, what else is Al Snow going to do in Toms River? Hell if they were going to let him reschedule his flight out to California to work for West Coast Carny fed APW in one of their "let our name drag you down, too" federations. It was very, very, very important that Al Snow be in Toms River, NJ, as part of his Tour Every Fed In the Country road trip.
Maybe Joe Panzarino sang a nice song to him on the phone.
Apparently, reality- or most likely, the building hosting the card, set in on Saturday, as the NWS Vineland show was cancelled because of the snow. You can avoid your fate, but never escape it. Too bad, as the folks in Vineland surely needed to see Chemical Ali sew a US flag or whatever contrived angle he was set up for that night.
So who's to blame, really? Well, the promoters, of course, for their arrogance in expecting people to show up, and for showing no concern for their paying fans in horrible driving conditions. One promoter was actually was smart enough to cancel their show was quoted as saying, "I don't think I could have lived with myself if something happened to someone on their way to my show."
So in essence the fans are also to blame- for actually being dumb enough to get out there. Wrestlers are one thing- they'd be crazy to turn down a paying gig, since there are so few out there for some of them. But fans have a choice- stay at home with your family or friends and be safe, or risk it driving God knows how far to get to a show where, like FanSlam, most of the scheduled "stars" weren't at, or an NWS show, where there aren't any stars in the first place.
Shame on the people expecting others to get out to their shows in dangerous driving conditions, but shame also on the people who actually did get out to those shows in spite of those conditions. None of you proved any kind of a point, except that stupidity and stubbornness run rampant no matter what kind of weather.
Complaints, comments, questions?? Email Jim
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The comments and statements
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Brett Schwan and the Wrestling
Clothesline (although many times, he comes damn close!). Please
feel free to email HIM with any comments, complaints, etc.
Jim has been watching wrestling for over 20 years and has followed and reported on indy wrestling for over 6 years. He's also a fan of the New York Giants, New York Yankees, St. John's Red Storm basketball, Alabama Crimson Tide football, and the New Jersey Devils, but please don't hold that against him.
Contact Jim at BilJim2@hotmail.com
