http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SoYouWantTo/BeABooker

So you want to book some wrestling matches? Okay; however, you should consider that good wrestling booking is a skill set that is both rare and extremely difficult to implement. It used to be a waste of time to publicly entertain the idea of being an assistant booker without fifteen years of working in the business and far more more have failed at itnote The Hulk Hogan, Vince Russo and Kevin Nash eras of WCW, Herb Abrams' UWF, Kodo Fuyuki FMW, the Dixie Carter era of TNA than have succeedednote ECW, Gedo and Jado New Japan, HHH era NXT. However, there are some basic rules to consider when working as a booker.

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The Golden Rule

You are selling a product. The fans give you money for this product. If the fans are not interested in your product, they will not give you money. Without their money, you are out of a job. Therefore, your first and only responsibility is to the fans. Not your family; not your friends; not your shareholders; not anyone else. This is because only the fans give money to you. Failure to follow this rule will result in a failure of your business.

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Business Ethics

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The Product

Employee Relations

Public Relations

A Final Note

You might have noticed the laundry list of examples on this page pointing out all the ways WWE has ignored (and indeed is continuing to ignore) this advice. You might also think, "Well if Vince McMahon can do whatever he likes and still manage to own the biggest wrestling company in history, surely it can't be that important, can it?"

First of all, you are not Vince McMahon and never will be. WWE has managed to remain uncontested at the top of the wrestling world ever since the end of the Monday Night Wars because WCW and ECW closing down gave it a near-monopoly on the Western wrestling landscape, and monopolies are self-sustaining. Regardless of how bad its content gets, the majority of casual audience members will continue to watch WWE not because they like it, but because it's the only game left, and the only show that they know about. You do not, will not have that kind of luxury, as you almost certainly do not have the kind of established brand to tank glaring creative mistakes. During the 1980s when the NWA was still a visible presence and all throughout the Monday Night Wars in the 90s, Vince was just as beholden to the guidelines laid down here as anyone- if he had tried pulling the kinds of stunts he does today (ignoring or deliberately provoking the audience, burying crowd favorites to push his own personal picks, micromanaging every aspect of his guys' performances) back then, his company might have been the one that went out of business. It's also important to note that even back then, when Vince did put his thumb on the scales, it often cost him real money, or even caused tragedies like Owen Hart's death due to a stupid gimmick.

Secondly, even with their effective monopoly, WWE has been running into constant financial trouble over the last decade or so, with ratings and profits both falling as fans tire of his declining product quality (RAW ratings during the Monday Night Wars was usually above 4.0, but rarely cracked 3.0 in the 2010s). For every obligatory "okay, see you next week" line stating how "the angry smarks" will threaten to cancel the Network or quit watching WWE only to come back anyway out of habit and hope, millions upon millions over the past two decades have skipped right past complaints and threats and just plain tuned out of wrestling forever. The primary thing keeping the company solvent are a billion-dollar business deal with FOX that is already causing some problems as ratings slump and fail to deliver on the investment, and a particularly controversial and massively-criticized deal with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to run propaganda shows for the regime. These things are doing long-lasting damage to the company's image and brand, even as his stubborn insistence on ignoring criticism and pushing forward on a blinkered course drives ever-more-erratic attempts to gain short-term profits at the expense of long-term stability.

Thirdly, Vincent Kennedy McMahon's creative talent is more evident as a promoter than a booker. Before his meglomaniacal micromanaging urges became irrepressible, McMahon tended to hire other men to handle the booking for the same reason he hired people to hold the cameras, play the music and wrestle the matches. He never did stop hiring good bookers altogether, but did become increasingly resistant to the word "no". While The Gobbledy Gooker was hated by the fans, McMahon did manage to keep them interested before The Reveal and did listen when told not to give The Gimmick to anyone he actually wanted to get over. The Undertaker was saved. Contrast that with Katie Vick, which McMahon was convinced would make Triple H and Kane as big as The Rock and Steve Austin, and his decline becomes obvious.

In fact, there are already two prominent examples of people who ignored most if not all of the guidelines listed above, which led to toxic locker room morale, the promotions' reputations run into the ground, and money hemorrhaging from every orifice due to bad business and booking decisions. The first was, at one time, the biggest promotion in the world and WWE's greatest threat, WCW, whose bosses did everything they could to provoke their audience, bury favorites, and mismanage performances. They were on top of the world for two years mostly due to one great idea, and with unlimited funding from their patron Ted Turner, they could afford to make all sorts of idiotic mistakes without worrying about the cost note Eric Bischoff chased after TV ratings by giving up big matches that people could watch for free, but eventually killed live shows and Pay-Per-Views, a.k.a. how most wrestling promotions made money. Their 'compelling storylines' were also full of cheap swerves, no satisfying payoff, and the NWO repeatedly stomping their rivals into the dirt for nearly two years, which drove TV audiences away. See The Death of WCW for a comprehensive list of other mistakes WCW made that led to their downfall.. But when Turner could no longer fund them, and they suddenly had to actually create a good product to compete with WWE and justify their pay, the bookers went with even stupider, even crasser, even more illogical ideas, and the company very quickly died an ignoble death. The second example, and Spiritual Successor to WCW but without the clout or brand recognition, was TNA under former boss Dixie Carter, which went on to repeat, if not commit even worse acts of idiocy.

So before you try and book like Vince McMahon and expect to make as much money as Vince McMahon does, maybe you should check to see whether or not you actually are Vince McMahon, or if you even want to be.