Billy Corgan Discusses NWA On YouTube and Being a Production House
Billy Corgan believes that the NWA is unique and paving a road that’s not there.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, the two discussed NWA Powerrr’s presence on YouTube, and how they’re now starting to see binge-watching of season one and two.
Corgan commented, “after I bought the company, what we were trying to do was really ascertain whether a digital strategy, or a digital-based strategy, would work for a modern wrestling company. In many ways were a production house first and a live event wrestling brand second, and that had never really been tried as best as I could tell.”
Admitting that people always ask when NWA is going to start touring, Corgan revealed that they’re in discussions right now to start doing live touring events.
So far the plan to exist online has worked, but the Smashing Pumpkins frontman admits that it took time to look through the numbers and see if it was a sustainable model. He also brought attention to the viral nature of the internet and the visibility it can bring.
“Dave cut a clip of Scott Steiner walking down the stairs and the clip went viral.” Corgan laughs. “It’s just Scott Steiner walking down the stairs. The beauty is that that clip of Scott Steiner did more views than the actual show itself, and I’m not saying one has more value, but in the cumulative era of digital media, a view is a view so we’ll take it, because ultimately we’ll steer people back to the Powerrr product.”
The interview concluded with Chris asking Billy if he sees any parallels between NWA and Lucha Underground, to which he said: “not really.”
“They had some form of a network deal. It was Mark Burnett Productions and there was some affiliation, I believe, with AAA. They already had an established brand company supplying a certain degree of talent. They had one of the biggest producers of television in the world, actually the history of television, producing the show. They actually had TV deals. We are completely 100% financed by me, and it originated between our relationships, who we work with and our talent. There are no other contrivances to surround us other than our relationships and so I don’t think there has ever been a promotion like us in the history of the business.”
NWA Powerrr airs every Tuesday at 6:05 pm ET on their Facebook and YouTube channel.
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