AGON blogging on Twitter from UW Whitewater event (1-26-2014)

TomM · January 26, 2014, 01:55:40 PM

TomM · January 26, 2014, 10:30:49 PM

Askren brothers, Craig Becker, Chris Heilman winners at Agon Wrestling III
http://www.examiner.com/article/askren-brothers-craig-becker-chris-heilman-winners-at-agon-wrestling-iii

maggie · January 27, 2014, 08:52:27 AM

Brock Lesnar, ! I'm going to asking Ben if he can arrange a match up between me and him In a yr or so after I heal up from the new knee. If I can somehow get the Littleguy down here to work out with for a few months prior and get some funk training in over to the brothers academy, I believe I will be all set to go!..but I won't come cheap!....I'm thinking ARON 10 at the Ho-chunk hotel and Casino..

Ghetto · January 27, 2014, 10:43:49 AM

I had a great time at Agon 3 yesterday. I didn't know they had their own twitter feed until I saw this on the forum.

A few suggestions, even though no one asked.

The production has to improve. I saw that they got hosed by the ring girl (though I'm not sure that's appropriate at a kids tournament), the DJ etc. so I am sure that went into it. In order to make it PPV-able, there has to be things set in place. While I hate the mat light for high school, this is different. It's a show. Maybe with the square mat its four smaller lights. The introductions have to be WWE style. Spot lights, loud music, smoke, etc. If the Milwaukee Wave can have a tunnel to run out, so can Agon. Every high level wrestler can have a short highlight video of themselves made, if it doesn't already exist. The video boards at Whitewater should have been used.

Lee Kemp, while a great wrestler, and likely a great guy, was awful. Shane Sparks has a gift. He's "our guy". He needed to be asking the questions. Those questions need to be scripted. They also needed to be on the video board. Also, someone has to be pumping up the crowd in between rounds.

It has to be more than Ben and Max. It has to be sustainable.

Is a one time fee possible to put it on live streaming with Flowrestling? Even though I have a flo account, I'd pay a small one time fee to watch Agon, if only to support Agon. Ben, being in MMA, understands this idea. Guys get paid in accordance to the PPV buys in other sports. Why not Agon? A flat small fee for wrestling, plus the main event gets a % of the buys. If the twitter account has 2000 followers, that's likely 1000 PPV buys or more, understanding that some people who don't have twitter will buy the PPV. A one time fee of $10 or something is something that most folks will do. A relationship with Flo will up that number considerably, and make it a possibility for both Flo and Agon to make money. Having the only revenue stream be the gate is a strategy that won't work.

I know that Ben called out Kyle Dake again. He's a key piece of the puzzle.

I think it was a great idea to have a local guy (Smith and Heilman) be on the undercard. That should happen every event. It will bring more folks to the event, if only to cheer on their guy.

The wrestling was awesome yesterday. Great competitors going at it. Nine minutes is a LONG time!!! The OT match for the main event was just great. No time limit in OT. Great idea.

Who knew Max was a DMX guy? That was awesome.

Loved seeing Platner in underarmour gear. That's cannon fodder for years to come.

bigoil · January 27, 2014, 11:47:50 AM

Great ideas Ghetto.

A) I googled results, couldn't find any.

B) I watched the videos, know updates on score, I was keeping mental score and not that I was paying that close, I sure thought I had it right, so maybe I missed a pushout.

C) Couldn't see the score/time on the small scoreboard.

rules: scoring, # of periods, tie breaker... If I don't know, how is a general sports person going to follow the rules.

aarons23 · January 27, 2014, 12:04:34 PM

Quote from: Ghetto on January 27, 2014, 10:43:49 AM
I had a great time at Agon 3 yesterday. I didn't know they had their own twitter feed until I saw this on the forum.

A few suggestions, even though no one asked.

The production has to improve. I saw that they got hosed by the ring girl (though I'm not sure that's appropriate at a kids tournament), the DJ etc. so I am sure that went into it. In order to make it PPV-able, there has to be things set in place. While I hate the mat light for high school, this is different. It's a show. Maybe with the square mat its four smaller lights. The introductions have to be WWE style. Spot lights, loud music, smoke, etc. If the Milwaukee Wave can have a tunnel to run out, so can Agon. Every high level wrestler can have a short highlight video of themselves made, if it doesn't already exist. The video boards at Whitewater should have been used.

Lee Kemp, while a great wrestler, and likely a great guy, was awful. Shane Sparks has a gift. He's "our guy". He needed to be asking the questions. Those questions need to be scripted. They also needed to be on the video board. Also, someone has to be pumping up the crowd in between rounds.

It has to be more than Ben and Max. It has to be sustainable.

Is a one time fee possible to put it on live streaming with Flowrestling? Even though I have a flo account, I'd pay a small one time fee to watch Agon, if only to support Agon. Ben, being in MMA, understands this idea. Guys get paid in accordance to the PPV buys in other sports. Why not Agon? A flat small fee for wrestling, plus the main event gets a % of the buys. If the twitter account has 2000 followers, that's likely 1000 PPV buys or more, understanding that some people who don't have twitter will buy the PPV. A one time fee of $10 or something is something that most folks will do. A relationship with Flo will up that number considerably, and make it a possibility for both Flo and Agon to make money. Having the only revenue stream be the gate is a strategy that won't work.

I know that Ben called out Kyle Dake again. He's a key piece of the puzzle.

I think it was a great idea to have a local guy (Smith and Heilman) be on the undercard. That should happen every event. It will bring more folks to the event, if only to cheer on their guy.

The wrestling was awesome yesterday. Great competitors going at it. Nine minutes is a LONG time!!! The OT match for the main event was just great. No time limit in OT. Great idea.

Who knew Max was a DMX guy? That was awesome.

Loved seeing Platner in underarmour gear. That's cannon fodder for years to come.

I think Platner was wearing my 9 year olds shirt.

. He looked good with his Justin Timberlake hair cut.

maggie · January 27, 2014, 01:00:52 PM

A complexed man with an idea to take it to another level..wow, this is the stuff we could only dream of just a yr. ago...I Dang well would have been in house if I was able last night. I really couldn't tell from Shane's video's, But how big of an attendance was there?

sunrangereagle · January 27, 2014, 01:08:22 PM

Quote from: maggie on January 27, 2014, 01:00:52 PM
A complexed man with an idea to take it to another level..wow, this is the stuff we could only dream of just a yr. ago...I Dang well would have been in house if I was able last night. I really couldn't tell from Shane's video's, But how big of an attendance was there?

Not sure on official attendance but the bleachers were filled plus all the kids were around the mat.

benaskren · January 27, 2014, 01:17:33 PM

Hey guys thanks for all the feedback.

I jumped in with Agon after their first show and it has been a wild ride!!!

Within the last 24 hours we had the DJ, Ring Girl and Camera Crew all cancel. It was such a nightmare. We managed to get a backup Dj and Camera Crew. We do plan on stepping up the production quality but we are just getting our feet underneath us.

In the end it all came together and I think was a great experience for everyone in the building. I think that wrestling needs a professional circuit to really energize the sport and I am very proud to be a member of the team who is trying to do it.

I was a little disappointed by the lack of support for the kids tournament we hosted in conjunction, but I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who just showed up to watch the match.

We are excited to bring another show back to Wisconsin possibly next fall.

EIUwrestler1 · January 27, 2014, 01:35:02 PM

With the stands full and all of the Poeta kids on one side of the mat and the AWA kids on the other side cheering for their coaches made for a fun afternoon, glad we made the trip out. Having an AGON card definitely made for a memorable day as opposed to every other weekend tournament, it a nice break between rounds and adds to the experience. That was my second AGON, I would recommend it and hope another one comes our way

woody53 · January 27, 2014, 03:02:31 PM

Wasn't there because of the weather. Heard a ton of good reviews of what happened. Great job. Awesome to see Messenbrink do what he did at his age. He is a God in my book.

qbit · January 27, 2014, 05:29:33 PM

Yeah, Agon was awesome... I hope it comes back to Wisconsin but I would strongly consider traveling to go see this event again. Great job Ben and awesome match!

whatever · January 28, 2014, 03:57:35 AM

Quote from: woody53 on January 27, 2014, 03:02:31 PM
Wasn't there because of the weather. Heard a ton of good reviews of what happened. Great job. Awesome to see Messenbrink do what he did at his age. He is a God in my book.

I give Mesenbrink a ton of credit for wrestling a stud in his prime like Craig Becker. In the end,there was no way Mesenbrink could beat two people at the same time - Becker AND Father Time.....

Tonto · January 28, 2014, 07:35:53 AM

I would think the youth tournament numbers were down because alot of high quality kids were wrestling in the LAW duals the day before. Maybe this could be a dual team tournament to secure numbers and draw out of state teams.

Ghetto · January 28, 2014, 11:31:18 AM

Quote from: whatever on January 28, 2014, 03:57:35 AM
Quote from: woody53 on January 27, 2014, 03:02:31 PM
Wasn't there because of the weather. Heard a ton of good reviews of what happened. Great job. Awesome to see Messenbrink do what he did at his age. He is a God in my book.

I give Mesenbrink a ton of credit for wrestling a stud in his prime like Craig Becker. In the end,there was no way Mesenbrink could beat two people at the same time - Becker AND Father Time.....

John looked awesome physically. But Becker has competed in college opens this year and won them. That's a lot to ask.

I admire him for putting himself out there.