Professional wrestling is one of the few things on earth guaranteed to garner someone’s opinion. But for the actual fans of the industry, their opinion, and urge to vocalize it, becomes the lifeblood of the sport. And a new promotion, Aro Lucha, is building an entire business model off of that concept.
Based in Nashville Tennessee, Aro Lucha is the first ever wrestling promotion that offers fans a minority stake in the company. But this is hardly a passive investment — CEO Jason Brown and co-founders Ron and Don Harris (DOA in WWE‘s Attitude Era) will encourage shareholders to drive Aro Lucha’s decisions ranging from graphic design to the matches themselves
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“Why not let them have an influence on that, and talk about that? What kind of matches they want to see, what are their dream matches? You, as a fan, I’m sure, would have dream matches that you would like, so if our fans ask us that, if we can sign that talent or sign those matches, we’ll try to do those things,” Harris said.
Brown reasoned that wrestling fans carry a comparable passion to those of NASCAR, given that each wrestler or driver is its own exclusive brand commanding its own market.
“What I saw in the wrestling world is, it’s very very similar. The people say, “That’s my guy, the Undertaker’s my guy,” or, “Randy Orton’s my guy,” and they’re so passionate about it that some people blog about it, they follow it, they’re just ridiculously passionate about it,” Brown said.
But Aro Lucha is far more than a novel business concept — they’re also trying to establish themselves as the best Lucha libre promotion in America. That mission is already on track as wrestling lifer and Lucha sage, Konnan, will lead Aro Lucha’s creative department. But Konan has already contributed more than just good storyines — he brought Rey Mysterio.
On top of being the star of Aro Lucha’s first season of programming, Mysterio will also be on the company’s advisory board. But the future WWE Hall of Fame isn’t the only name wrestling fans will recognize within Aro Lucha’s squared circle. Names like John Hennigan, MVP, Hurricane, James Storm, Jeremy Borash and the ever-polarizing Vince Russo were all a part of Aro Lucha’s pilot episode.
Since leaving WWE, Russo has gained an interesting reputation, but it was his demonstrable success in the industry that made him an easy consultant pick for brown.
“From my understanding, he was the head writer at WWE when they had their highest ratings on television. He was the head writer at Impact Wrestling when they posted their highest ratings ever on TV. So for me, as a CEO, I just look at it and say, ‘Okay, this guy at least understands story, he understands format, and he understands storylines within the wrestling world,’” Brown reasoned.
As Aro Lucha sees its momentum swell, the next order of business is to lock down a distribution deal. Brown says they hope that season one of Aro Lucha is anywhere from ten to twenty-two episodes all of which would likely be filmed in Nashville.
But given the sell-out success of their March pilot, Brown would like a few “blow out” shows over the course of 2018. Already armed with star power and a fresh take on the sport, Aro Lucha should have little trouble accomplishing their goals.
If you want to get in on the action here’s Aro Lucha’s WeFunder page.
Photo: Aro Lucha
