How does a wrestler decide to start their own promotion? What are the risks they take?

Wrestling is filled with a lot of promotions created by workers who wanted to do something THEIR way!

We asked Jenny Rose, female wrestler, and owner of Aspire Pro about the challenges of running your own promotion as a wrestler.

 What made you want to start your own promotion?
I love pro wrestling. Pro wrestling shaped me into the woman I am today through discipline, confidence, passion and hard work. I was inspired to do this because I wanted to create a positive atmosphere for the fans, wrestlers, my family, and friends. I planned on starting Aspire in 2015 after I purchased my wrestling ring from a retired wrestler, but I took an offer to tour Japan for 6 months. While I was in Japan, I started planning out a date for Aspire and sorted out everything on the business side so when I returned to America in January I got it all together and everything fell into place.

What was the single biggest obstacle to planning your first event?
For me, my first event was the most challenging because I wasn’t in the country to promote. However, I had a lot of support and everyone seemed very excited for me to return and create something special.

Did anyone try to talk you out of it?
No one tried to talk me out of it, if fact, anyone who knows me knows that if you tell me not to chase a dream I won’t listen. Everyone I know was just as excited as I was and it made me more motivated to do well.

Did you learn anything about the wrestling business from booking and promoting a show that you didn’t learn as a wrestler?
I learned just how important the fans are as far as making our events successful. It’s a wonderful thing to experience and it made me appreciate them a lot more.

How do you hope to see Aspire grow?
My goal is to make everyone happy. If you can come to an Aspire show and smile, that’s what matters to me. At Aspire we have more of a personal experience with the fans. Wrestling in Japan was a big influence. I loved our dojo shows in Japan where one of us wrestlers would cook for the fans each month and play games, have a talk show. It was such a family environment. That’s my goal. Everyone to get together, have fun, and be treated like family.

Learn more about Aspire Pro here.

Have a promotion or wrestler you’d like us to feature? Let us know in the comments.

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