What the Pro Wrestling Industry can teach us about Talent Acquisition

There a war for Talent brewing right now, and honestly it a place few would expect. I’ve been a long time fan of pro wrestling (I did a bit of the real Greco Roman stuff in high school), and in recent weeks there have been waves of change as new option comes into play. 

Everyone knows of WWE, but more and more fans are tuning into All Elite Wrestling. This start up is exploding with momentum, selling our stadiums, streaming events for free, and pulling of so many flips and stunts even non wrestling fans are saying “wow!”

What interesting about this, is that it has former wrestlers, media, and current wrestlers talking about AEW in addition to the fan base. In fact, former WWE stars like Dean Ambrose (now known as Jon Moxley), whose character was heavily scripted and poorly realized, have found new life and a huge new fanbase in the new company. In fact, Moxley is the hottest Wrestler out there right now.

So what’s happening, why the shift, why are wrestlers sudden waiting for their contracts to expire and not taking million dollar offers to stay?

Well there’s several reasons actually, and many of them directly align with conversations we have in talent acquisition.

WWE is a very organizational heavy, micromanaged bureaucracy. In fact, wrestlers promos are 100% scripted and written by a group of writers. Wrestlers don’t just go out and spout off lines and improvise. If they do, they get grilled for it.

Switch to AEW, where creative freedom runs rampant, and heels like MJF and Jericho can spout off thoughts, lines, and insults without fear of a reprimand. That’s knowing your boss trusts you and brought you in to a company for a reason, you are the talent.

That trust and freedom are what all employees look for everyday, and the lack of it are why they leave. And I sit here and watch the ultimate recruiting job happening in wrestling and it makes me an even bigger fan.

Writers are definitely assets for helping with plot points, feuds, and story lines, but right now the current WWE setup is stifling creativity, and us fans see it.

You’ve got to use your teams strengths, and remove barriers so the strengths shine through and make the org better. For instance, one spot in the Battle Rumble (in AEW’s Free Buy In), an independent wrestler known as Orange Cassidy strolled in nonchalantly and make my brother and I laugh out loud. His comedic “slacker” kicks followed by an very athletic kick up to his feet had comments rolling on the feed. I can’t remember laughing that hard at any wrestling show in years.

Switch back to WWE, where we see similar matches every week, and it actually seems like there is less and less actual “wrestling.” Recaps on last week for over 20 minutes, long winded promos, talk shows, and mere two minutes matches are common. I mean, two minutes? The overhyped intros take longer than two minutes. The product downright sucks now, in fact I watch 11 minute recaps just to find out how terrible each show was.

The products in both are very different, and the fanbase for AEW continues to grow.  

And other WWE employees are seeing this success, and AEW hasn’t even launched their TV show.

People are talking and buzzing about AEW not because it’s another option, it’s a solid competitor, built up by a group of wrestlers that worked the independent circuit for years, that understand the industry. More importantly, they know what the gaps are, the challenges are, and how to fill them. Wrestlers work on a contract basis, and something I’m really glad to see is AEW considering making wrestlers full time employees with benefits, which would be a huge step out of tradition, and something all contractors may benefit from.

AEW’s brand recognition alone is alarming. I made a quick run to two places Saturday in my AEW shirt, and got stopped and asked questions about the next event. My brother also got stopped by an interested fan asking where he got his AEW shirt. People are talking about them on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and even on live broadcasts of WWE. AEW continues to build their brand by broadcasting free “pay per view” events and testing ideas and storylines on one of my favorite platforms, Youtube. 

It’s a combination of factors that’s got wrestling fans buzzing about this new contender. These factors directly align with the work I do day to day recruiting talent for my org.

We all have challenges in recruiting talent in our own industries. Whether our challenges are in branding, red tape, employee morale, candidate pipeline, or engagement, there’s some key lessons we can take away from this sports entertainment talent war.

By understanding our markets, knowing what employees and prospective employees want, we can shift gears from being reactive to proactive and strategic. I see AEW getting major wins and reminds me of orgs I’ve been in when your pipelines start talking and spreading the positive word organically. Same deal in wrestling ya'll, and I can’t wait to see what happens next....