WSU Promoter Talks Melina's Debut, Pay Rumors, Bayless
WSU promoter Sean McCaffrey is featured in the first of our Promoters Season of interviews with the minds behind some of the top female promotions today. We discuss WSU's upcoming November 19th Internet pay per view which will be headlined by a steel cage WarGames match as well as the WSU debut of former WWE star Melina taking on Serena Deeb.
We talk to Sean about Melina's debut, how it has helped the company, rumors regarding her pay and more. Plus, we get the lowdown on Becky Bayless/Cookie's return to the company after she was let go by TNA.
On how Melina joining WSU has helped the company: "It has helped a great deal. Since announcing Melina, our website hits went up, our Twitter following grew, and our pre-sale for both iPPV and ticket-wise is the highest its ever been. We are still over two months away from the show and Melina has garnered us a huge buzz.
One of the reasons we booked Melina so far out was to have three months of people talking about it, so when 11/19 comes around, everyone is aware that Melina will be here."
Was he wary about working with Melina due to her controversial status?: " I don't know how controversial she is. She speaks her mind. So do I. I don't call that being controversial. I call that being stand up and not afraid to voice up. I respect that. I'm not worried about working with her at all and I think this is a great deal for both her and WSU."
Rumors about her independent booking fee: "The number reported is nothing close to what we are paying, but if we were, I guess it shows we got a lot of money to afford that price!
I don't like to really discuss booking fees with anyone, but I will say for what we paid, we are already seeing a return in our investment."
Working with Melina so far: "Working with Melina so far has been great. Keep in mind we've never met each other, but already, she's plugging the show like crazy on her sites and on Twitter. She took the initiative and released her own promo. Just talking to her, I can see she's authentic and genuine about wanting to wrestle here and really, has gone out of her way already, for a date three months out, for someone she's never met. It's been great so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what her and Serena will do. No spoilers here, but I will tell you that the match will be longer than the usual two minutes WWE gives their women wrestlers."
On booking Becky Bayless the same day she revealed she was done with TNA: "I was picking up DVDs from our producer Will Wyeth at 7am. Will said, "Do you know Becky is done with TNA?" I said, "How did you find that out?" He said "Check her Twitter." So I was on my phone, saw her Twitter, and wrote "Call me". As I'm sitting with Will, she called me legit three seconds after I wrote that. I said "You're done with TNA?" She said she was and I said my next show is 11/19, and she said "I will see you there."
Plenty more is discussed in this interview including more on Melina and Becky. Sean also discusses perceived heat between WSU and SHIMMER, the challenges of presenting a steel cage match on iPPV and much more.
The full interview can be accessed at https://www.diva-dirt.com/