David Lagana Talks NWA Powerrr Airing On YouTube, Why He Prefers It Over A TV Deal
NWA's Vice President, David Lagana, recently took some time out of his packed schedule to have a conversation with the This Is The NWA podcast. Now that NWA's Powerrr show been airing on the company's YouTube channel each week, Lagana is focusing on backstage talent morale and how to build the show around it.
"I've never [before] seen a group of wrestlers all happy at the same time. Ever," Lagana emphasized. "The first night it was like this high. That Cabana clip where he says, 'This is exciting,' that was genuine. I've known Cabana for 16 years. He's been through it all. It's funny as people send me the negative stuff saying, 'I wish this show was done with the hot indy names.' This show is genetically engineered for every talent that's on it because it plays to their skill sets.
"I implore you, anybody who's listening who disagrees with our talent decisions, send me a promo of anybody on the indy market who's killing it and selling tickets with a promo," David continued. "Trust me, I looked for it. You know what they sell? Their Patreons. You know what they do? They meticulously monetize their small base instead of growing their base. This is why this show isn't behind a paywall, because everyone believes in this show. There's a reason it's resonating. It's not nostalgia, it's the overall vibe. There's a really unique vibe because we want this to work. The business needs it to work."
Fans and talent alike have noticed that the show doesn't contain an intro theme song when it starts each week. Lagana explained that this was intentional so that the audience's excited cheers can be the first thing that viewers hear and focus on.
"A lot of the guys were very concerned by [the lack of a theme song]. I think the energy of the live audience really spoke to why it works," Lagana said. "The live audience became the entrance music."
Some have also questioned why NWA chose to air the show through an online service like YouTube as opposed to a television network. Lagana is confident that the democratic structure and on-demand services of YouTube are the future in terms of watching pro wrestling and what fans are looking for. This also allows NWA Powerrr to take the creative directions it wants without being influenced by any TV network executives.
"Well, YouTube is on television. I watch more YouTube, kids watch more YouTube than anything. YouTube is democratic. It's all based on search, queries, and content subscribers. You see more of certain peoples content when you watch more of certain peoples content," David explained. "So, I really believe in this platform a lot. I want to keep some version of the show on YouTube forever. I haven't had a 'real television' in 5 years.
"I have DirectTV Now just so I can watch wrestling, everything else I consume on YouTube, Hulu... We decide what we want," David continued. "The people who lean that we just have to have a TV deal, do you know how expensive [that is]? There's a lot of hoops you have to jump through. We had no network executives overseeing the show, no middle managers... Once you take somebody's money, you then work for that money, you have to answer to that money."