The Socialist Principles of Mr Morrell.
Well, that might be misleading and pushing it a bit far.
But one thought strikes me about wrestling is that the likes of McManus and Pallo could be on at the Royal Albert Hall one night and a Corn Exchange on the small side the next. Those in the Corn Exchange would be paying their usual 7/6 ringside.
Promoters must have subsidised the smaller halls on occasions to let the big names appear.
Any thoughts?
That would further explain the theory that McManus would often book himself on the same show as the latest big attraction/ticket-selling rivalry. I've heard a few people say he'd do this to make it look like he was a bigger draw, but it sounds like doing so would also make him more money directly. I'd imagine the British model of generally flat fee rather than a percentage of the takings made more sense because we didn't have television interviews and direct hype for events. In the US, the set-up meant it was in the interest of a wrestler to "talk the fans into the building."