If you’re reading this column you have more than likely entered the world of serious wrestling fanism. You’ve been sucked in by wrestling news sites and the bulging mass of sheer opinion found in any grappling forum. You know all about kayfabe and the flaws in any given promotion’s booking tactics. You now hate Vince McMahon because in your eyes he is the devil and is systematically destroying the ‘wrestling’ world only to replace it with that sickening mutation known as ’Sports Entertainment’.
If you don’t agree with that last sentence then I applaud you. If you are sensible enough to truly think about the business of wrestling, rather than simply whinging about HHH being the cancer of the WWE then please continue to read. If however you are too ignorant and narrow minded to consider a theory of reason then please return to your ranting. I doubt I will find a way to change your twisted view of reality.
The one thing I will not do is fall to my knees and bow down to Vince McMahon. Though he is indeed a pioneer and a King in his world he is nowhere near perfection. Then again perfection isn’t a word widely articulated when in discussion about wrestling. The fact is that you could fill a million libraries full of posts, interviews, columns, books, DVD’s and notes passed around the classroom that contain derogatory comments concerning the chairman of the WWE. From short sentences that are almost unreadable to supremely written and well constructed columns that provide valid and concise evidence to support the consensus that Vince McMahon is, in fact, evil.
Who can argue that Vince isn’t evil? It would be hard for even the most skilled publicist to spin a positive in the hope of changing the wider perception of Mr McMahon. Yet despite his uncanny likeness to the devil there is one aspect of Vince’s psyche that is simply overlooked. He couldn’t give a hairy harrier load of honey glazed pig shit about what the Internet wrestling community thinks about him and his product.
The WWE is not and has never been designed for the smart wrestling fan. Yes it flirts with the IWC. The Matt Hardy/Edge shoot/work was a prime example of the WWE having a bit of fun at our expense. If it was, as I suspect, a little poke at us internet nerds (as some like to put it) then I say Bravo! That shows some serious forward thinking and a creative streak that some of us seem to miss in the man the big office.
We shouldn’t over estimate the numbers in the community of ‘educated’ wrestling fans. In fact I would be very, very interested to see just what percentage of the viewing audience of Raw would be considered as ‘smart’. I would then like to take that percentage, on a wonderfully embossed piece of silky card and march my way into Titan Towers. I would wrestle may way up to Vince’s crystal office and politely hand the Wizard of Oz this oh so interesting stat. I wonder what his reaction would be?
I’d then like to apply this same method to TNA Impact. I love TNA, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the percentage of smart fans within Impact’s 1.0 rating is greater than the percentage watching Raw’s 3.8. Whether it’s the future of the industry or not, it still needs to grab the attention of the casual audience. Then, and only then, Vince will consider a change in his approach.
World Wrestling Entertainment does not rely on Smart Fans to survive. It doesn’t even rely on the IWC. It relies on a constant conveyor belt of fans that have a love affair with wrestling that may last two, three, four or even five years. Sometimes less, sometimes more. The percentage of wrestling fans who become fanatics like you and me must be miniscule in relation to the sheer number of people who’ve casually tuned into Raw and Smackdown! over the years.
My own experience supports this theory. In 1999, which for many was the boom period of ‘the biz‘, I began a love affair with the guiltiest of all guilty pleasures, professional wrestling. More specifically the WWE. I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t long before me and my friends where getting together at 1am (UK Time) to feast on WWE pay per views long to into the small hours of the morning.
At its peak there where twelve of us packed into my best friends living room, screaming at the television when Brock Lesnar attempted a shooting star press and landed flat on his face. Fast forward to Wrestlemania 22. That same living room was not filled. It was actually quite empty. In three short years our numbers had plummeted from twelve down to just three. Many of us had been swept up into wrestling in our mid teens. As we all grew into adults the excitement of wrestling soon vanished. There are quite simply two paths to take. Stay a casual fan and leave the wrestling world, or become a smart fan and be sucked in for a long, long time. Of the three now left only two of us would be considered as ’smart’ fans. The other is a casual fan of the WWE who joined us on our journey late in the day and is yet to meet that fork in the road.
Only 1/6 of the group stayed with wrestling. The rest simply faded away. Left only with memories of Stone Cold, The Rock and Mankind, caring little if at all for the antics of Cena, Batista and Randy Orton. This may just be an argument to support the theory that the WWE is actually shit and losing my friends as fans is an example of their short comings over the past five years. I of course, disagree.
If you don’t see what the rest of the wrestling world has to offer then its inevitable that you will fall away. Many wrestling fans go on a journey. Storylines involving colourful, larger than life characters grab their attention. Soon they recognise moves, finishers and start to appreciate what goes on in the ring. Then the internet takes hold, they check out this TNA thing everyone is going on about. Before they know it they’re posting comments in forums and reading endless amounts of columns in order to formulate they’re own informed opinion.
If you decide to pass on this journey then WWE programming can become repetitive and at times down right boring. When your favourite stars vanish from the ring and you don’t take kindly to their replacements then what reason do you have to continue your involvement? Eventually you turn off, proclaiming that you’ve seen it all before and you utter those oh so patronising words ‘I’ve grown out of wrestling’. The fact is no one grows out of wrestling, they fail to grow into it.
Ironically these are the people that the WWE relies on to maintain their dominance. As long as there is a constant stream of factory built fans who are ready to enjoy the product and spend their cash for as long as they see fit, then the big wigs of World Wrestling Entertainment will continue with their philosophy of what a wrestling show should be.
The fact is that as my friends faded away from wrestling, somewhere else in the world another sixteen year old is watching his first Raw and thinks John Cena is f***ing awesome.
Wrestling isn’t as popular as it was in the late nineties but there’s no doubt that its at the top of many network’s wish lists. As long as the ratings don’t crash and crash badly then the WWE will stick to the plan, whether Smart fans like it or not.
Aside from simply switching off, there’s nothing you or me can seriously do about it. In fact I don’t actually care. I love Raw, I think Smackdown! has seen better days and I’m actually starting to enjoy the new ECW. ECW is a one hour show. If you fancy watching some wrestling but aren’t seriously bothered about dedicating two hours of your evening to it then ECW is an ideal choice. Not only that but this hour of wrestling might just prevent you from watching that other hour of wrestling on Spike TV.
I am not declaring the IWC as a pointless and futile exercise. It is far from it. The IWC is important because it can be a valid tool in influencing the casual wrestling community. This in turn will influence the WWE, they are a slave to money and ratings and this is determined by the majority of the demographic. As the IWC grows it may indeed become the key battle ground in the fight for viewers but at the present time I do not believe that smart fans are a major talking point in Connecticut.
Whatever stage you’re at, whether you’re a seasoned column veteran or this is your first taste of Pro-wrestling’s alternative internet media, you can all be safe in the knowledge that we have a place to tell our tales and vent our frustrations. Whether the WWE is listening or not.
What? You got a problem with me? Well bring it on Cheese head!
Tony Hudson
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