I think most of us probably grew up on the glory days of the old WWF. Back when it was marketed to kids. Good vs Evil. Cartoonish characters. These old videos pop up in my algorithm and it takes me back. Haven't watched wrestling since growing out of it in early HS but I cant for the life of me understand how WWE became so much more successful when it went away from marketing to kids to being adult-oriented. I have never met an adult wrestling fan in my entire life. Have any of you? Any of your coworkers talking about Monday Night Raw around the water cooler? That seems so weird. But its more popular than ever. Fake fighting. I dont get it.
OT: WWE
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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It’s making more money now than ever before. But I wouldn’t say it’s more popular than ever. However the last year or so since Vince McMahon was removed it’s gotten better and grown in popularity. Still not the 90s or 80s but it’s been good.
It’s been marketed to both kids and adults. No different than any other television show or movie. It’s scripted/predetermined theater with actors doing their own stunts in front of a live audience on live tv.
Also, where are you going where you're expecting to run into adult WWE fans and it's not happening? This is like fishing: you've gotta have right bait, time, and location. May I suggest:
1. Walmart during standard working hours
2. Online gaming (all hours)
3. The crowd at the NFL draft
4. Any place that sells Monster Energy Drinks
5. A beer distributor when there is a sell on Keystone Ice
You'll land a few trophies this way.
1. Walmart during standard working hours
2. Online gaming (all hours)
3. The crowd at the NFL draft
4. Any place that sells Monster Energy Drinks
5. A beer distributor when there is a sell on Keystone Ice
You'll land a few trophies this way.
I prefer the 80's/early 90's, when it was very cartoonish and full of pageantry. I came on board in like early '93, which is considered one of the worst times in wrestling, but I love that era as well for its nostalgia.
My watching fizzled out when it got really bad in '95, but I picked back up again here and there in the Attitude Era, which is considered the peak. It was cool as the time, as a high schooler, but I'd never seek that era out now. I'll still watch stuff before it, but when they came out and announced it as fake and starting using too many names instead of characters, etc., that just did it in for me.
Seemed like the era immediately after that had some really good wrestling (Angle, Benoit, Guerrero, etc.), but I just never watched it and won't now. And then, though I won't pretend to know too much about it, it seemed to get *really* stupid after that.
It's a shame, but there's just no putting the genie back in the bottle to the days when you knew it was probably fake but still made yourself believe it might not be; finishing maneuvers were hardly ever kicked out of; matches stayed in the ring; etc.
Yea, maybe but it seems really really popular. Its on network primetime and sells out stadium. I have met Nascar fans, golf fans, baseball fans, but never an adult WWE fan.
The 80s/early 90s was the best because it was very kid-oriented and you had the good vs evil element and the cartoon characters. Now, the characters are just like "regular people." Like Jimmy Smith is wrestling Steve Johnson. Ok, the stage names are a little more creative than that but it just seems like a Fake UFC. Who would watch that? In the old days, you'd have these cartoonish beefs and storylines that were really exciting for kids. Nowadays, you dont have that but its popularity seems to be at an all-time high.
Wrestling fans do hide it a lot. Maybe because there’s some embarrassment? I don’t know. But I guarantee you if you wore a wrestling shirt out in public you’d get comments on it.
I cant even believe this is a thread.
I can't nail down when I stopped watching but it would have been near the end of the Monday Night Wars and the fall of WCW.
I was huge fan of Sting
I was huge fan of Sting
One way to look at it is all TV is pretty much made up so is there a big difference between watching WWE or Survivor?
It's very simple. All of a sudden we got a bunch of people, writing in... This guy here comes, I dunno, maybe he comes snivelling to the, snivelling to the people, comes out crying 'Boohoo! Jivecat didn't give me a chance to say nothing on "The Football board"!' Hmph. 'Jivecat didn't give me a chance to do nothing!' You want a chance? Everybody wants to be like Jivecat! You want a chance, you want a chance to say something, brother? I tell you what man, here you go. Take your little microphone, there you go, there you go, put in in the little greasy paws.
You want to do something? Then you go ahead. You say exactly what you want to say to these people, you can do-- [Jivecat reaches down into the box] Just a second, I want you to-- Now wait a second, I wanna make you feel at home. [Jivecat takes a pineapple out of the box] Before we start, you wanna be the big shot? You wanna do all the talking? You wanna really say to all these people-- Have yourself a pineapple, I want you to feel at home. I want you to feel like the Fiji Islands. [holding up the pineapple] Kinda like the women, you know? Gotta long frosty hair on top, round on the bottom. [Jivecat slams the pineapple down on the table] Go ahead. You got your pineapple. You wanna be a happy person? Whatta ya want, huh? What do you want? [Jivecat reaches into the box again, and pulls out a bunch of bananas] You want bananas? You wanted to talk? Go ahead and talk, huh?! Go ahead and talk! [SMF stands up]
Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second, wait wait wait wait. [Jivecat starts peeling a banana] You want bananas? You want bananas? We got bananas. Here we go. You want bananas? Have yourself a banana! [Jivecat drops the peeled banana at SMF's feet] Huh? This is what you wanted. You wanted to talk? You ain't saying nothing. What's wrong, huh?! You want to come out and feel like a big shot? What do you want?
You want a coconut? Ya well, I got your coconut. [Jivecat reaches into the box and brings out a coconut] Huh? And just like there you go. [Jivecat drops the coconut on the table] One coconut! [Jivecat pulls another coconut out of the box and drops it on the table] Two coconut! [Jivecat takes out another two coconuts and drops them] Four coconut! You wanna be a big shot, huh? You want-- Wait a second. Bananas and coconuts. [Jiveact picks up one of the bananas and one of the coconuts] You wanna be a big shot? You know what? The only thing I didn't get, I didn't get a tree for you to climb up and down, like a monkey, like you wanna do. You want to be a big shot? I'll get you a tree next time. You want a banana? Have a banana. [Jivecat throws the banana into SMF's face] What do you want man, you big--"
You want to do something? Then you go ahead. You say exactly what you want to say to these people, you can do-- [Jivecat reaches down into the box] Just a second, I want you to-- Now wait a second, I wanna make you feel at home. [Jivecat takes a pineapple out of the box] Before we start, you wanna be the big shot? You wanna do all the talking? You wanna really say to all these people-- Have yourself a pineapple, I want you to feel at home. I want you to feel like the Fiji Islands. [holding up the pineapple] Kinda like the women, you know? Gotta long frosty hair on top, round on the bottom. [Jivecat slams the pineapple down on the table] Go ahead. You got your pineapple. You wanna be a happy person? Whatta ya want, huh? What do you want? [Jivecat reaches into the box again, and pulls out a bunch of bananas] You want bananas? You wanted to talk? Go ahead and talk, huh?! Go ahead and talk! [SMF stands up]
Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second, wait wait wait wait. [Jivecat starts peeling a banana] You want bananas? You want bananas? We got bananas. Here we go. You want bananas? Have yourself a banana! [Jivecat drops the peeled banana at SMF's feet] Huh? This is what you wanted. You wanted to talk? You ain't saying nothing. What's wrong, huh?! You want to come out and feel like a big shot? What do you want?
You want a coconut? Ya well, I got your coconut. [Jivecat reaches into the box and brings out a coconut] Huh? And just like there you go. [Jivecat drops the coconut on the table] One coconut! [Jivecat pulls another coconut out of the box and drops it on the table] Two coconut! [Jivecat takes out another two coconuts and drops them] Four coconut! You wanna be a big shot, huh? You want-- Wait a second. Bananas and coconuts. [Jiveact picks up one of the bananas and one of the coconuts] You wanna be a big shot? You know what? The only thing I didn't get, I didn't get a tree for you to climb up and down, like a monkey, like you wanna do. You want to be a big shot? I'll get you a tree next time. You want a banana? Have a banana. [Jivecat throws the banana into SMF's face] What do you want man, you big--"
I stopped watching while in college back in the early 2000's. I won't call it fake, as it is hard to fake a lot of the punishment they take. Instead of calling it fake, I call it choreographed and scripted. What those guys do, takes a lot of athleticism and skill. With that said, it got too much for me. The moves got too over the top, and the guy getting hit with the move never sells it either.
The best thing about wrestling today is watching all the shoot interviews from the old days. Especially Jim Corenette go on his rants. They are great. Pittsburgh's Shane Douglas also gives a great shoot interview. But listening to all the backstage politics is way more interesting than watching an actual pro wrestling show to me. I haven't watched it in decades. With that said, I do know someone who still watches it, my brother-in-law. He looks and acts probably how you imagine.
The best thing about wrestling today is watching all the shoot interviews from the old days. Especially Jim Corenette go on his rants. They are great. Pittsburgh's Shane Douglas also gives a great shoot interview. But listening to all the backstage politics is way more interesting than watching an actual pro wrestling show to me. I haven't watched it in decades. With that said, I do know someone who still watches it, my brother-in-law. He looks and acts probably how you imagine.
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I was gonna say ... pro wrestling is not far from being as real as reality TV.
"Sir, there is a dress code in this restaurant. You can't wear an Austin 3:16 cutoff and a pair of JNCO jean shorts with meticulously-place holes in the back the show off your Ass Man briefs in here and expect to be served."
100%.
I've flipped through a couple AEW shows, and the choreographing was just insane. In honestly felt like Cirque de Soleil more than wrestling. The person getting the move down to them had to work harder than the one doing the move. There was always a need for some cooperation, but it was subtle. This just felt like constantly trying to come up with things that haven't been done before, no matter how much they defied the laws of physics and common sense.
Also agree on the shoot interviews. Absolutely amazing stuff. Sometimes people will swear to two completely different perspectives, so the politics still exist even on these, haha. One funny one that I can recall is the Iron Sheik and Hacksaw Jim Duggan getting pulled over together for drinking and driving. McMahon wasn't mad about the DUI aspect of it, but rather the fact that the local papers showed a heel and a face hanging out together. Macho Man going off in the Waffle House - just hundreds of stories out there.
That or you’ll get a “oh hell yeah!”
I don’t think it’s marketed to adults.
Adult wrestling is when you would watch old World Class or George Championship and it’s grandma in the front row giving the middle finger to the Free Birds and the police escorting the heels out of the building.
WWE banned blood until very recently.
It’s not the pure cartoonish, “say your prayers and eat your vitamins” of the Hulkamania era, but it’s also not geared for a bingo hall in Jackson, Mississippi on a Friday night either.
Adult wrestling is when you would watch old World Class or George Championship and it’s grandma in the front row giving the middle finger to the Free Birds and the police escorting the heels out of the building.
WWE banned blood until very recently.
It’s not the pure cartoonish, “say your prayers and eat your vitamins” of the Hulkamania era, but it’s also not geared for a bingo hall in Jackson, Mississippi on a Friday night either.
I quit watching whenever it became that EVERY wrestler coming to the ring had fireworks set off... it just became too over the top. In continuation of what Chief posted.: Pipers Pit, great addition to the show, here's one with Brownsville's own Bill Eadie aka: Masked Superstar, Super Machine, and Ax from Demolition. Good stuff...
pittdan77
Athletic Director
WWE is no different than SEC football. People want it on TV and TV is willing to pay for it. Not rocket science and the Venn diagram of audience share probably overlaps to nearly a full circle.
Let me guess, after they cooperated and waited 10 minutes for the move, the receiver immediately jumped up and continued within 3 seconds, meanwhile if they received it for real, they would not be in the hospital.
Oddly enough, the thing that used to make me question if wrestling was real as a kid was throwing someone off the ropes. Because, if we're in a real fight and I grab your left arm and put my other hand on your back, you're going to swing around with your right arm and punch me right in my unprotected face... and then pin me.
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It’s definitely marketed to adults as well as children. Yeah it’s not the attitude era or early 80s but still a lot of adults at these shows. The ticket prices for the big shows are insane and definitely targeting at adults with money. There’s also a ton of focus on the 18-45 male demographic.
I forget exactly when I learned it was fake but I remember thinking back then as a kid that they should have all the same characters and stuff but let them fight for real and people would watch that. Inotherwords, the UFC was my idea.
They basically did that at one point, and it took out half the roster and ruined the push for the guy they were going to make their top heel. They then had the winner fight an actual boxer (if you can call Butterbean that), and he was knocked out in 35 seconds.
Aren’t fake fights occurring in movies and tv every day?
But to answer your question, my Pitt roommate who I remain close with to this day sends me YouTube clips all the time. It drives me crazy. I don’t want to judge, but surely there are more important things in life to be obsessed with. He also like UFC, so he likes fake fight and real fights.
Is there anything in the sports world you didn't help create?
Claiming "fighting" - which has been around since life on Earth - is about as good as it gets.
My 8 year old son loves WWE. Actually went to Friday Night Smackdown a few weeks back at PPG arena. Was completely packed. Trust me. They aren’t hurting for money.
I got sucked in 2 years ago for a few months. You had Sika’s the Samoans kid (Roman Reigns) and Rkishi’s kids (usos) and another brother I think (solo) as part of a faction called the bloodline, and there was a cartoonish wrestler, Sami Zayn, who is a goofy looking white guy wanting to be part of the bloodline. It was a fun comic relief storyline but honestly the best way to do it was to record the episodes and fast forward through 2:45 minutes of programming to watch the 15 minutes of their progressing storyline. Some of those guys are really good actors and interesting in their own way. But then WWE closed out the storyline way too early and everything got stupid again so I stopped watching. I guess the Rock, being part of that Samoan family came back and was part of the whole bloodline thing this past year but I didn’t watch. I do know that the Wrestlemania associated with it sold out Philly Lincoln financial field two nights in a row. Rock wrestled Dusty’s kid or something?
I thought they did an excellent job with the Bloodline and Cody Rhodes story line. The Rock brought it up to another level. He is just an unbelievably fun person to watch.
I like that they've recently had some shows where the screen was less prominent and he wrestler entered into the arena instead of coming out from below a giant screen that takes up 1/4 of the space. Not sure if they are sticking to that but it reminded my of the old school entrances.
I like that they've recently had some shows where the screen was less prominent and he wrestler entered into the arena instead of coming out from below a giant screen that takes up 1/4 of the space. Not sure if they are sticking to that but it reminded my of the old school entrances.
Another clown post from him. MMA (isn’t limited to the UFC) has been around for a while. It took off here because of the first Ultimate Fighter series and the epic final between Bonnar and Griffin.
Arena fighting but with the cartoonish characters. The UFC did this but without the cartoon good vs evil element.
In the history of the universe - which has included gladiators and all sorts of violent bouts of entertainment - I am willing to bet some people put on costumes before beating the snot out of each other well before the WWF was ever a thing.
This brings up another one of my ideas. Modern-day gladiator fighting. Have it in a country which doesnt have any regulations. Winner gets $50 million. Loser's family gets $25 million.
