Sorry, true sports fans. The above title likely makes you cringe, and I appreciate and sympathize with your visceral reaction. We proudly watch baseball, football, basketball and hockey as fans, cheering for true competition. Nothing is more American than seeing who is truly best, and the “entertainment” aspects of professional wrestling directly contradict these elements we hold dear. The outcomes are fixed, so the mainstream sees it as a bit childish.
But like it or not, professional wrestling has been a significant part of American culture for decades. It was closely tied to the expansion of television itself as a medium, followed by VHS, Closed Circuit Television, Pay Per View, the internet itself, and DVDs. So understandably, while the mainstream tends to disregard it, we’d be foolish to dismiss it as a relevant and profitable entertainment medium. And while many of us grew up watching wrestling, and then disregarded it later, I’m willing to bet than most guys, at some point, cheered for Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, John Cena and their ilk. And your grandpappy probably cheered for Bruno Sammartino. But I bet they’re mostly embarrassed to admit it in 2009. Why? Wrestling simply hasn’t been hip for about ten years now, since Steve Austin was chugging beers, and the nWo made wearing a wrestling t-shirt cool. Imagine that.
So what happened? Vince McMahon was seemingly at a point where he was getting what he truly craved: mainstream acceptance. The content got more raunchy and violent, and while sophisticated types still looked down upon wrestling, it’s hard to argue with financial success. So while parents and politicians protested and the content got edgier, WWE went public with an IPO, and the profits continued to pour in.
But like any entertainment form, professional wrestling goes in cycles, and the “boom” was over a few years later. It just so happens that in this case, the down cycle has been increased by the popularity of MMA and the UFC. As Dana White has gotten better at promoting his athletes’ characters and personalities (and consequently putting together matches the public will pay to see), suddenly wrestling has been overshadowed in the realm of mainstream importance. And it may never get it back.
Wisely, WWE has adapted by becoming more kid friendly, switching to a PG rating and even publishing a children’s magazine. Core fans have voiced their disapproval, but that’s where the consistent money is. Go through the motions, sell your $25 t-shirts, and profits continue to be steady, though never spectacular.
On the other side of the coin is TNA Wrestling, an organization that attempted to fill the gap left by Vince McMahon’s domination of the industry (competitors WCW and ECW went out of business at the start of the decade). Building a roster filled with some of the most talented independent wrestlers around, the company seemed ready to pounce on this opportunity. They aimed to create an innovative, exciting product that would appeal to niche fans at first, and from there potentially challenge WWE’s spot on top.
Without getting into all the messy details (if you think the politics in your office are bad, you should see what goes on behind the scenes at a pro wrestling company), somehow this plan got derailed a bit. While TNA prides itself on being an alternative (its company motto is “Cross the Line”), the talented roster has been weighed down by a less-than-creative creative team (redundancy intentional). Fans are generally intrigued by their roster but frustrated with the storylines and characters. Though admittedly, there is some loyalty there due to lack of any other alternative to McMahon’s product.
Now, Jim Cornette, who has been involved in the wrestling business seemingly forever (and is well respected), recently posted a well-written argument to his website attributing the wrestling business’ lack of success to the growth of “hardcore wrestling”. It’s a good read, you should check it out (FYI, it contains some mild profanity). And while he makes some good arguments on the surface, given context and perspective, his attitude is actually an accurate reflection of how the wrestling business is stubborn to evolve, talks down to the audience, and why it’s becoming less relevant with every passing year.
It’s a long piece arguing that “hardcore” wrestling (matches that ramp up violence to grab attention) is to blame for the downfall of the business. But he makes three very false statements. To paraphrase:
1. “If not for the growth of hardcore wrestling in Japan, the audience there would have always believed it was real.”
2. “If not for ECW popularizing the same format in America, fans’ expectations would be the same today as twenty years ago.”
3. “Because of hardcore wrestling, we’re out of ideas and can’t sell anything anymore. Not due to lack of creativity mind you, but because the audience got smarter. And we can’t fool them anymore, but I refuse to give them any credit all the same.”
Formats always need to evolve or die, and Cornette has attached himself to a romanticized “old school” mentality towards the business, with its roots firmly placed in the “carny” culture of years gone by. When the carnival came to town, wrestlers would put on matches and “work” the “marks”, convincing them it was real while maximizing profits. He mentions this mentality often in the piece, thinking old carny strategies are the way to go to keep profits up today.
But look, it’s 2009. And in the age of instant communication, online “tribes”, Twitter, Facebook and blogging, everyone has a platform (coming from me, the irony here is staggering), and almost all information is open and available. And like many businesses in this era, in this economy, you evolve or become extinct. So for all his accomplishments, Mr. Cornette does not understand that his audience has become smarter, and demands something that professional wrestling simply isn’t giving them in this day and age. That’s why they’re leaving: not because they got burned out on the violence in the matches, but because they got burned out on the same old, stale ideas. If you insist on still “working” the audience like an old school carny who gives them no credit (futile as it may be), you should at least start by understanding who your audience is.
Don’t believe me? Check out this excerpt: “Additionally, just who is it that ENJOYS this sideshow garbage? The same type of people who go to rock concerts to punch and bash each other in the face and beat each other up in the “mosh pit”–lower class, mentally challenged college-age (but not attending) guys who piss and moan about their depression and lot in life because they have neither the drive and determination nor mental acumen to change it. Any normal fans who see this type of show or attend one with these type of fans NEVER want to go to wrestling again.”
#1: I’ve been in lots of mosh pits throughout my life, and believe it or not, I graduated college. With honors. Ultimate irony? I also met my fiance in a mosh pit. She’s pretty awesome. And the singer in that punk band who was playing that night? He has a PhD, and a second career as a professor. He grew up in mosh pits too! Talk about showing how out of touch you are.
#2: Speaking from experience, anyone who went to an ECW show was actually hooked, period. To say they would never want to go to a show again is horribly wrong. In fact, ECW ran shows back in my hometown of Queens, New York at a horribly dilapidated Elk’s Lodge. In the winter, we freezed our butts off, and in the summer, we sweated profusely. And the house was always packed, we loved every moment of it, and no one ever complained about the conditions. That is what I’d call a “good product”.
#3: Grandpa Cornette sounds like he really wants the darn kids and their loud music to get off the lawn right here.
He even suggests that his own 90s independent Smokey Mountain Wrestling company drew bigger gates than ECW. Not accurate in the slightest, and if you go to any retail outlet, you’ll see plenty of ECW DVDs, and not many SMW ones. Even the most dedicated wrestling fans hardly remember that organization, much less with any fondness.
Now, wrestling has a certain “code”, again derived from the old carny way (remember that Simpsons episode?) So just by writing this, I’m probably “disrespecting a veteran of the business”, but I mean no harm. I personally worked for the now defunct Major League Wrestling for a while, years back, so I understand this. All I’m trying to say is that like many things today, what worked back then probably needs to evolve to work now.
And if you’re a wrestling promoter who still assumes his audience is as stupid as a kid playing a rigged carnival game? That’s exactly why people are ashamed to watch wrestling in the first place. Give them some respect and credit, stop this mentality of treating them like “marks” (AKA: “suckers” who are viewed as nothing more than ATMs), and maybe they’ll come back.
23 Comments
This is a brilliant, fantastic blog. I agree with what you say. I don’t understand why the wrestling websites didn’t call Cornette out for dissing the fans themselves. And that bull**** about ECW never outdrew Smokey Mountain? My friends and I drove from Kenosha to Villa Park to get the best seats for the Anarchy Rulz ppv in 1999, and that card drew over 6,500 people. Smokey never drew that. The ECW Heat Wave pay per view in Los Angeles in 2000 drew over 6,000 people. The shows in Detroit regularly drew over 4,000 people. I love Cornette as a wrestling personality, but he’s way out of touch, and his rant proves nothing less than that.
Jim Cornette doesn’t give any credit to the internet angle that you touched on. Fighting the audience getting smarter is simply fighting inevitability. For me, I lost touch of the WWE/WCW around the time ECW was really becoming big, but looking back on it, it has matches that I can watch as an adult that still entertain. ECW was the new idea, and McMahaon understood that when he gave them airtime. Now that the stories are stale (though the weirdness of the stories like Hawk’s alcoholism and the GREATER POWER storylines made me leave for near a decade), they need another ECW, not blame it.
Cornette’s rant against the fans was never exposed by the wrestling websites because Cornette does dvd releases with Meltzer, so Meltzer protects him, and because the other sites don’t want to be on the other side of one of his vicious rants.
Problem with the anti-Cornette diatribe here is the three points he’s arguing that paint Cornette as out of touch are three things that he never said.
In fact, he never said anything approximating anything this author was “responding” to.
He said wrestling is less popular now than it once was. True. He blames ECW and hardcore wrestling for desensitizing the violent aspects of wrestling. True.
He never espoused using old carny tricks to a more sophisticated audience.
He espoused using promotional tactics that worked in the past, and still work today (UFC uses them, boxing uses them, and UFC is leaving wrestling in the dust with anyone over the page of 20) instead of violence with no story basis or comedy that isn’t funny.
Also, so as to get the quote correctly. He said his SMW outdrew ECW when both were around, which was the mid-90s. Yes, ECW drew a crowd in Chicago once just as big as SMW did in Knoxville, but it was many years later. When both groups were running, SMW drew more fans to its shows. Look it up. It’s a fact.
If anything, listening to Cornette, he makes more sense than the people writing wrestling today and almost everyone talking about it.
Where’s the clamor for the Rise and Fall of SMW DVD, Wayne? Because the ECW one sold huge numbers.
Arguing approximate gate receipts from 10-15 years ago by a small fraction of hundreds/thousands is another example of not understanding the relevance of global media, marketing, branding, and so on. Even IF SMW had a few hundred more people at some shows, how is that terribly relevant to any measuring stick for generating revenue since the early 1980s?
If SMW was a better product than ECW, surely it had a national TV deal, Pay Per View for years, DVD distribution, video games, and countless other avenues that generate money. And the brand name still has enough value today to be resurrected frequently and attached to a show in 2009, right?
Being a wrestler myself for the last nine years, and growing up in the business, I personally think that Smoky Mountain would’ve embarrassed ECW during their heyday, but remember that was back towards the end of the territories era. You don’t need DVD sales, or video games to prove your superiority. I was at TNA’s first show in Birmingham, Alabama, and they didn’t have ANY ofthat and they STILL pulled better numbers than Vince was getting. All they had was a weekly $9.95 pay per view deal that honestly shoundn’t have lasted longer than World Wrestling Allstars. So, if we’re going by the argument that video games, big pay per view productions and everything else make the promotion, then you’re saying that WCW putting their world title on David Arquette made him a better wrestler than Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho (an SMW alumni), and Jeff Jarrett. Sorry, slapnut…it don’t work like that. And by the way…the “resurrected” version you see on the Sci-Fi Channel is a mere sick joke to the Paul Heyman original.
Agreed on that count, Mr. Barnard. Vince’s ECW is nothing like the original (remember, I was at those monthly Elk’s Lodge shows).
But, my point is more that the name “ECW” still has value even today, and continues to draw money while having a legendary status among fans. Far more than I can say for SMW, which was a fine promotion for what it was. But let’s not kid ourselves here in terms of which is held in higher regard among fans all these years later. It’s not even close.
In the paragraph quoted talking about the ‘sideshow garbage’ he’s not talking about ECW. He’s talking about CZW and guys dumping salt and lemon juice into open wounds (don’t watch the show myself but if this is true I 100% agree that this is worthless trash).
I don’t know how out of touch he is about mosh pits. A proper mosh pit is just simulated violence (much like wrestling) where no one gets hurt and everyone protects one another. These are typically seen at punk shows where its more of a culture. Others actually do go out to punch and hit other people and get punched. These are the nimrods he’s talking about but I don’t know if he actually knows that much to make the distinction.
Instead of getting all self righteous there you might one to actually read it in context because I just graduated from college myself (Magna Cum Laude if we want to get into this) and I agreed with that. I’m sorry but staple guns etc… really have no place in wrestling.
I’m not exactly sure where he suggests anything having to do with the carny logic. Would love to see the quotes you’re pulling this from because I did not pick up on it.
Yes the business needs to evolve and get more creative. Not sure how you do or don’t treat the fans like ‘marks.’ I don’t think anyone expects the fans to believe that the business is real. Its more of a wink nod agreement just like any other scripted entertainment that allows you to suspend your disbelief for a time. I know its fake but I don’t need someone before the match telling me its scripted, how its going to end, or for the guys to get up at the end like nothing happened.
If anything they should look to the path just to see that logic has a place in wrestling. Make things logical, build feuds, create characters that have some depth and seemingly real conflicts. The current writers should honestly go watch tapes of the great feuds in wrestling history (including those from ECW) and watch how they were established built up and finally culminated and then evolve that to today’s business.
Great article Toby. I would love to read more wrestling articles from you.
Good stuff Eric, we’re both smart dudes with Cum Laude degrees who have thrown an elbow or two 🙂 So why does he associate a “mosh pit attitude” with CZW, and lump everyone from both groups into one generalized “bunch of worthless idiots” classification? That’s what put it over the top for me.
Where the carny stuff comes in is that his basic argument seems to be “Before hardcore wrestling, in the 70s we could do a big brawl, and it would pay off by doing X, Y, Z.” As if nothing else has changed between now and then, you know? It’s not that he referenced this directly, but the general attitude is a perfect reflection on old school stubbornness at work, in my view.
That, and his vindictive attitude towards ECW and its fans is incredibly shortsighted, not to mention narrow. I think most fans will tell you they didn’t go to ECW shows for blood and gore, they went because the brand was strong, the storylines were compelling, the action was intense, and Heyman always gave the fans what they want. And the fans appreciated ECW in return, hence the strong level of dedication that still exists today.
SMW could never have held ECW’s proverbial jock. Let’s take a look at this honestly. SMW was a retro promotion, designed to rekindle the glory days of Memphis that Cornette grew up watching. ECW completely changed the wrestling business, and created characters that didn’t need to be rebranded. They became legitimate stars on their own. SMW was a promotion that constantly ran in front of 50 to 75 people in small gyms. ECW broke through that barrier within a year. By the time ECW hit New York, first at the Lost Batallion Hall, its cultural significance on wrestling was amazing. Plus, as for the comment about SMW in letter number 6 by someone name “Heart Throb” Phil Barnard, there wasn’t one single SMW match that could have touched the Funk vs Sabu vs Shane Douglas 3 Way match at The Night The Line Was Crossed, let alone any RVD main event match in ECW. There wasn’t one act in SMW that came close to the heat The Dudleys got. Even The Gangstas, with all their heat, only drew 50 -100 people at shows for SMW, but
New Jack became a legitimate star in ECW. I went to all the ECW in Dayton, Ohio, and there were 4,000 or more at those shows, and the tickets weren’t cheap. ECW lives on today because Paul Heyman created a product that transcended the wrestling landscape and even changed the landscape it rose from. Heyman was a revolutionary booker who took chances no one else would dare even try to conceive of. Cornette is great at what he does, but it’s like comparing Fritz Von Erich to Vince McMahon. One guy had regional impact, with some success. The other changed the business.
Hey brother,
Gotta say that I loved the blog about Professional Wrestling. I remember watching it as a little kid in the 1980’s and in the 1990’s through the attitude era and I believe that it has gotten stale which has made me lose interest in watching.
Toby, if you liked ECW, then you might want to check out (if you haven’t already) Ring of Honor.
It can’t be that bad if Ric Flair is their ambassador.
To be honest, I’ve watched more ROH and SHIMMER (an all-women’s wrestling company out of Chicago that is a sister-promotion to ROH) in the past 2 years than I have WWE or TNA. Why?
Because I like it more. It reminds me of a time when you could forget that it’s predetermined.
Actually Adam, I went to a bunch of RoH shows before moving out here to California, and I really enjoyed them. Unfortunately, soon after, their top guys like Styles, Daniels, Joe, Homicide, Punk, etc all went to TNA and well…you know how that goes.
Who would have thought that Vince of all people would be able to do the most with a former RoH talent?
I’ve been watching wrestling religiously now for 20 years (I am 23). I to also have a Bachelor of Commerce Honours Degree. I can tell you that ninety percent of your article is bang on. I’m so sick of these writers, and bookers thinking they know what best for us as fans. I love all types of sports but I’m so loyal to wrestling because I’m always hoping that at anytime they might do something thats right and just downright entertaining. They always have glimpses of hope that seem to fade. I understand the moving to PG…to a point. The part I find weird is that many parents won’t let their kids watch wrestling period, PG or not. So why not try to get back to a real product with some real thought behind it and appeal to the 18 to 34 year old age again? You don’t need the hardcore matches of the late 90’s, you need creative characters with good gimmicks that can get a crowd emotionally involved. Austin and The Rock and the NWO spoke to people. People could connect with the character and loved to cheer or boo them. But Vince just keeps ramming the same old down our throat making us accept it. In no other business is this a good idea…why does Vince and most in pro wrestling think it is?
[…] Wachter at https://www.upperdeckblog.com/?p=671 wrote a blog in response to the commentary that Jim Cornette wrote on hardcore wrestling at […]
Smokey Mountain was a good promotion for its area (Kentucky and Tennessee), but it would have never, ever had ANY success in other areas. Honestly, does anyone think that a main event of The Rock and Roll Express vs. Tracy Smothers and The Dirty White Boy in a Country Whippin’ Match, or Tim Horner vs. Brian Lee (NO offense to any of those guys), would sell more than a couple of dozen tickets in areas like Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, Chicago, etc.? Cornette seems to have this outlook that if only his promotion would have succeeded, and wrestling was still done the way he liked it, it would be in much better shape than it is now. I disagree with that.
In the early 90’s I worked a WWF/E tag match with the team Cornette was managing. As my partner was laying down for the 3 count I fed into the ring for the appearance of trying to make the save for my partner to “disrupt” the referee’s count, thereby looking like I was trying to prevent my team from losing the match (a VERY standard procedure). That of course Cornette knows very well. Instead of allowing one of his members to simply give me a punch where I would then sell it and bail out of the ring, Cornette hits me in the head with the hard aluminum side of his tennis racket, whereby I receive a huge welt to my forehead. This of course is completely unprofessional and low class.
In the back he proceeds to berate me, saying I tried to “upstage” him & his team. He and I get into a loud shoving match where Eaton & Lane separate us, sheepishly saying to me that there sorry that “Jimmy” often fly’s of the handle like this – as if that makes it ok.
The reason I post this is to further give insight into Cornette’s immature nature and why I concur with Wachter’s premise regarding Cornette and his continued erratic behaviors.
Sumo wrestling is my all time favorite. i always watch it a lot in Japanese channels.”~-
real wrestling only exists on the olympics, the wrestling on WWE is quite scripted”-;
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