Firstly a bit of context for the casual readers… I’m a businessman, I look at business, I look at marketing and I look at entertainment. So when you’re immersing yourselves through the vast range of high quality articles this website has to offer you will see a split of focus. Articles based solely on wrestling as a sport will come primarily from other writers that have expertise in that area, my articles (which will become more frequent) are more focused on the entertainment and business side of the industry.
Clearing that up, it should be borne in mind when continuing with this article!For me, with the business mind, the first golden age of Professional Wrestling came in the 1980’s. I love a good technical wrestler as much as the next guy and I fully appreciate that the 1970’s brought about many high-quality technical wrestlers, my personal favourite being the original “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers. However for the wrestling greats to perform there needs to be an entertainment stage, without that aspect Professional Wrestling wouldn’t exist and excellent technical wrestlers such as Bret Hart and Chris Benoit would never have had the opportunity to showcase their unique talents.
That stage was built, initially, in the 1980’s. It saw the WWF become nationwide rather than regional and it saw its crowds, contracts and profits soar like a supercharged rocket. The stage was marketed on clear, distinct, larger than life characters. Or in layman’s terms, faces and heels. When selling Professional Wrestling to a larger audience there needs to be clear defined selling points and a battle of Good vs Evil is the most effective technique going. The 80’s wrestling boom marketed this Good vs Evil with comic book style characters, which suited the era and the fact that the target market were children and parents. This was epitomised with the furore of Hulkamania, a legendary, All-American superstar acting as a role model for children worldwide, who faced the insidious, underhanded Andre the Giant!
I maintain that if you consider any sport, nothing has ever been as well-marketed or as long-lasting as Hulkamania and that process worked for many larger-than-life characters such as Ultimate Warrior, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage and to a lesser extent Bret Hart as the 90’s beckoned.Fast forward 10 years to the late 90’s (the second wrestling boom) and those children are now teenagers, the target market of wrestling is now teenagers and young adults and resultantly the comic book style of wrestler fails to attract as much popularity. Subsequently wrestling, like any clever industry, adapts and adopts the grittier “Attitude Era”.
Even with this different style and connecting marketing approach the core base of the sell was still Good vs Evil, in this case with individual feuds though. The 80’s saw permanent “good guys”, such as Hogan whereas the 90’s the characters changed, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock constant switching and becoming anti-heroes.So we’ve seen that the two biggest periods in Wrestling history have arguably been built on mega-battles between a fan-favourite “good guy” and a nasty, despicable heel. It works because it’s something a fan can get behind and support, they can buy into a war and enjoy it. As a result Wrestling becomes sharp, electric and generates big business allowing the fantastic technical wrestlers to showcase their skill globally.Fast forward again to the modern day and we haven’t had a wrestling “boom” in the 21st century, we’ve had 16 years of stagnation. The WWE as the market leader produces some of the most bland and boring storylines known to man and the quality of wrestling drops as a result because there is less interest in the storylines and therefore matches have to be killed off quickly to maintain viewing figures, there is a quick turn-around at PPV’s.
You need quality entertainment and storylines to allow for longer matches, retained interest and to allow the better technicians to “wow” the audience with excellent wrestling ability. The root cause of the modern crisis is the WWE, they no longer produce the “Good vs Evil” battle that has served them so well. Let me list some names: Brock Lesnar, Big Show, Darren Young and Kevin Owens. Some of the biggest names in the WWE and are they faces or heels? Each reader will have a personal opinion on their wrestling ability and personal character but in most WWE main storylines now there is not a clear cut good and bad guy, with the exception of John Cena.
So how can fans fully support one character and really buy into the PPV’s and TV shows if they haven’t got someone to support? On the other hand, TNA still produces some high-quality storylines and to give it credit provides clear characters to support in its top-end matches. Yet because of the overbearing WWE, TNA can struggle to influence the overarching Wrestling landscape, a crying shame in my opinion.
To conclude, the most popular periods in Wrestling history, the times which grew the WWE, were built on a clear Good vs Evil concept, connecting wrestlers to fans, engaging the audience and allowing good wrestlers to blossom. However since the end of the “Attitude Era” in 2001, the WWE has abandoned this principle and as a result produced some of the worst wrestling, in terms or match quality and entertainment quality, in history. It won’t strangle the life out of Professional Wrestling because there are other companies that do a better job but it certainly doesn’t help the industry. The WWE, if it wants to retain its popularity, needs to seriously review how it develops and uses its wrestlers and their characters!
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