QUOTE(radixius @ Apr 23 2009, 17:16)
Who was planning an argument?
I could see discussion, but argument seems a tad on the decadent side.
Alright then, lets engage in the concussion.
As I read through your commentary I couldn't help but be reminded of a
promo that Paul Heymen did a number of years ago. And while to promo was in essence, aprt of a storyline, (and a poorly booked one at that), the comments made by Heyman ring true. The wrestling industry as a whole has become too convoluted with "sports entertainment" bullshit. WWE, as the largest
professional wrestling promoter in the world, and controller of 90% of the industry in North America is largely responsible for this. This idea that wrestling is a word that doesn't exist in the WWE vocabulary and yet remains unashamedly prominent in their company name, World
Wrestling Entertainment, is tantamount to hypocrisy. The Orwellian controller of this idea, Vince McMahon, is of the opinion that trying to market something as "wrestling" would surely be doomed to failure, and so set about to change the industry and remake it in his image of what "professional wrestling" should really be: Sports Entertainment.
I would like to state right now that I cannot stand Sports Entertainment as Vince McMahon defines it. When you look at the root of those two words, sport and entertainment, you realize that the term could apply to any number of things. Baseball, Football, UFC, The Olympics, any sport from which a viewer could derive entertainment from is, by definition, sports entertainment.
But! When you hear Vince McMahon use those words, they suddenly mean something else altogether; as though the two words had never existed before Vince McMahon and the brilliant idea to market professional wrestling as something other than what it is: professional wrestling. And let's be honest for a moment. When the mainstream media (be it Fox News or ESPN or whoever) talks about WWE for whatever reason, they use the two terms interchangeably. but at the end of the day, they know what it really is: wrestling. And because it's wrestling, it's "fake" and not news worthy unless there's a stock note or (God forbid) we have another situation like the Chris Benoit Tragedy. [If I may use that as an example, during the entire coverage of the tragedy, the term I kept hearing the most was "professional wrestler". And while the words "pre scripted" and "fake" usually weren't too fare removed from it, I did not once, to the best of my knowledge, hear the utterance of the term "sports entertainment".]
It's like everyone, for or not, knows what WWE is and yet Vince McMahon, in his infinite wisdom, sees to it that we are hammered over the head with this notion of professionally wrestling and "sports entertainment" as two different things and simply try and present itself as "television for the whole family". This notion is bullshit and unfortunately for the cynical "smart marks" like myself, this notion has made WWE money hand over fist so they have very little reason to give a damn about what we think. As you said it yourself, in the WWE, the customer is
never right and more often than not, we're dismissed as whiny complaining dipshits who will never ever be happy with any concession that's made. And for the record, if there weren't any problems with WWE, I wouldn't be complaining then would I?
Which brings me nicely to my thoughts on the recent conversion by WWE into family friendly programing, brought into perspective by my experience at the No Way Out PPV in Seattle back in February. Surrounded by 6 1/2 to 14 y/o marks led me to a revelation and new understanding about WWE's recent "PG Only" tv blitz. Kids were screaming for their favorite wrestler all goddamn night. And in the moments that they were quiet, the parents were off buying them expensive merchandise at inflated PPV prices just to keep them happy. Add to that every time music started, the kids surrounding me would break out into a squeaky, out-of-tune chorus of "I hear voices in my head" or some other WWE produced garbage. To that end, WWE has done a very good job in training these kids in to being the perfect fans. They cheer the faces, boo the heels, buy the merch, religiously watch all the shows (except maybe ECW) and anxiously and impatiently wait for their next opportunity to do it all over again. These kids are everything WWE could want and as a result, WWE is rolling in cash. The hell with us 18-40 crowd, with our demands for better written shows, simplistic wrestling with just two guys in a ring and characters that are actually interesting and compelling to watch. In many of the same ways that Nintendo has abandoned their Hardcore fan base for casual gamers, so too have WWE abandoned the hardcore audience for the naive and easy-to-please 6-14 demographic.
The reasons I like Wrestling go far beyond what you see on WWE programing, though if you look carefully, you can find some real Gems in WWE. Case & point: the Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker match at Wrestlemania 25. Quite possibly one of the greatest
wrestling matches I have ever seen. Another Match you should look up is from TNA of all places. Their 2008 Victory Road PPV had the
World X Cup with wrestlers from Japan, Mexico, England, Russia and the US and featured the sort of wrestling that you will
never see on WWE. First part has been attached, you'll find the rest.
/rant
Myself In the nude: Cock Shots, An open forum debate
Apr 23 2009, 07:19
