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Post by RowdyRoddy on Aug 11, 2006 14:36:40 GMT -5
Think about the explosion of cable TV in the early to mid 1980s, much like the explosion of the Internet in the mid 1990s. In the 1970s, you had the local channels providing wrestling. With WTBS, fans in NYC were now able to see Georgia Championship Wrestling in as early as 1979 or 1980. In a couple of years, Joe Blanchard bought time on USA Networks to show his product - Southwest Championship Wrestling in 1982 - 1983. McMahon bought his airtime in 1983 and started showing WWF matches. In 1983, things were heating up as you could get World Class on UHF in NYC and Georgia on WTBS and WWF on Channel 9 (WWOR). Thoughts on this? Did cable ruin or help wrestling?
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Post by midatlantic4ever on Aug 11, 2006 15:37:57 GMT -5
I think it helped pro wrestling in the 80's. The 80's seemed to be a peak for pro wrestling. Most of the regional promotions still had local affiliates and would hype their local shows on the local channels. Competition is always good and viewers had choices for pro wrestling, unlike today. I enjoyed watching different promotions during the 80's. By 1988 or 1989, it pretty much became a war for airtime between WWF and WCW/NWA.
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Post by danpoutsma on Aug 11, 2006 20:47:56 GMT -5
Obviously there were many factors that led to the demise of the territories in the 80s, but cable did play a huge part in it. So from that standpoint, it can be construed as a negative because it contributed to a nationalization of the business which caused a number of regional promotions that either couldn't or weren't willing to go national to be put out of business. But that's what evolution is all about: survival of the fittest. Those that didn't or couldn't evolve eventually perished.
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Post by JNance on Aug 12, 2006 18:27:20 GMT -5
Cable helped the business grow to epic proportions in the 80's and 90's; the only way it may have hurt the sport was the house receipts, live tickets and such.
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Post by ozzsmith on Aug 21, 2006 18:19:16 GMT -5
what killed wrestling..? from the 80's on out, VKM has been killing it slowly day by day...da bastard!  |
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Post by GarvinStomp on Aug 22, 2006 18:49:13 GMT -5
What killed pro wrestling was when everyone else (i.e. bandwagon fans only tuning in because it was the pop culture thing to do) started watching. When pro wrestling became main stream that was the beginning of the end. WCW started running a more high energy, realistic product in mid 1996-1997. In order to compete, WWE took it a step further. They turned wrestling into a pornographic show. Instead of taking care of the long time, traditionalist minded wrestling fan, they began catering to the people who were tuning in for their pop culture fix for the week. In some respects in came down to, hey if we show Sable versus Debra in a bra and panties strip match the horny 13 year old will put down his playboy and tune in. If Stone cold Steve Austin comes out and flips off the crowd and calls someone an S.O.B. and mocks Christianity, all the rebellious teens will be with us. The marketing in essence stopped being toward wrestling and more toward shock TV. That is what killed wrestling, the focus changed.
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Post by midatlantic4ever on Aug 25, 2006 14:43:51 GMT -5
GarvinStomp, I think you hit the nail on the head. You summed it up nicely. Total market change. VKM has appealed to the absolute lowest common denominator as far as decency is concerned. Wrestling was never meant to be "mainstream" or mix with pop culture. It always had it's own identity. People made fun of me when I was growing up for watching "rasslin". Now that I look back, that was a compliment.
WWE, WCW and even TNA has all but alienated the true wrestling fan in order to attract people with attention spans that last about 2 minutes.
I don't know if pro wrestling will ever recover, not in my lifetime.
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Post by stompingground on Aug 25, 2006 23:06:04 GMT -5
As Ole said in his book, back in "the day", there were wrestling cards running every night throughout the US and selling out. There were more people watching wrestling then than now. Fans were infants to the elderly not just 18 to 35.
To me wrestlings downfall was Pay Per Views. Instead of working to sell tickets to house shows, the TV shows became infomercials for the monthly Pay Per Views. The house shows became weak, and the wrestlers stopped growing and perfecting their craft.
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Post by rvdfan03 on Sept 3, 2006 19:27:34 GMT -5
I can not really say because I grew up during the Monday Night Wars, however, I would think that once it had national promotions, wrestling being on TV was both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage being that it made wrestling easier to find and watch, however, I think that is also a disadvantage. Since wrestling was so easily accessible on TV, why spend the time and effort to hunt down a local show and go to it??
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