Are we too selfish as wrestling fans?

[Dave]

Now, I have been thinking about wrestling for a while now and having looked around these boards for the last year or so, I have to wonder if we are too selfish as wrestling fans.

I mean, look at some of the threads that exist on this board alone for a really good illustration of this. The Daniel Bryan thread is a perfect example of this. As soon as the WWE released him, the IWC were all over the thread and the decision in general because they wanted to see Daniel Bryan back in the company. I hate to say it but people didn’t care about what had happened at all. Rather, they ere happy to attack both the decision and the WWE because they released someone who basically broke the rules that are in place to make sure that everything flows smoothly. Breaking rules is a sure fire way to make your way to the exit of the company and the WWE cannot be blamed for releasing him. However, as we looked at the facts and the regulations that were in place, we still wanted to get what we wanted.

Then you look at the whole PG Era discussion. Even though the WWE is the most stable it has been in the last 15 years and is going at an audience that is interested in the product, we still think that the WWE should be going back to giving us what we want. What we want may not be the best idea and it means that the WWE drastically reduces the amount of sponsorship money or merchandise sales that naturally comes along with needy children and silly parents. However, as an IWC, we know what we want and we expect that the WWE will eventually give it to us.

Then you can look at TNA. We want them to give us something to talk about. We want them to become some real competition to the WWE so that we can obviously get what we wanted and that is a more edgy entertainment programme. We want them to immediately be a competitor for the WWE although they are working hard to build slowly and surely. We expect that they will fail but we want to get what we want and we want it now.

So, in light of what I have said, is it too far to suggest that we, as the IWC, are far too demanding and selfish of BOTH the main wrestling products of America. I mean, it is OK to know what you want but are we too wrapped in what we want that we cannot see what is best for the respective businesses?

 

[Ferbian]

There's always gonna be some kind of perspective that "If I'm gonna be watching this, I wanna watch it because I like it" and by that we would assume that selfishness is not that present because all in all we're watching because we wanna enjoy the product.

WWE and TNA tries to aim the product towards what they think the viewer wants to watch, and because of that the viewers I would assume thinks we're spoiled and in our own rights to say what we want because it is us that bring in the ratings, it is us that brings in the money to WWE in terms of merchandise, live shows, filling the arenas and buying the Pay Per Views.

I think it's all about the mindset of the viewer and what they find acceptable to post a rant about, if they like someone, then it's obvious they're gonna be annoyed and complain about the firing of said person, or the lack of proper using him on the roster / card.

And because of that, the viewer will always be in a position to complain, they will always have that thought that things are produced for them and nobody else.

I do feel that there's a bit of too much selfishness for the product if we demand that someone is pushed, but to another extend I do also feel that we're in our right to say something at least, if we've been pushing for X wrestler to get a push, and someone noticed (through partitions on the WWE Universe forum for example) it's obvious WWE is gonna consider a little bit of it to say the least.

And because of us spreading our opinions, there might be the occasional person who actually had the smart mindset that could very well open the eyes for a guy like Vince McMahon, these guys could very well be the bookers of tomorrow, the writers, hell the promotion owners, if given the chance, some can come off with a good opinion.

So it can really go either way, you can be too selfish, or you can be in your full right to say what you want.

So I wouldn't say no, but I wouldn't say yes neither about your question whether we are too selfish or not.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Overall, I think the answer is probably yes. If you look around these forums across the net, it seems that all we want is everything even though it should be obvious that there's no possible way we can have everything. Too often do you hear complaints about something going on, especially in regards to the WWE, about one thing or another that doesn't have anything to do with how good or bad an angle, storyline or match is but rather how it doesn't follow the particular formula that they themselves imagined that it should have had. Right now, for instance, some people think the NXT Invasion angle has lost steam because Daniel Bryan isn't there. I agree that it sucks that Bryan is gone from the WWE, but that doesn't mean that the angle is no longer any good or viable at all.

The PG rating is probably the most harped on thing going today and, for the life of me, I really don't understand why most of the time. All you have to do is look back over the course of pro wrestling's existence in American and almost all of it has been geared more towards family entertainment. PG and wrestling are not strangers, nor are they new aquaintences. I can't count the number of posts I've read praising the Attitude Era. While I enjoyed it myself, far too many have a romanticized view of it. They've made it out to be far better than what it actually was. Too many of the IWC are willing to gloss over some of the crap that came out of the Attitude Era, preferring to see it as some golden age in which wrestling could do no wrong. Bullshit.

Too many in the IWC forget that wrestling is and always has been a business. It's never existed to provide its fans a source of endless fantasy matches and epic storylines. Not every match is going to be some 5 Star Classic, not every storyline is going to revolutionize what it means to be a wrestler. Neither WWE or TNA exist to cater to the whims of internet fans, which can often change like the weather.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't legitimate complaints to be made towards either company. I've got no problem if someone thinks something is legitimately wrong with either WWE, TNA or both. What I see a lot of, however, are posts parroting some arguments that just don't really hold much water anymore.

 

[TheAnimal]

I can see what you're saying, with the fact that they are making decisions best for the company in their eyes and breaking the rules does get you fires in other jobs so it should in that sense in WWE.

The NXT angle is still a great angle, i enjoy Raw with anticipation to what they'll do next, it will take more than the firing of Bryan Danielson to ruin that for me. It is a shame it happened and i was a bit shocked by it but the angle is bigger than him and about more than just him. He was one of the NXT guys, probably the best 1, but it can and will survive without him.

But i think that in the breaking the rule sense it isn't quite as simple because the wrestling business is so different to say working in a shop and breaking the rules there. In the wrestling business people pay to see specific superstars because they are the 'draws'. People wont go into the supermarket to see "Brian because he does this or that".

The PG era honestly does not affect my enjoyment of wrestling. I like well thought out storylines where you get a pay off and different stars being created etc, basically all of the simple things done well. It doesnt matter if matches are a bloodbath, if wrestlers swear all the time or if the product tries to edgy or crude. The main issue with the PG era i think is that they haven't done it for the WWE, but to support Linda's senate campaign, which is destined to fail anyway.

I think the selfish ones, as we have been described, are the minority because we are on the forums discussing it, talking about it etc. They don't need to worry about us because we are going to watch no matter what really arent we?

 

[D-Man]

Good thread.

I believe that your everyday fan isn't very selfish. They just wish to be entertained. But when referring to the IWC? They wish to be entertained in a specific way. THAT makes them all selfish.

When the WWE or TNA swerves us with a good storyline, half of the IWC cries out "Well, that was good. But it would have been better if..." Nothing is good enough for them. They want their cake and want to eat it, too. Every comment they make when they break down and ridicule the product is completely selfish.

And the biggest example of our selfish fans is the PG Era. The majority of the IWC hates this era, even though it's making money and selling shows and PPV's right now. But since you all want your violence, sex, drugs, and nudity, you're all selfish considering that the WWE won't fix what isn't broken already. The PG Era is doing just fine for mainstream attention, PPV buys, and ratings, so why change it back to the Attitude Era? Oh, that's right... because you're all selfish.

 

[CenaFan]

I think Wrestling Fans are selfish to the extent that they want these wrestlers to break there bodies in order to entertain them.

Fans now and days do not appreciate a good decent wrestling match. They would rather see someone get thrown on the table or getting hit with the chair 20 times.

It’s not about what these wrestlers have to go through, it’s about fans now wanting what they want.

I guess it’s always been like this, but now it’s just more open because we have the net.

There are some fans that simply can’t distinguish a Fictional Character, to a human being.

 

[xMrPeRFeCT]

I totally agree with some of you guys. I believe it's more in 1/3's. I blame the company, I blame the superstars, and I blame us fans. We have to work together as a team to build up this whole World Wrestling "Entertainment" Base and become more popular. WWE is taking over television but is going down. Because of us. We need to appreciate what the superstars bring to us. They suffer injuries, shed blood, sweat, and tears for us and we give them nothing. We need to help them. Also I blame the creative team by becoming lazy on us. WWE is slowly losing it because of the creative team. They need to step it up. But yes we are selfish as wrestling fans.

 

[Digging4Plunder]

I'm sure we are selfish. I, for one, just got back into wrestling this year after watching it through my childhood up until I was about 16. It just got a little stale and unwatchable for me around 2004 and I lost interest. I couldn't watch the product for what it was and wanted certain things and they didn't "deliver" in my eyes.

It's a double edged sword though, because as a fan, I wanted something to hold my interest or I'm not watching. So while I want WWE to be a certain way, they don't have to cater as long as it's entertaining and bareable to watch.