Blame the World Wildlife Fund

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

I have been hearing a lot of people talk about the PG era, saying things about different feuds. Most notably, the Chavo-Hornswoggle feud. It dawned on me this afternoon while reading Chavo's "rant" about the feud.

You all realize that it's not wrestling anymore, right?" Guerrero wrote. "It's entertainment. Sometimes I wonder by your comments. You guys realize that I can out "wrestle" most guys in the WWE, right? The way you guys respond makes me think that you actually think I'm losing. It makes me think I'm responding to ******S! We're not the UFC. It's not real. I can beat up a midget any day of the week and so could you. But who wants to see that?"

I said to myself, "If the World wildlife fund had never sued the WWF, would we currently be in this 'entertainment' era?"

If it never happened, the WWF would still be around, we would still have an enjoyable time watching it, and some feuds would have never happened. The company would still be a Federation, and we wouldnt be sitting here today watching shitty, corny feuds. We would have different champions. Chavo would probably get a US title run instead of Kofi, Cena's year long reign may have been shortened, and people like Santino, Noble, Masters, and Hass would be able to showcase their talents week after week instead of being used as jobbers and low midcarders.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts, What are yours?

 

[markmeout]

I have to disagree just because the name changed dosnt mean that wwf would have not entered into the entertaiment era. If im correct wwf started concidering wrestling entertaiment to get the company publicly traded. I think what you are calling entertaiment is the PG era which I think even if the name was WWF wrestling still would have entered this era again just like the early 90's

 

[xJAYxJAYx]

It's a good possibility, but I'm not sure having an F instead of an E would make much difference on what the product is today. We are seeing these antics with Chavo and Hornswoggle because well, kids for some reason enjoy it. There is a reason for the PG era. To bring in and groom new fans. Even while they were still the WWF, we still saw a lot of the "entertainment" aspect of the business. Austin spraying down Vince with gallons of beer and having Vince "swim" in it in the middle of the ring. That really had no purpose other then entertain the fans. Had nothing to with wrestling. It did however provide some good laughs.

Now, you do make some good points, especially with the quote from Chavo. But to be honest, it really hasn't been "wrestling" since the 80s and early 90s if you think about it. Even during the attitude era, they had to do a lot of things that had nothing to do with wrestling in order to gain ratings.

 

[klunderbunker]

First of all, I'm surprised Chavo actually said that, but that's another story for later.

As for the name change being the cause, just no. That was over seven years ago and there's been some non-PG stuff since then. Vince has always been about entertainment first rather than wrestling and that will never change. While that's likely not good, it's reality. He's right also. If this was about shoot fighting, it's hard to say who would actually win, but I'd guess it's not Cena. At the end of the day, it's about entertainment rather than wrestling, and that' sjust the way it is regardless of names.

 

[stingerlegends]

WWF was responsible for the name change....that's it.

Don't confuse the E in WWE for Family Friendly. After all, I do believe that the Katie Vick angle ran in the "E" and that was the most non-family oriented (and appaling) angles ever done.

Think of it like this.

Slipknot will NEVER do the halftime show at the Super Bowl, neither will Marilyn Manson. Why? Because the GENERAL PUBLIC either despises them, or the Angry Parents League would start burning things and stabbing them with pitchforks.

Vince has been enduring snide remarks and such for 30 plus years from the GENERAL PUBLIC (I am capitilizing this, because you must realize how many people just do not share our tastes). In order to sell more PPV time and shirts and plastic wrestling figures, as well as keep the USA heads from dumping them, Vince BRILLIANTLY decided to appeal more to these non-wrestling fans, hopefully to reel them in, or at least to give them a general awareness of the product so that they don't spread negativity about it. It sucks for all of us right now, but the move will pay off in the long run, hopefully.

So this was an inevitable course. Even if WWF didn't take the name to court, this would still have happened.

 

[Megadeth]

You cant really blame the World Wildlife Fund for the Entertainment part as back in1999 (about a year or so before they sued McMahon), The parent company had changed its name from Titan Sports to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment so they had put Entertainment in their company name before the suit even started and about 3 years before they officially changed from WWF to WWE (which they changed officially in 2002, when the lawsuit was finally settled.)

 

[CMCoke42381]

The name change is completely irrelevant. In fact they got a bit more edgy with the name change by having a slogan saying "Get The F Out" It was all inevitable for the change from attitude to PG anyway IMO.

 

[JBK2008]

I agree with the whole get the F out slogan, and I also think the pg rating was going to come to draw kids back in someday to reboot the fan base. The name change wouldn't have really mattered. The World Wildlife Fund was just getting their rights to themselves. Like it really mattered. Yeah WWF sounded better, but WWE was going to happen one way or the other. It's not all in a name.

 

[Slyfox696]

Wait...

Did the threadstarter REALLY just say that the changing of names and initials is responsible for the direction of programming. I cannot believe I just read that.


Ever since Vince McMahon took the reigns of the WWF, he started his shift towards "entertainment". Which was incredibly smart in his opinion as wrestling IS just entertainment. The difference is that now the WWF recognizes it as entertainment, and can put on a much more enjoyable show. But, this started back in the 80s, not in the 2000s.


Oh, I saw somewhere above that a poster thought they went to entertainment to be publicly traded. That's false. They went to calling themselves entertainment so they wouldn't be regulated by state athletic/boxing commissions. THAT'S why they call themselves entertainment.

 

[markmeout]

Wait...

Did the threadstarter REALLY just say that the changing of names and initials is responsible for the direction of programming. I cannot believe I just read that.


Ever since Vince McMahon took the reigns of the WWF, he started his shift towards "entertainment". Which was incredibly smart in his opinion as wrestling IS just entertainment. The difference is that now the WWF recognizes it as entertainment, and can put on a much more enjoyable show. But, this started back in the 80s, not in the 2000s.


Oh, I saw somewhere above that a poster thought they went to entertainment to be publicly traded. That's false. They went to calling themselves entertainment so they wouldn't be regulated by state athletic/boxing commissions. THAT'S why they call themselves entertainment.

Thats what I meant they went to calling themselves entertaiment for that purpose not that they went to entertaiment at that time because the company was in the entertaiment dirrection with Hulk in the 80's. I have to agree with your statements but i have to add that all the entertaiment people are talking about is edgy entertaiment and in that case it was in the 90's that this edgyness became the norm and it lasted well into 2006 anyone remeber the rated r sex celebration.

 

[JJohns]

The single most important factor that started the shift from wrestling to entertainment happened in March of 1985. Had McMahon not have done Wrestlemania, and the spectacle that it entailed, we might have a more pure wrestling "product" now. And just like what was happening in the early 80s, wrestling would have been stale.

 

[WWF Wrestling Fan]

I tell people on here all the time i am an old school WRESTLING Fan I started watching in 84 or 85 from that time to now I can tell you The WWF ( World Wildlife Fund ) was stupid to sue The World Wrestling Federation come on who on here has ever went to the World Wildlife Fund's website thats all they went to court for is for the WWF name just for a stupid website that is . ORG not . COM and the fucked up thing is the World Wrestling Fedration / Entertainment has been around sence the 1960's or more and the World Wildlife Fund has been around sence the 1970's.

 

[Revive]

the fucked up thing is the World Wrestling Fedration / Entertainment has been around sence the 1960's or more and the World Wildlife Fund
has been around sence the 1970's.

The World Wide Fund for Nature was founded September 11, 1961 and the World Wide Wrestling Federation changed to World Wrestling Federation in March 1979.

 

[AndarielHalo]

I blame the World Wildlife Fund every day. I hate them, regardless of whether it's fair to hate them or not. I call them "Those Panda Fuckers"

I don't believe in your theory that if they stayed the WWF, they wouldn't have gone to PG Entertainment. But my biggest complaint involves DVD releases.


If it weren't for Those Panda Fuckers, we wouldn't be buying up "WWE Wrestlemania III featuring Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan for the WW_ Championship!"

 

[De Mysteriis Dom Satanas]

I'm pretty sure wrestling has always had a level of corniness. (Uh, it IS after all a derivation of carny strongman acts.) Pretty sure it's ALWAYS been about entertainment. The WWE is a modern-day travelling circus, and Vince is the world's greatest carny.

Congratulations, we're all rubes, and we have been for years and years. And really, I can't think of a better reason to be one, so enjoy the circus.

I call them "Those Panda Fuckers"

Wow, aren't you witty and original?

 

[Dave]

I completely disagree.

The reason the WWE changed to a more PG friendly era is because they can. They don't need to be edgy to attract viewers any more because they have no real competition. Let me make this clear. The WWE were always going to go more PG friendly to attract a whole new generation of fans for the future. Blaming the World Wildlife Fund for taking all of the edge out of the WWE is not only ignorant, it is completely stupid. "What's in a name"? Nothing, is what. Just because they are now called World Wrestling Entertainment, does not mean that they are any more inclined towards entertainment.

 

[byrnside]

Wait...

Did the threadstarter REALLY just say that the changing of names and initials is responsible for the direction of programming. I cannot believe I just read that.


Ever since Vince McMahon took the reigns of the WWF, he started his shift towards "entertainment". Which was incredibly smart in his opinion as wrestling IS just entertainment. The difference is that now the WWF recognizes it as entertainment, and can put on a much more enjoyable show. But, this started back in the 80s, not in the 2000s.


Oh, I saw somewhere above that a poster thought they went to entertainment to be publicly traded. That's false. They went to calling themselves entertainment so they wouldn't be regulated by state athletic/boxing commissions. THAT'S why they call themselves entertainment.

I wish this was a spam-friendly section so I could say "Slyfox FTW!" and just leave it at that. Alas, here we are.. Took the words right out of my mouth, state boxing/athletic commissions. Sometimes some of you guys really do dazzle me with your thoughts. I personally feel like most of you guys are looking way too deeply into the whole "PG era" thing. Vince is doing it to get ratings. I don't think he's masterminding some brilliant scheme. I think he's just trying to sell more John Cena and Rey Mysterio merch.

 

[Mrs. Randy Orton]

I don't see how the name change made any sort of impact....we would have had the same product we have right now, regardless of whether or not it was Federation or Entertainment. The name change also has nothing to do with the PG rating.


Wrestling has always been entertainment anyways so adding that word was just fitting. It still sounds odd to me to say "World Wrestling Entertainment" and even saying 'WWE' can sound weird at times because of all the years I knew it as WWF/World Wrestling Federation but it's not as odd sounding as it once was.

Either way, I don't really care what they call it, I just want a good product.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The change is not down to the Panda lol... nor is it cos Panda energy bought TNA.... There is no Panda Conspiracy against Vince lol...

The lawsuit was brought cos Vince breached a gentlemans agreement... thats all and as for why we now have PG...its simple...

Cos 4-11 year old fans don't go on the net and say "Cena Sucks,Vince has lost it or I miss the attitude era"...

Kids buy the idea of Hornswoggle v Chavo... they get WWE stuff for xmas and birthdays... play with toys... eat ice cream bars... It's no different than 25 years ago...

Attitude was a blip forced by the fact those original kids grew up and had a choice of who to watch... Kids now don't have that, so WWE is gonna appeal to them first... not us who grew up watching them... We have UFC and TNA lol...