Mark Madden column: Wrestling a lot less popular?

[Ding_Dong_#2]

It is an interesting point.

I have followed professional wrestling for over thirty years. If you look at the make-up of the crowds in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, you will see a great many older people, as well as smartly dressed businessmen in the audience – a substantially less proportion of women and children.

Obviously Kayfabe was in its heyday, and most of the crowd believed in the Bruno Sammartino’s, Verne Gagne’s and Harley Race’s of that era, who they genuinely admired and respected as if they were any other sporting icon. Some knew that it was more entertainment than sport but didn’t want to believe it, and there were always a fair share of obsessives that were totally convinced by what they were seeing.

Those fans have gone; when “wrestling” was replaced by the glitz and glamour approach of Vince McMahon, and the territories were bought up, then the whole public perception of the sport changed. The cartoon era of the WWF made those fans redundant – they couldn’t honestly buy into the likes of Papa Shango and the Ultimate Warrior – this is where young people came in, and this is where the opinion of people who had never seen wrestling in their life, change; Hulk Hogan transcended the sport and hence, if you asked someone in the street, he would have been the first name on the lips of the outsider, the non-fan.

This changed again with the Monday Night Wars and the attitude/NWO years; suddenly, there was a whole, new set of fans – it was ok for someone in their late teens, 20’s or 30’s to walk around with a Wolfpac or Destination X T-shirt, it was relatively “cool”.

And this is where we are now, in 2013. I wouldn’t agree that wrestling is less popular, but it is in terms of support – I am friends with dignitaries and members of parliament who have no problem admitting their love for WWE. Now the game is up, and everyone accepts it as “entertainment”, it has opened the doors for closet fans to come forth and be known.

But it doesn’t mean that they actively support it. When tens of thousands were packing out Texas Stadium to watch the Von Erich’s week after week, they bought into the dream, they bought into the storylines, they bought into them being clean-cut, all-American boys – story-telling and the belief behind it brought the fans back each week, which doesn’t really exist anymore.

So, in conclusion, Mr Madden, is both right and wrong – it is less popular in terms of support, but there are a lot more people who are aware of it, and appreciate it. This means that the “casual fans” will only tune in if there is something going on that makes it more than the same collection of tired, stale wrestlers that are patched up and brought out like unwanted Christmas presents year after year. The Nexus did that, Rock/Cena did that, The Shield did for a small amount of time, and the Daniel Bryan saga (despite the storyline being yet another rehash) has certainly helped.

Fans demand more these days; obsessives are happy with anything that is wheeled out in front of them and will support their recreational activity regardless, but with the obsessives/believers gone, you need to keep innovating and drawing in those who sit on the margins. This is not happening at the moment; ok, the IWC more or less deletes the surprise element of wrestling and live events, but there should still be a strong focus on keeping people interested.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In many cases, Mark Madden is extraordinarily gifted in pointing out the obvious. Anyone whose watched pro wrestling can tell that it's not as popular as it once was because of the differences in ratings between now and 15 years ago. There are any number of factors involved and it's not quite so simplistic. I respect his opinion and he's right a good portion of the time, in my own opinion. At the same time, he's a good example of someone who demands FAR too much than can be realistically delivered. When what's delivered falls short of his expectations, it's generally another gloom & doom editorial as to what's wrong with wrestling, rants on how stupid Dixie Carter is, babble about how foolish internet fans are, etc. Essentially, Madden's latest column isn't anything he hasn't already written countless times before.

Sometimes, the creative aspects are to blame for audience decline. After all, if people aren't liking what they're seeing, they're not gonna watch. It's the most basic and simple fact of life when it comes to ANY television program. Sometimes, creative comes up with lousy ideas that make it onto television. Sometimes, ideas that could be potentially great wind up being tossed into the garbage can. Again, that's how it is with television as a whole whether it be the premise upon which an entire series is based or the plot for a single episode. We've seen that happen time and time again on our televisions whether it's WCW, WWE, ECW, ROH or TNA and we'll doubtlessly see it again before too long.

In the case of pro wrestling, it has many disadvantages going against it that other television programs simply don't. Pro wrestling is often viewed by some as being both real & fictional. A perfect example are the various debates as to whether or not WWE sends mixed messages pertaining to bullying. An actor portraying a bully on television or in films is perfectly acceptable because it's just an act, yet some ignore that a pro wrestler playing the exact same type of character is also just an act. It seems that edgy characters and content are perfectly acceptable in other television shows, but not for pro wrestling. Bryan Cranston's portrayal of Walter White, manufacturer of meth, has made Cranston one of the most celebrated actors on television, but can you imagine if a WWE or TNA wrestler portrayed a FICTICIOUS character based on White? Sons of Anarchy is about a motorcycle club that's committed cold blooded murder, has been running guns to the IRA since the 60s, dabbles in prostitution and has gotten into bed with drug cartels. The show is also highly acclaimed & popular, yet what would happen if TNA portrayed Aces & Eights in a very similar light? Everyone from fans to parents groups to political pundits to television critics would shit a gold brick as big as WWE's new corporate jet.

Another disadvantage is the internet itself. Let's be honest, anyone who claims that the internet hasn't contributed to the decline in popularity of pro wrestling would need a shovel bigger than Chael Sonnen's mouth to move all bullshit they've spewed. Pro wrestling fans are FAR more informed now than they were 15 years ago and there's absolutely nothing that any wrestling promotion can do about that. The internet has changed the world whether it comes to social interaction, media, politics and entertainment. The internet is populated with sites designed to give details into the behind the scenes workings of pro wrestling. How can you expect to be as content as you were 20 years go when you know what's gonna happen, or at least are given an extremely good idea of what's gonna happen, several months before it actually goes down?

Pro wrestling is and always will be a niche market in the grand scheme of things. I don't see how anything is going to be able to change that.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I get Madden's point but I don't remember there being three hour Raws, two hour SDs, a Main Event, NXT, Superstars, 13 PPVs, an app, tons of YouTube and WWE.com content, WWE Classics OnDemand, WWE Films, the charitable programs. All I know is that Madden helped precipitate WCW's disappearance so he must be an expert on the topic.

The man just tries to effortlessly get clicks to his articles. He is only interesting when he has real stories to tell from his days of being part of the crew. He uses the term 'mark' to insult people in the business ,but he considers the readers of his articles to be his 'marks'. In today's world of professional wrestling, he seems no more educated or informed than well... me.

And I don't know shit beyond what I see on screen.

 

[Eyebrows]

In the grand scheme of things, this guy had a very minor role in the wrestling business. He's not some grand guru with a vast insider knowledge.

He's right, in this instance though. WWE is less popular in terms of buy-rates and ratings. Those ratings ignore streams and illegal downloads though and while including those wouldn't reach the levels of the attitude era they're probably still significant.

And while wrestling might not be as popular is it used to be that doesn't mean that it's UNPOPULAR. Raw still draws 3-4 million viewers. Most shows would dream of pulling that amount of viewers. John Cena has 5 million twitter followers. 5 million people are a fan of the top WWE draw. That doesn't include 1. People who hate Cena and 2. People who don't have twitter. So there's still a shitload of interest around the world. It's only unpopular when looking at it on comparative terms. There's also zero mention in the article of wider social factors such as economic crises as an explanation for lower PPV buys.

My main problem with the article is the utter disdain that Madden has for his readers. Readers, mind you, that he need to keep him in a job. I've never ever seen any editorial on a legitimate, professionally ran site that treat the readers with such condescension and arrogance. While it wouldn't be justified if this was a guy like Cornette or Ross or Heyman, who had legitimate insight into how things work, putting people down, it would at least be understandable how you could comprehend that they're knowledge would be vastly superior to yours. Madden on the other hands just watches the TV shows. That's it.

I understand his whole schtick is being controversial and setting himself up as a pantomime villain for people to boo because negative attention still equals hits. It's necessary for him, because he really has nothing interesting or insightful to say about the wrestling business. In fact, he's frequently wrong in his predictions.

One wonders why he watches wrestling because it's clear he seems to hate it. While he puts himself above the "IWC" he is in fact a part of it and falls into the exact same category of the section of the IWC he criticizes. He's a mark, he's close-minded to other's ideas and like some of the IWC, no matter what happens, he is never, ever happy.

 

[Matty~!]

Madden is one of those guys along with the the likes of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera and you have to wonder how the hell they got to where they got. Obviously all three with manipulative and shameless self promoters. However, at least at some point there were hints of talent exhibited by Russo and Ferrera, unlike Madden who really is one of the very worst colour guys that performed to a national stage alongside the like of Rob Barrett and Miz in terms of just being plain nauseating. And then people actually take his writing seriously, it's got to be a gimmick because surely no one can be that idiotic about the wrestling business or ignore trends and business cycles to such a vast degree.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Mark Madden's not one to talk about wrestling as his knowledge on the subject is minimal at best, but he knows ratings and knows what gets over and what doesn't. What he's saying is that the industry as a whole is down and that we perceive the WWE as good because it's all we as wrestling fans have to watch.

I disagree as I think most of what the WWE is doing would get over well in any era, it's simply a down era in wrestling. TNA's fledgling and many independent promotions aren't doing as well as they've done in the past.

But he's right. Wrestling isn't as popular as it was. It might be more mainstream, but the audience isn't there anymore. As Jack-Hammer put it, Madden must be a distant relative of John Madden as they're both masters of pointing out the obvious.

But it's not to say the WWE product's stale. It's just simply a down time in the industry.

 

[The Butcher]

Madden's biggest failing with this article is that he mailed it in. Sure, we can, have, and will go ad hominem on anything he writes, but the fact will always remain that he was in WCW. That's a notch in his belt. Doesn't matter for how long, during what period, or in what role. That gives him more credibility than anyone else writing for WrestleZone. The thing is, as I'm sure most of us are aware, his M.O. is often just to the raise the ire of his readers. This editorial was one of those. The subject really doesn't merit much discussion or debate. It's tantamount to one of those "stop liking what I don't like" arguments that populate boards like these all the time.

Like I lead off saying though, he mailed it in. There's no effort, no humor, no insight. It's the same thing any number of bozos across the IWC spout off about on any given day, grammar and spelling aside. I don't always agree with his columns, but usually they show some degree of wit. This was just prattle. Madden could've saved his fingers some work and just typed: "You people are fucking dolts, as evidenced by the comment section. WWE sucks and the numbers are proof of that. Now piss off and enjoy what Vince forces down your ignorant throats." Same exact message, far fewer words.

If somebody has something interesting to say about wrestling's current state, I'm all ears/eyes. But I've been told that it sucks and it's not popular since 1988. Hasn't dissuaded me from watching yet.

 

[IT Factor]

I get Madden's point but I don't remember there being three hour Raws, two hour SDs, a Main Event, NXT, Superstars, 13 PPVs, an app, tons of YouTube and WWE.com content, WWE Classics OnDemand, WWE Films, the charitable programs. All I know is that Madden helped precipitate WCW's disappearance so he must be an expert on the topic.

The man just tries to effortlessly get clicks to his articles. He is only interesting when he has real stories to tell from his days of being part of the crew. He uses the term 'mark' to insult people in the business ,but he considers the readers of his articles to be his 'marks'. In today's world of professional wrestling, he seems no more educated or informed than well... me.

And I don't know shit beyond what I see on screen.

You have pretty much summed up my thoughts on the subject quite nicely! Great competition is needed in any field of work to make each company better than each may be separately. WCW did that during its rise and the subsequent Attitude Era that WWF had to come up with in survival mode. Now WWE is the monopoly on auto-pilot that WCW was before its imminent demise. Wrestling is not popular because it no longer runs off of fan reaction and what made it famous. We are forced to watch as no talented hacks are pushed to the moon and back on television while vastly superior & more talented guys are either not used or mis-used to the point of zero credibility. Until wrestling and entertainment is based on what fans decide anymore, the fans who remember what REAL wrestling and entertainment is will be indifferent to the point of not caring either way.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I get Madden's point but I don't remember there being three hour Raws, two hour SDs, a Main Event, NXT, Superstars, 13 PPVs, an app, tons of YouTube and WWE.com content, WWE Classics OnDemand, WWE Films, the charitable programs. All I know is that Madden helped precipitate WCW's disappearance so he must be an expert on the topic.

.

When I was watching wrestling in the 1980s we had A LOT MORE Wrestling On TV than we do today...2 Hours every Sat Night of NWA, 1 Hour Sun Nite of NWA (both on TBS, nationwide), two separate syndicated NWA World Wide Wrestling shows on local cable, each one hour long, plus occasional Clash Of Champions TV Specials, so in any given week here in Pgh there was anywhere from 5 to 8 hours every week just of the NWA.

At then same time We had 3hrs every Monday of WWE on USA plus another two hours on Sat of WWE on WWOR (national cable channel out of Chicago), there was WWE programming on WWOR every Sunday AM for at least an hour, two separate syndicated programs, each one hour in length aired on local TV, plus occasional Sat Nite Main Event specials, giving us as much as 10 hours of WWE in any given week.

By the early 90s The WWOR on Sat night I think was cancelled and I believe both promotions cut back to one syndicated show, but that still left you with as much as 10-16 hours of televised wrestling depending on specials in any week.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Mark Madden's not one to talk about wrestling as his knowledge on the subject is minimal at best, but he knows ratings and knows what gets over and what doesn't. What he's saying is that the industry as a whole is down and that we perceive the WWE as good because it's all we as wrestling fans have to watch.

I
But it's not to say the WWE product's stale. It's just simply a down time in the industry.

Madden if anything is probably the most knowledgeable person writing on this site about wrestling. He's been following the industry professionally since the 1980s when his articles on business trends, special events coverage, and interviews with top stars appeared regularly in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Although it was his hockey coverage as a sports reporter that initially got him noticed by the newspaper (and his loud, bombastic, over the top "wrestling like" speaking style that has made him a Sports radio star) he was a huge fan of wrestling and followed the industry, both onscreen and behind the scenes, and wrote published articles in the paper about it, whenever he could. Some of his best work was in his interviews with stars like HBK, Terry Funk, and Ric Flair, among others.

He was never involved in management in any way in WCW, by following the industry as close as he did for nearly 15 years he was friends with wrestlers, guys like Flair & Kevin Nash, so he was around WCW in the late 90s for that reason. If anything he had nothing to say about booking, matches, etc, but spending more time around the insides of the product likely helped him formulate the bombastic personality he uses so well as Sports Talk Radio Host today.

One thing you cant say is that he isn't knowledgeable, it's hard to get paid (and published) for your work following the industry but he has, plus few people outside the biggest talent names in history can say they worked either on screen or behind the scenes with HHH, Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Hogan, Nash, etc...Madden can

 

[FlairFan2003]

Madden's biggest failing with this article is that he mailed it in. Sure, we can, have, and will go ad hominem on anything he writes, but the fact will always remain that he was in WCW. That's a notch in his belt. Doesn't matter for how long, during what period, or in what role. That gives him more credibility than anyone else writing for WrestleZone. The thing is, as I'm sure most of us are aware, his M.O. is often just to the raise the ire of his readers. This editorial was one of those. The subject really doesn't merit much discussion or debate. It's tantamount to one of those "stop liking what I don't like" arguments that populate boards like these all the time.

Like I lead off saying though, he mailed it in. There's no effort, no humor, no insight. It's the same thing any number of bozos across the IWC spout off about on any given day, grammar and spelling aside. I don't always agree with his columns, but usually they show some degree of wit. This was just prattle. Madden could've saved his fingers some work and just typed: "You people are fucking dolts, as evidenced by the comment section. WWE sucks and the numbers are proof of that. Now piss off and enjoy what Vince forces down your ignorant throats." Same exact message, far fewer words.

If somebody has something interesting to say about wrestling's current state, I'm all ears/eyes. But I've been told that it sucks and it's not popular since 1988. Hasn't dissuaded me from watching yet.

Madden was writing articles covering Pro Wrestling in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette newspaper (pretty big paper, not some local once a week publication) as far back as 1987-88. He has a lot more credibility for his nearly 7 years publishing articles on the industry than he does from doing some TV announcing on Nitro or being friendly with Hall & Nash (or not so friendly with DDP).