Since When Has WWE Been About "Wrestling?"

[WWEvsJosh]

This may seem like dumb thing to say at first but when I think about it when has WWE been about wrestling. When most people think about the Attitude era they mostly think about moments and promos not matches. Don't get me wrong they had good matches back then but even then most matches had a lot of hardcore elements in the matches. There were many wrestlers who could wrestle good matches but did not bring in fans. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit to me pute put on better matches than Rock and Austin but does that mean they should of taken their spots just because they wrestle better.

I brought all that up because their is a lot of talk about what guy should be on tv more, what guy should be champion, what guy is ready to be a big star, and ect but I wonder if people really know what makes someone a superstar in the WWE. ( By the way I was not saying Eddie and Benoit are not stars.)

 

[robbo316]

Tbh the last time the WWE was about wrestling, in my opinion, was long ago when it was the WWWF. Sure, in the last 30-odd years there have glimmers of it, but mainly it's been storylines, promos, and such. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember when it was actually believable, and not a pure pantomine/soap opera.

 

[Miakisaki]

Many tend to forget that the squared circle is always where the most story should be told, that everything you see and hear should always lead up to that match that bring the story to fruition. Think of it like the last few exciting scenes of an action film.

The last time we saw that was last year, the promos delivered by CM Punk to John Cena which inevitably led to what many believe is the 2011 MOTY at Money in the Bank. Just a damn shame that they dropped the ball afterwards with his shortsighted return and the unnecessary Kevin Nash crap.

 

[J.J.]

Tbh the last time the WWE was about wrestling, in my opinion, was long ago when it was the WWWF. Sure, in the last 30-odd years there have glimmers of it, but mainly it's been storylines, promos, and such. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember when it was actually believable, and not a pure pantomine/soap opera.

Well the glory days is when Wrestlers only segments were backstage interviews. They didnt start a show up with a 15 minute segment trying to issue a challenge at thr next PPV. They fought the same night. That's why i enjoyed JCP so much. When the sleeper submission meant something.

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Tbh the last time the WWE was about wrestling, in my opinion, was long ago when it was the WWWF. Sure, in the last 30-odd years there have glimmers of it, but mainly it's been storylines, promos, and such. Unfortunately I am old enough to remember when it was actually believable, and not a pure pantomine/soap opera.

Being a "soap opera" made WWE the number 1 wrestling company in the world. With the likes of Hulk Hogan it showed you didn't need to wrestle 60 minutes, and that if you just have a good worker and a guy with charisma, the fans will come and go wild for every offensive maneuver by the good guy and hate every single bad guy.

 

[amazing_blue]

The WWE is about wrestling, but not ONLY about wrestling. In order for us to care about a wrestling match, those soap opera elements need to come into play. Characters, storylines, bad blood and of course championships all add intrigue to a match. You can't just stick two guys in a ring for no reason and expect the audience to care. There needs to be a reason for them to be fighting, or at least a generic reason to be in the ring (such as the current Drew McIntyre storyline). Obviously back in the day you had a lot of squash matches which existed only to make top talent look good, but those matches speak for themselves.

The WWE is still about wrestling, though. Nobody is going to shell out 45 bucks for a PPV with no in-ring competition.

 

[billm75]

I agree that it's been a long time since WWE has been about wrestling in a traditional sense. But I think it's had to evolve and change in order to stay relevant.

Modern audiences want more than just two guys beating on each other for 10 - 20 minutes at a shot. They want to be entertained, and WWE has tried to fulfill that desire. Successfully at times, failingly at other times. But they have tried to change to suit the audience's tastes.

If I want to watch "fighting" I'll turn on Boxing or UFC. If I want to simply be entertained I'll do that with Movies and TV programming. For a little bit of both, I'll take Pro Wrestling the WWE way.

It's a show, not a sport, and that's the way it has to be to remain on television.

 

[XtheXlegacyX]

The WWE has really never been about wrestling. Hence the reason that the talent are referred to as "Superstars". Seriously, thats like one of the bad generic names you pick for a created character in a WWE game. Hell, I don't even consider the WWF to be about it either. I think the wrestling factor in WWE stopped being a dominant trait when Hogan first won the belt .

 

[bk555]

When was the last time any good wrestling product was only about wrestling? never. You can put on good matches like they did way back when in the Golden Era in WWF and NWA etc. But if there is no storyline to it like all matches now have, they arent interesting. For this reason, wrestling has NEVER been the main focus in any company whether its TNA, WWE, or WCW. They all had storylines and that in my opinion makes the matches better whenever they come along. Whenever I hear people complain and say "There isnt enough wrestling" I feel like they should think about it every once in a while what a 100% wrestling product would be like. I know it is ridiculous to do things like WWE did on Rocks Birthday by having like 20 minutes of matches. But now on RAW, you get good matches like Ziggler vs Punk this week. And on Smackdown you get a surplus of Wrestling so I dont see the problem.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Pre-Vince, pro wrestling was shown VERY differently that it is today. Shows were only an hour long, usually on Saturday mornings or afternoons. The matches were mostly squashes, some promos, interview segments and a main event. The show was used to whet people's appetites to come to the matches. Companies ran cards regularly, but there were usually only a handful of supercards a year.

In 1993, the WWF began Monday Night RAW, which for the first year, originated from the Manhattan Center in New York every week. It was just one show in their arsenal, and they still had their Saturday TV shows. In 1995, WCW fired back with their own prime-time show, WCW Monday Nitro. During the Monday Night Wars, both companies pulled out the stops in an effort to get ratings. It became a constant game of "Can You Top This?" until WWF pulled away in 1999 and ultimately won the war.

To get ratings, the shows became more entertainment-oriented to compete on prime time. As the Rock pointed out in his book, WWF wasn't just competing with WCW - they were competing with everything else on TV in that time slot.

 

[d_henderson1810]

When was the last time any good wrestling product was only about wrestling? never. You can put on good matches like they did way back when in the Golden Era in WWF and NWA etc. But if there is no storyline to it like all matches now have, they arent interesting. For this reason, wrestling has NEVER been the main focus in any company whether its TNA, WWE, or WCW. They all had storylines and that in my opinion makes the matches better whenever they come along. Whenever I hear people complain and say "There isnt enough wrestling" I feel like they should think about it every once in a while what a 100% wrestling product would be like. I know it is ridiculous to do things like WWE did on Rocks Birthday by having like 20 minutes of matches. But now on RAW, you get good matches like Ziggler vs Punk this week. And on Smackdown you get a surplus of Wrestling so I dont see the problem.

You know when wrestling should be the main focus? PPVs, that's when! If I am paying $40, I want to see 30+ minute matches, and good contests between two or more people which makes me go "WOW!".

I believe this is where all the stickwork and all the skits should lead to. PPV's shouldn't be time for skits, or in-ring promos. I only want to see matches, and the ocassional backstage interview, starting with :"Later tonight, you face.....".

PPV's, especially Wrestlemania, is when wrestling counts over anything else.

 

[itssoeasy123]

WWE (under Vince McMahon) is "sports entertainment." It's why they were able to withstand the territories days and why all the other territories went extinct. Vince, instead of just having the card based on a certain match, he used over the top characters, big storylines, and theatrics. He showed wrestling everything that it can be, not just a few guys wrestling in a small arena, but sold-out shows with merchandise and storylines.

The WWE has never been truly about wrestling, but more entertainment. And, that's not a bad thing at all. If Vince didn't think about it, somebody else would've and made money off of it, or wrestling would be a small time craft in bars. Vince took wrestling to new highs, and made it bigger than it was. WCW, TNA, ROH, and to a lesser extent ECW, all took the craft of "sports entertainment" and used it to their advance.

There's still wrestling in the WWE, it's just more than that. The in-ring product, that's the wrestling, the rest is entertainment.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I take it that this thread isn't about some philosophical view point as to what makes "real wrestling" like the indy marks sometimes create and that's a good thing.

The WWE is about wrestling. Most of everything that we see take place on Raw or SmackDown! is ultimately about wrestling. First and foremost, wrestling is the product of WWE. Wrestling might be a term that Vince is a little hesitant to use due to the stigma that's sometimes associated with it by outsiders, but dressing it up with flashy media terms like sports entertainment doesn't change what it is.

I know some people want an entire show with nothing but wrestling matches but that simply doesn't work anymore. This isn't 1980 and the wrestling industry as a whole has had to change with the times. It can't be just about the matches anymore, it's also about the wrestlers involved in the matches. It's about getting fans interested in who these characters are, knowing what makes them tick, getting a read on why they should care about these wrestlers and what sort of program they're involved in.

The WWE does sometimes have celbrities make appearances and contrary to what some smarks say or want you to believe, using celebrities to further hype your product isn't anything new for WWE. Back in the day, Hulk Hogan appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Mr. T & Cindy Lauper, however the frig you spell her name, were two of the biggest & most popular stars in the world during the time of the first WrestleMania, celebs were used at various points during the 80s, 90s and today to help hype the WWE product. Whenever a wrestling company can get the mainstream & outside media to pay attention to their product in a positive light, that's never a bad thing. It's one reason why WWE is still synonomous with wrestling in the United States. I guarantee that if you asked Barack Obama what the WWE was, he'd be able to tell you at least the basics. Even if he'd never watched WWE programming a day in his life, he probably knows about the WWE.

Now that doesn't mean that everything they do is quality or that everyone is going to like it. If you're looking for perfection, EVERYONE falls short of that mark whether it be WWE, New Japan, AAA, CMLL, TNA, ROH or anyone else.

 

[Headman]

The WWE / WWF has been about entertainment ever since Vince Jr took over. The staged competition has always been secondary to pageantry. That's why guys like Ted Dibiase who was a fan favorite before coming to the WWF was repackaged as an uber heel and fed to guys like Hulk Hogan. In-ring action matters more now than it ever has in Mcmahon-land. The Attitude era was filled with squash matches and Dusty finishes yet there are those who have fooled themselves into thinking the wrestling was superior based soley on the talent they employed. Truth is, the talent was wasted back then. At least as far as actual wrestling goes. So the title of the thread is correct. Wrestling has never really been first and fore-most in the WWE.

 

[The Heartfix Kid]

The WWE / WWF has been about entertainment ever since Vince Jr took over. The staged competition has always been secondary to pageantry. That's why guys like Ted Dibiase who was a fan favorite before coming to the WWF was repackaged as an uber heel and fed to guys like Hulk Hogan. In-ring action matters more now than it ever has in Mcmahon-land. The Attitude era was filled with squash matches and Dusty finishes yet there are those who have fooled themselves into thinking the wrestling was superior based soley on the talent they employed. Truth is, the talent was wasted back then. At least as far as actual wrestling goes. So the title of the thread is correct. Wrestling has never really been first and fore-most in the WWE.

Maybe the wrestling wasn't superior. But it was good enough where everything else was able to take up the slack. And no, this isn't me looking through the eyes of nostalgia. I've been watching a crap load of the documentaries on Netflix and the great "Superstars", rivalries and matches helped me to remember why my love for wrestling at one point became an obsession. I look at today's product. A good many of the "Superstars" are boring, the matches are boring. Not questioning these guys commitment or desire. But its become WAY to much a product and not enough entertainment. All my opinion

 

[Headman]

Maybe the wrestling wasn't superior. But it was good enough where everything else was able to take up the slack. And no, this isn't me looking through the eyes of nostalgia. I've been watching a crap load of the documentaries on Netflix and the great "Superstars", rivalries and matches helped me to remember why my love for wrestling at one point became an obsession. I look at today's product. A good many of the "Superstars" are boring, the matches are boring. Not questioning these guys commitment or desire. But its become WAY to much a product and not enough entertainment. All my opinion

Corrrect me if I misunderstood you because it isn't my goal to misrepresent what you said, but you refreshed your memory with "best of" compilations? This was not the day in day out of WWE/WWF for any era. In the 80's your average television program consisted of nothing but squash matches and pre-taped promos. Your average ppv consisted of a mix of squash matches, bad wrestling and a lengthy main event of mixed quality. In the 90's the wrestling got a little better on ppv but television was still mostly squash matches. The late 90's consisted of mostly backstage segments and Dusty finishes in the main events. Great talent, but the focus was all on the talking segments. Early 2000's is when in-ring action seemd to get more attention from the WWE than it ever had before. That trend continues but it can be argued tha the talent pool is not as deep as it used to be. Either way, the WWE was never Midsouth, it was never the AWA, NWA, NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, ROH or any of that. The WWE under Vince Mcmahon jr has always been about flashy characters, larger than life gimmicks and over the top storylines. Even when Kurt Angle was your champion the show was still about the story more so than the in-ring action itself.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

Of course guy like Angle, Benoit, Eddie, those good technicians won't bring in huge crowds alone but I think they get the most appreciation for what they do. I love watching a good technical match but it won't get me pumped up like a match with some big spots and fast pace action

 

[Jaystrong322]

This is why some people preferred Jim Crocket promotions over the WWF in the 80's. Everything in the WWE has to be cartoonish and over the top. It's been that way since about 1984-1985, but it was a slow build up until that point. Crockett Promotions was always about real to life characters that fans could buy into as people and not characters. Wrestling was always more important in the NWA and their roster proved it.

 

[thebarber]

People easily forget that professional wrestling is a money making business like any other business. The actual in ring action is a very minute paert of how the companies make there money. Money is made mainly through television rights, advertising, ppv buys and merchandise. Ticket sales for house shows make a small part,yet the only place you see wrestling action from start to finish is at a house show. Pro wrestling these days is about story telling, a male soap opera if you will. Except the storylines these days are aimed at kids and make the adult audience feel insulted by how lame and soft these angles are. Many storyline arcs do not cget completed (Raw Mystery GM TO NAME A RECENT ONE). If the storylines and feuds were made to be worth watching, people would tune in, thus ratyings would increase. But whilever WWE is only interested in entertaining children to keep sponsors and advertisers happy, the overall product suffers and the core fans just continue to shake their heads and wonder when things will improve.