The event that changed wrestling history forever?

[The Crock]

Wrestling history is very colorful, its origins date back to 19th century carnival side shows all the way to today's mega shows at venues such as Madison Square Garden. From those "mega-arenas" to bingo halls, we have seen the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Gorgeous George, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair come and go, while promising promotions such as WCW have gone under. Throughout that colorful history there have been many "game-changing" events. Which one of those events was the most impactful? What is the event that changed professional wrestling forever?

In my mind there is no doubt that the one event that stands out in wrestling history is the purchase of the WWE by Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Before Vince bought WWF(E) from his father, wrestling was largely regional and territory, but Vince took it to a whole other level. While, in effect, monopolizing the entire wrestling business, he also created one of the most amazing pop culture revolutions of all time. Vince's takeover of the WWF led to the most fiscally popular era in all of wrestling, the Attitude Era, and brought us events such as the Montreal Screwjob and the downfall of World Championship Wrestling, while also bringing us stars such as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and The Rock. Vince revolutionized the business. He turned wrestling into a spectacle, a main stream form of entertainment, not a thing that is considered taboo by the entire world. VKM has done it all. He's taken the WWE from a minor company into a publicly traded mega-empire.

Thoughts, opinions?

 

[The Suplexer Perfecter]

Wow I saw the name of this thread and I was thinking "No one will think about Vince buying WWF from his dad as a huge moment, so I'll say it!"

But yes it is indeed Vince buying the WWF from his dad, Vince the First

Once he bought it, he got hogan, made him champion, and then took over the world. And made many promoters and wrestlers (Bruno) hate him.

 

[mikevenom00]

I agree wit vince buyin wwe from his dad is defs prob one of the biggest... but for me 3 events stand out since i started watchin wrestling when i was 7 years old i am now 24... Hogan turning heel and join hall n nash to start the nwo.. man i remember watchin nitro when hall came out of the crowd for the first time i remember the commentary team sold it so well i didn't know what was goin on.... the austin 3.16 speech after he whipped jake the snakes sorry ass all around the ring at kotr i hated him so much at the time coz i wanted jake to win so bad bein so young n not knowing any better hahaha then the next night on raw seeing all the 3.16 banners up it was crazy..... n the last one for me is nash ending goldbergs streak although it was one of the early nails in the coffin for wcw i still love event hall hittin big bill wit the taser hahaha what a ending hahaha big sexy bookin himself to break the streak hahaha oh well you may think my events are stupid or wateva but for those are the ones the kept more wanting more n more....... Wolfpac in da house!!!!!!!!

 

[SmattyG]

Wow - pretty hard to single out just one. Vince buying WWF from his father was huge, but it wouldn't have become the conglomerate it is today without the humble video tape. Once Vince started taping his shows cheaply it was easier to put them out across the country so other fans could see what was happening in the North East. This coupled with the invention of cable television cemented WWF as the #1 brand. It was this "perfect storm" that arguable is the number one thing that changed wrestling forever.

Honourary mentions -

Orville Brown crashes his car in 1948 allowing Lou Thesz to become champion
The rise of television and Gorgeous George makes wrestling mainstream
Hogan turning heel to join NWO
Vince buying WCW effectively creating a monopoly
Ron Simmons as first African American World Champion
Mick Foley falling off the top of the cage through a table makes wrestling a whole new ball game
Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufmann on Letterman
Austin invents 3:16
Olympic Gold Medal winner Kurt Angle turns up in WWE
Wrestlemania I (Mr T and Cyndi Lauper ensure mainstream coverage)
Andre The Giant makes the cover of Sports Illustrated
The rise of the internet

That'd be my top dozen other events.

 

[SullivanSmith]

Actually, the event that changed wrestling... well, at least wrestling fandom... forever didn't occur in an arena or a TV show. It was the day when the first wrestling fan site went up on the internet.

When I got started watching wrestling back in 1990, there wasn't much internet presence at all. Sure, you could get on Prodigy or Compuserve and read message postings but it wasn't very widespread. It's when the internet took off and the guys in the creative departments got wind of the wrestling fan community online. Let's put it this way: I've heard them talk about the "internet geeks" on TV since 1999. When I was younger I NEVER heard any mention about people who read dirtsheets. And I watched a LOT of wrestling back then. A LOT. Like "watch Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN at 2 am" lot of wrestling.

 

[Ding_Dong_#2]

I think Bob Backlund losing the title to the Iron Sheik got a lot of people's attention and then the momentum kept going until Hogan won the belt shortly afterwards and you know the rest.

The Montreal Screwjob most definitely changed wrestling forever. It was probably the only time we will truly see "entertainment" and reality mixed, happening before our very eyes. I think kayfabe was only hanging on by it's fingertips at the point but after this, it was gone for good, changing everything.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It could be argued that the first Wrestlemania is one of the events that changed the business forever. This was THE biggest wrestling event of all time, over 1 million fans saw the event on closed-circuit TV, and Vince staked his whole future on this one show. If it had failed, then so would the WWF.

There was so much pressure on McMahon, and the performers to ensure that this show was a success. The mainstream celebrities who were involved, plus the superstar tag match main event led this to be the biggest show of all time at that point, and here we are over 26 years later and the WM franchise is bigger than ever. For me, this one supershow changed the wrestling business forever. It forever linked wrestling and pop culture, and probably started Vince's obsession for mainstream acceptance. There was nothing any other company could do to rival McMahon, his financial power basically decimated all the other regional promotions, leading to the WWF becoming the unstoppable force we all know.


But you cannot pick just one event that changed it all. Each era of wrestling has had its moments that, if it had not occured, the whole wrestling business as a whole would be different.

Vince buying the WWWF could maybe even be more important than Wrestlemania...If Vince hadnt purchased the company from his father, we may never have seen one organisation invade the other territories and become a dominant powerhouse, the way the WW(W)F did. We may still have the NWA Champion travelling from state to state as happened in the 70s and 80s. Vince saw the potential for one national wrestling company, and saw Hulk Hogan as the man to do it, and the rest is history. If Vince Snr had sold to someone else, we wouldnt have Wrestlemania.

Had ECW not grown in the way it did, bringing Hardcore into the mainstream, the WWF Attitude era may not have developed. The Austin 3:16 promo, which led to the creation of the biggest wrestling icon of the 1990s, Mankind taking those bumps off the top of the Cell, D-Generation X etc...without the ECW effect, these may have never occured.

My last choice would be the Hulk Hogan heel turn at Bash at the Beach 1996, where he turned on the fans and joined Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in the nWo. For all the younger fans, who see their favourite wrestlers switch sides every few weeks, you may not grasp the magnitude of this heel turn. This was HULK HOGAN, the man who had been the darling of the fans for 15 years or more. He WAS WRESTLING to the people, and to see him turn his backs on the Hulkamaniacs who had idolised him for years was truly shocking, and gave WCW the momentum it needed to overtake the WWF in the ratings. This forced Vince McMahon to step up his game, look to younger talents such as Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H etc to turn the tide, which they eventually did.

Had Hogan not made that heel turn, the WWF may have never improved the quality of the product, we may have never seen the development of the Stone Cold/Rock/HHH characters, and wrestling may still be stuck in the era of stupid cartoon gimmicks, like in the early 1990s. The formation of the nWo was a HUGE event.

Anyway, they are my picks, you may agree, you may not.

 

[fredstephenson]

i think the death of chris benoit has had a huge impact on wrestling particuly the wwe its more then likely the main reason we dont see full on chairshots to the head in wwe anymore coz all of the concussions he sustained might have contributed to what he did.

also i think the wwe made there drug policy a lot stricter because of this.

and it may have even contributed to todays child freindly era in wwe because i think the double murder suicide made people have a long hard look at the wwe and the wrestling industry in general. basically i reckon the wwe will have got shitloads of complaints and bad rep about there product and how well they treat there wrestlers and thought the best plan would be to clean up there act.

 

[Little Stinger At Heart]

I would have to say Ric Flair...no one had near the amount of popularity as he did...you could ask pretty much anyone and they would have been able to tell you who he was, even if they didn't watch the sport...I don't watch tennis, but I can tell you who Andre Aggassi is, it was the same with Ric Flair...

 

[Blade]

I don't think it's Vince buying the WWF from his dad that changed wrestling, more what Vince did with it. It's when he went national that he truly changed wrestling forever. There had been one or two promotions that had broadcast nationally, but Vince, after manipulating or buying out other promoters (as well as getting one over Ted Turner - the early origins of the Monday Night Wars), got the resources to go fully national and did it on a bigger stage, with bigger names than it had even been done with. Wrestling went from a underground sport to a national industry, and that's the event that truly changed wrestling. Some say wrestling going national was inevitable, and maybe it was, but it still changed everything.

 

[TheBWO]

I dunno...that's a tough one. Companies CLAIM that this coming PPV "will change wrestling forever" (a SO overused cliche'), and of course 97% usually end up in a tremendous letdown that over the next few months/weeks/years, you lose respect for the company that makes that statement. However---if I had to pick one....I would have to say the death of Benoit. Wrestlers die every month....(it's unfortunate...but they do), and while the media never covers wrestling in their sports coverage, because it's deemed "entertainment", you can't dispute the fact that reality set in, murder was done in the first degree, suicide, and it put the WWE in a limelight they would hope they would never get. I think really....if you try and string two things together---the whole steriod federal case with Vince and Hogan was just the beginning, and then this was the end. I recommend reading the Benoit book that came out first---because in it, he talks of drug usage, and how to get noticed he would have to have a more chiseled body, irregardless of his skills (which is why he ended up in Japan in the beginning---different ideas and views there). Yeah I know that the steroids was a dead issue---to a degree. Anytime Steiner would come out from the back, Goldberg, Lesnar---you couldn't help but think that roid's had something to do with it. The announcers of course would never comment....but you can't tell me that it never crossed anyone's mind....and then left as quickly as it came into the head....

The death of Benoit not only had wrestling in a mainstream media light---it also, for one...had the WWE eating crow VERY quickly after realizing that Benoit was not just "found dead", but that it was a murder / suicide. When Owen Hart died (in my hometown), the WWE chalked it up as a stunt done wrong, --paid tribute, and then dealt with the legal issues later....but really, the coverage was gone within two days for the most part. Benoit's murder lasted at least a week---which is long by some story standards.

 

[OutsiderDX]

I think Vince McMahon offering WrestleMania on the closed circuit TV. Which would eventually be the prelude to Pay Per View events, which at this point is the biggest money maker for the WWE, because of the buys and the subsequent DVDs. Also PPV's are what are driving storylines.

If WrestleMania was a failure, the WWE may have died. Correct me if im wrong, but i remember reading how Vince put most of his equity into that event.

But, as we know the event was a success and the most viewed Close Circuit event ever.

It's great that Vince bought the federation from his dad, but he still had to make it a success before it changed history.

 

[Radio GaGa]

For me, it's a tough deal to choose from the purchase of WWE, First Mania ever and many other, but I'd have to choose The Monday Night Wars.

Two major wrestling companies clashing - only one will survive. Mondy Night Raw (Raw Is War) vs. Monday Nitro.

I think it stood out from the rest

 

[wrestling fan 666]

I don't call it an event as much as a year that changed wrestling forever. In the same year; AWA went out of business, WCW and ECW both were bought out by WWE. Wrestling went from a multi-media business to a monopoly all in one swoop. To this day, I consider it the time wrestling died. Variety is needed and it's not provided anymore.

 

[afark02]

when wcw was bought by mcmahon. no more competitiveness in the sports entertainment business, just wwe vs. wwe, kind of takes a whole lot of pressure off of you. and dont tell me tna is competition cause thats like comparing nfl to the xfl, tna will never compete with wwe.

 

[spacephantomx]

Without a doubt it would of had to have been the day Eddie and Chris Benoit died. It shook up the wrestling community a great deal. If it wasn't for their passing the health and wellness policy might not have enforced like it is not now. It forced congress to start looking into the steroid use and constantly check up on their wrestling if they haven't been abusing steroids. It also came with the banning of chair shots to the head

 

[neildittmar]

I think an event that changed wrestling history forever would be the programmings expansion into cable television. For many years, wrestling was run in syndication on "B-grade" networks during the weekend morning hours. While this provided some level of exposure to the product, it was never being featured prominantly. Wrestling was also never featured in a prime-time slot that somebody just flipping through would potentially be exposed to.

Cable television changed all of that. First with Georgia Championship Wrestling on WTBS (one of cables first successes in general), then later with the NWA/WCW programming. 6:05PM Eastern on a Saturday on one of the biggest networks on cable was quite the coupe for ANY programming, let alone pro-wrestling. It provided equal parts exposure and consistency that are absolutely crucial in building an audience.

Not to be outdone (and after a failed bid on the aforementioned TBS), the WWF also ventured into cable territory with Prime Time Wrestling (and to a lesser extent, All American Wrestling) on the USA network. The former show not only highlighted the superstars in jobber/squash matches, but also featured the top wrestlers in the company going against each other, sometimes with titles on the line. It was the precursor to Monday Night RAW and by proxy, the "trial format" for what wrestling would become, specifically during the Monday Night War.

As a by-product, wrestling on network television pretty much disappeared in the years following, with the cancellation of syndicated shows and finally with Smackdowns move from MY Network TV to SyFy late last year. Generally speaking, cable television is what allowed the product to grow by providing the consistency necessary to build an audience long-term. With the exception of the occasional pre-emption, new and old fans alike knew exactly what station, day, and time they could get their wrestling fix. As mentioned above, others "flipping the dials" also were given a greater possibility to tune in as well.

 

[GVBELL]

#1 was Vince Jr taking wrestling main stream with Wrestlemania 1, 2nd was Turner buying JCP, and creating WCW. Creating the war in the late 80's early 90's.

Eric Bischoff redefined wrestling with the nWo and Hogan's Heel Turn in 1996 and then WWF took in to another level with the formation of DX in the mid-90's.

What killed the wresting product is when WCW sold out to Vince and the WWE in 2001, although TNA is a nice product it has no way of being a viable Waring opponent with the WWE. WCW vs. WWF from 1995-early 1999 is the GOLDEN AGE of Televised wrestling as we know it, wrestling will never be watch by appointment as it was then. Go to work or school on Tuesday's and you got "did you see nitro?", "did you hear what happened?", "Jeff Jarrett was on Nitro and on RAW...", "Bischoff was giving the RAW results..." it will never be like that again...

Instead we get the CRAP we get now, guys with the personality of styrofoam, Give me Daniel Bryan with Ric Flair's talking abaility, I'm tired of 250lbs of muscle with the mic ability of a 5 year old, and The NExus was just the nWo 2010!!!!

 

[Aguilac]

easy: WRESTLEMANIA

live from the MSG, with celebrities and the very best (most likely) of the WWF business at the time, Wrestlemania become a huge moment for the WWF, which also helped the Hulkster by increasing his fame nationwide.

honorific mentions:
- Wrestlemania III: 93,000 people going crazy for the Hogan v Andre
- The Fingerpoke of Doom: for me, the event that buried WCW
- Montreal Screwjob: without it, there would be no mr.mcmahon. nuff said

 

[XgringolocoX]

I got a few that I'd say just about tie for the number one spot.

Wrestlemania 1: this was a huge gamble that ushered wrestling into the mainstream of pop culture. It started a huge boom for the industry. WM3 probably was better and more watched, but WM1 had to succeed or Vince was in deep shit.

Monday Night War: In the MNW I group together the NWO, Austin, Goldberg, Rock, ect. The MNW brought all that on. To big wrestling companies fighting it out in a war of attrition. It just seemed that everyone was working harder and better at this time. Probably, for us fans that watched it, the greatest time in wrestling.

Vince Buys WCW: Not an industry changer in a good way. We saw lots of great talent either ignored or wasted by the WWE. This is the moment where the competition ended and wrestling went downhill since. So much could have been done right that simply wasn't. Terrible for the industry, the fans, and the wrestlers themselves.

 

[Shakin' Abe]

I think Vince buying WCW changed the wrestling world because he took competition out of the business and I think as a whole the industry has suffered. TNA is trying, but they just aren't in the same universe at this point.

 

[luxferre]

The steroid trial that vince went through in 92 was a huge moment, because it forced vince to look at TALENT and not body's!

Who know's if bret or shawn would have ever been given the gold.....

 

[GodCompleX]

IMO the event that changed wrestling forever was really a series of events. Starting with VKM jr buying WWWF from his dad. Even though he promised his dad he wouldn't run other territories out of business he turned around and did just that. Buying up the best talent, cultivating Hulkamania, harnessing the power of a new medium in PPV and cable tv to take wrestling to the masses changed the landscape of wrestling forever.