The Value of Local Heroes

[DaNewGuy]

How much value is there in having local heroes?

As an example, I'm from the UK, and the first time I acknowled Regal as the 'hometown guy' was an episode of Smackdown! around 2004 where he worked as a face despite being in the midst of a heel run. Perhaps to a lesser extent in the UK, but is the 'hometown guy' important the that region/country/area's interest in the product?

A couple of month's ago JR alluded to this when Bisping (English) was rising in UFC, speculating that it might raise the profile of the sport in England. Consider the importance of Khali to India. I've seen reference to Guerrero and Mysterio being kept on Smackdown! to maintain the hispanic audience the show enjoyed.

So is there much value in local heroes to appeal to particular areas and demographics, or would it make little difference if all wrestlers were from Wisconsin?

 

[Defekt]

There's no question local heroes increase interest.

A major reason for Bret Hart's initial world title run was to help the WWE expand into Canada.

I must have read a thousand articles on basketball viewership among Asians skyrocketing during Jeremy Lin's hot streak.

 

[Rayne]

Ab-so-lute-ly.

People love to root for the hometown guy. Remember Kenny Dykstra? Billed from Worcester, crowds here would go nuts for the guy. Didn't quite get that reaction anywhere else. (For the record, if you want to know what happened to Ken Doane- he hangs out in townie bars these days, picking up townie floozies by having a friend with him who will start talking about Ken's time in the WWE so Ken doesn't have to start that conversation. He's a pretty big douche. If you really want to meet him though, I can tell you the three places he'll be on an average Friday/Saturday night. Bring a woman of low attractiveness, the pretty ones realize that despite the stacked body, the kid's a loser.)

I'm of the opinion that every area needs someone like that occasionally. It's an easy, cheap pop. Michael Bisping has definitely raised the perception of MMA in the UK, and all that despite always seeming to choke in big fights. (Or have to throw blatantly, intentionally illegal knees to the head when he's getting the shit whipped out of him by an old man who's about to retire. I might be a bit bitter, because the man who insisted that he be allowed to continue that fight after almost certainly being concussed was Jorge Rivera- a Worcester local guy.)

People like to see the people where they're from doing well. Wrestling's been capitalizing on that for a long, long time.

 

[Diet Soda]

I'm from the same town as Michael Bisping, and though he's not originally from here he still gets treated as a local celebrity and will always be on the back page of the paper whenever he's up to anything.

Certainly, it has created a platform for UFC to be discussed over here, and I have noticed that since Bisping's rise to popularity (concurrent with the proliferation of UFC in general) that a lot of smaller local promotions have sprung up or become more prominent.

What irks me a little is how WWE will tweak the hometown of a superstar in order to cash in on the local hero phenomenon that OP has brought up. The main example of this being Wade Barrett, who is billed from Manchester, but is actually from Preston. WWE will never come to Preston, yet they come to Manchester at least once a year, so can guarantee a good reaction if they have superstar on their roster representing a major city. Same applied for the British Bulldog, actually from Wigan.

 

[HBsam31]

I think it having the local a hero is very important. I used to love going to see shows in Pittsburgh (where I live) when Kurt Angle was a heel and listen to the great reception he would get for being in his hometown. The Hart Foundation when they were feuding with Stone Cold were hated here, but they would get an Austin like pop in Canada. I think it adds to the sport as a whole when the home crowd gets behind their hero and he isn't liked anywhere else. It widens the audience, and gives people in other places who may not normally watch a reason to do so. All in all in is a much needed thing in wrestling.

 

[FlairFan2003]

It does increase interest in the area, more so if the wrestler is established nationwide, local fans will come out to show support for any one of "them" who has made it.

Jerry Lawler drew cheers in Memphis no matter how he was booked or who he faced. By the 90s, no one could get cheered over Flair in the Carolinas. His connection with wrestling fans in the NWA/WCW core areas was so strong that Kentucky, Georgia, The Carolinas, Tennessee and even Florida became known as "Flair Country", the only thing like it was the almost always positive reaction Brett Hart recieved in the 90s in Canada, again regardless of how he was booked or who he faced.