The Wrestling Industry Figured Out

[Decarow]

I was watching The Rise and Fall of WCW last night, and it got me thinking. Why did the wrestling industry boom in the 80s? Why did it start to decline in the 90s and then pick back up? Why is it declining now?

The answer is the attitude of the fans. In the 80s, the fans were extremely positive of the business. They shut down a whole city once! Wrestlers in Jim Crockett Promotions and NWA were seen as rock stars, they had to have security at all times. Fans went apeshit over the same stuff every week.

It's not because they had better talent back then. It's because we fail to recognize the talent we have now because we are telling ourselves "there will never be another Ric Flair or Dusty Rhodes". We keep saying that the wrestlers we have now are trash.

But that's all do to our attitudes and inability to move on from the past. Back then, the fans knew the wrestling business was going somewhere. They believed in it. Why can't we?

I think it's because so many fans think they have the business "figured out". They "know" how to book and where bookers "messed up". But they fail to realize that those same bookers are still filling arenas and occasionally selling them out.

So I'm making a resolution. Let's all start looking into the business with a positive outlook. Here's to us backing our favorite company, whether it's WWE, TNA, ROH, a foreign promotion in Mexico or Japan, or an indie promotion. Let us view wrestling with a light that says "I believe in this industry, it's going places". We've invested so much time into this business, why waste that by being negative?

 

[Sora/roxas]

Well only one problem. Where can WWE go? they are the biggest company out there. They have no real compititon. TNA is the closest thing and after VR, well lets leave that alone. So where can they go? I agree with you positive outlook but the only thing WWE can do at this point is start shoot wrestling. I dont know if WWE has ever done this and i would not want to see this happen.

 

[thedukeofpearls]

No.
The talent "we" have now lack in-ring fundamentals such as psychology and experience; let's be honest.
I've been a wrestling fan my entire life, but I wouldn't dare say Ric Flair, Rhodes or even Steamboat were the greatest wrestlers. If you've noticed, Flair didn't have the largest repetoire of moves back then either.

The problem with the wrestling industry as a whole would be that it hasn't reached an apex, but guys like McMahon would love you to think that it has. That "anything can happen" element is gone, and we're sick of seeing the same matches, with the same results, without innovation.

When I see fans go apeshit for Randy Orton, it tells me that they've low expectations.

Why did the 80's and 90's have better wrestling?

Simple. Because the fans got their money worth. Would you honestly pay 40 bucks for a PPV with a 5/10 rating?

 

[jacdnwarrior]

No.
The talent "we" have now lack in-ring fundamentals such as psychology and experience; let's be honest.
I've been a wrestling fan my entire life, but I wouldn't dare say Ric Flair, Rhodes or even Steamboat were the greatest wrestlers. If you've noticed, Flair didn't have the largest repetoire of moves back then either.

The problem with the wrestling industry as a whole would be that it hasn't reached an apex, but guys like McMahon would love you to think that it has. That "anything can happen" element is gone, and we're sick of seeing the same matches, with the same results, without innovation.

When I see fans go apeshit for Randy Orton, it tells me that they've low expectations.

Why did the 80's and 90's have better wrestling?

Simple. Because the fans got their money worth. Would you honestly pay 40 bucks for a PPV with a 5/10 rating?

I agree with most of what you said here tdop. People have settled for a lot less than they deserve. Many of the performers aren't as great as WWE would like to have people believe.

In the eighties you had regional territories, AWA, WWF, NWA among others that catered to every fan. For showmanship you have WWF, a company that went to collect the best performers from numerous promotions and promote their biggest star Hulk Hogan as a larger than life superhero. WCCW had the Von Erichs, AWA focused on in ring work. Mexico did the luchadore style, Japan had their own style.

The nineties saw the emergence of WCW and WWF as the two superpowers in the wrestling industry. WWF saw its lowpoint in terms of profit and then they were taken to court over steroid use and distribution along with sex harrassment cases in 1994 and after. It also had a number of promotions go under. ECW came into being later and started the whole hardcore style of wrestling. In the late nineties, there was the rise of the Monday Night Wars and the WWE Attitude era began bringing the company and the business to soaring heights.

Now we face a time where WCW and ECW have folded and WWE stands as the major force in the industry in North America. TNA exists but is a distant second. ROH is there but has a long way to go before it will be considered a major promotion like WWE or even TNA. There are regional territories out there springing up and in existence right now some have great following most don't and are searching for an audience.

The difference between now and the 80s and 90s ? The quality has clearly fallen off. In the past, even if the main event wasn't great, you could find a match in the lower card to entertain in terms of story in the ring. I agree many performers in the past weren't as great as people would have you believe, but the feuds (storylines) were built up far better. The fan was more emotionally involved in any feud from low card to main event. Today, a fan must look a little harder at the card they are watching. The competition is far less to WWE than it's been in quite some time. WWE's dominance of the industry hasn't really helped the creativity. There is very little to actually get excited about with any promotion that I've seen in quite some time, in terms of star quality, in-ring storytelling/ psychology or character development. Thinking positive about a crappy product won't make it any less hard to watch.

 

[thedukeofpearls]

I agree with most of what you said here tdop. People have settled for a lot less than they deserve. Many of the performers aren't as great as WWE would like to have people believe.

In the eighties you had regional territories, AWA, WWF, NWA among others that catered to every fan. For showmanship you have WWF, a company that went to collect the best performers from numerous promotions and promote their biggest star Hulk Hogan as a larger than life superhero. WCCW had the Von Erichs, AWA focused on in ring work. Mexico did the luchadore style, Japan had their own style.

The nineties saw the emergence of WCW and WWF as the two superpowers in the wrestling industry. WWF saw its lowpoint in terms of profit and then they were taken to court over steroid use and distribution along with sex harrassment cases in 1994 and after. It also had a number of promotions go under. ECW came into being later and started the whole hardcore style of wrestling. In the late nineties, there was the rise of the Monday Night Wars and the WWE Attitude era began bringing the company and the business to soaring heights.

Now we face a time where WCW and ECW have folded and WWE stands as the major force in the industry in North America. TNA exists but is a distant second. ROH is there but has a long way to go before it will be considered a major promotion like WWE or even TNA. There are regional territories out there springing up and in existence right now some have great following most don't and are searching for an audience.

The difference between now and the 80s and 90s ? The quality has clearly fallen off. In the past, even if the main event wasn't great, you could find a match in the lower card to entertain in terms of story in the ring. I agree many performers in the past weren't as great as people would have you believe, but the feuds (storylines) were built up far better. The fan was more emotionally involved in any feud from low card to main event. Today, a fan must look a little harder at the card they are watching. The competition is far less to WWE than it's been in quite some time. WWE's dominance of the industry hasn't really helped the creativity. There is very little to actually get excited about with any promotion that I've seen in quite some time, in terms of star quality, in-ring storytelling/ psychology or character development. Thinking positive about a crappy product won't make it any less hard to watch.

Took the words out of my mouth.

It's true. TNA, while once a great product, is indeed a distant second to WWE. (at least as far as the media's concerned)

I'm currently watching a tad of ROH, AJPW, and just a fragment of WWE. Honestly, guys like Orton, Swagger, Morrison and others just aren't impressing me.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The answer is the attitude of the fans.

Good thought, but I think the answer is in the attitudes of the non-fans. By virtue of good product, good luck and good timing, the wrestling industry managed to convince folks in the 90's that pro wrestling was "in." The reason the audiences were so large was because there were tons of non-wrestling fans in attendance. They may have been acting like true fans, but they weren't; all they cared about was doing whatever everyone else was doing. While they were believing wrestling was cool; they followed it. Since they weren't real fans, they lost interest after awhile..... or more likely, decided that it was time to latch onto some other mass movement.

Meanwhile, the true fans of wrestling (like us) remained. We're the loyalists, even as many of us who claim to love wrestling seem to hate 90% of what's going on in it. But that's par for the course; I would wager there were also fans in the Attitude Era that complained about things being stale, too.

As far as I'm concerned, there's a renaissance going on right now in WWE.....and it involves the writing. We're seeing imaginative plots and characterizations as never before. Some of the storylines are as fresh and innovative as have ever been seen; and this is happening at a time when many thought that everything that can be done in wrestling has already been done. We're also seeing the birth of new stars, and that's the lifeblood of any business.

But a renaissance is only as good as the people who believe in it. I'm all for your idea of taking a positive outlook about pro wrestling. There's so much to see and so much to discuss; it keeps things (like this forum) fresh and exciting.

And if you want to take issue with forum members who say we're being given nothing new and that the sport is dying.......don't worry, they'll always be around.

 

[SteveNJ]

What hurts wrestling now is that it seems its harder and harder to see a heel wrestle a face and simply win. To many run ins, DQs, crazy twists..etc.

Im a huge Cena fan now (mostly cause I am not buying into the Rocks return..and using Cena to get someone over who doesnt need it) and if The Miz were to straight up Skull Crushing Finale him into oblivion and actually win legit...I will not be disappointed.

 

[BobbyDigital]

There's one big thing that was missing in the early to mid 90s and that is also missing today and that is the lack of the SuperDuperStar.

I'm only going to look at the WWE here. In the 90s you had Bret and Shawn. Its safe to say those were the 2 top dogs in the WWF. They were great at what they did but they weren't transcendent superstars (household names if you will). Hulk Hogan was a household name in the 80s. Everyone knows Hulk Hogan, even to this day he is the measuring stick to the nonwrestling fan.

The Rock and Stone Cold came along in the late 90s early 2000s and that was gold because there were two household names and the industry became bigger than ever.