WWE isn't cool anymore.

[Tequila Dave]

I was having a conversation with a friend today, and we were exchanging interests. I told them that I was really into wrestling and they replied, “Wait, like WWF? I never knew you were such a nerd!” This isn’t something new, I’ve heard it before, and I’m sure many posters on this forum have too. This reality is, WWE and wrestling simply isn’t regarded as ‘cool’ anymore.

Names from a decade ago such as The Rock and Stone Cold remain synonymous with wrestling even today, but the majority of people have no idea about the wrestling industry’s current state. Despite this, people believe the average wrestling fan to be a nerd or lower class. This is an unfair assumption.

The WWE has such a negative image outside of its fan base these days, and I am curious as to why. There is still action in WWE, there are still big celebrities making appearances and yet now people feel the need to bring up the fact ‘wrestlers are gay because they wear tights,’ and that ‘wrestling is fake.’ Wrestling was fake ten years ago, wrestlers wore tights ten years ago, but wrestling was cool ten years ago. So my questions are:

When/how did WWE stop becoming ‘cool’?

How can WWE become ‘cool’ again?

And please, I don’t want to hear anything about the PG era. This has been a problem since before WWE banned blood.

And for the record, I love WWE.

 

[#hamler]

We'll I think it's still pretty cool. However, your friend may have thought it was cool when he was younger, but not now because he simply grew up. The kids today, will say it's cool but when they are your age say wrestling won't be. A lot of fans grow out of it but there are a few who still enjoy wrestling like you and me. How could they be cool again, well, they still are. The WWE are just focusing on a different age group. So what may be cool to a young kid, or even an adult, may not be cool to a 14-20 kid. I still find the WWE cool and I'm not afraid to admit I'm a huge wrestling fan. People may think its un-cool when they aren't the real fans.

 

[wrestler36]

It's in the eye of the beholder. Wrestling has been around for a long time, but outside of The Rock, Hogan, Austin, Andre and a few others, there's not too many 'household names.' Sure, Orton and Cena aren't exactly huge public figures outside of the wrestling world, but neither were Shawn and Bret, or Flair and Sting, etc. It may not be 'cool' because it isn't growing like MMA is right now, but people who watch wrestling regardless of ratings will always keep tuning in, whether it is to enjoy the show, or to criticize.

 

[Teddy Irving]

Things just go in and out of fashion to be honest. UFC was around a long time ago and so were all mma stuff but back then they weren't the coolest thing. Nobody said anything if you liked them but if you didn't like wrestling (WWE/WCW/ECW) then people were kind of shocked to hear it. It was a flavour of the month kind of thing.
I am a huge wrestling fan and have been for a long time and probably always will be to be honest, and i am not afraid to admit it either. Most people that know me know that i watch it alot, that doesn't stop the fact that UFC is the thing at the moment. Everyone loves it and within a few years it probably wont be liked as much. That is just the way things go

 

[Cena_Yogi]

hey im 16 and i love watching WWE...people do sometimes make fun of me like my sisters and friends, but the fact is not everyone is going to enjoy something you do...so it's better that everybody has their own interests are what not...and if you enjoy watching WWE, stick to it...not everyone is going to think its cool, but if it is to you, then keep watching and let the haters say what they want

 

[vampirek]

When was it regarded cool in the first place? It always had that group of people who would mock the product and its fans. It was around during every era and is around in this era too. To me nothing has changed, just the fans who know nothing more than the Attitude Era trying to be experts.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I honestly have never had any of my friends tell me they thought I was uncool for liking wrestling. I have friends who are into collecting stamps, or Zelda coins, etc. I think its to each their own kind of thing. I still have moments where I think "Gosh..it could've been cool if that angle went this way." I think when people start condemning one another then that is really when you start to wonder "Would I want that person as my friend?" I mean, there can be many things said about every person's particular hobby. One of my best friend's is BIG into Twilight, do I like that stuff? Hell no, but she and I know that we will never see eye to eye about this kind of stuff. I don't think its a matter of being cool, or uncool. Even people who've seen me wear one of my Eddie Guerrero or Benoit, or CM Punk or other TNA peeps shirts, have asked me about them, and I explain certain things, and then they've borrowed certain dvd's of mine and they've actually come away with some new insight about it. I'm not gonna lie and say that I want to force people to like Wrestling, hell no, that'd be like trying to get me to like Twilight or Lord of The Rings, ain't gonna happen. You know, I can only ask that people try to maybe treat each other with a little respect now and again. Can I take a joke when my friends make a funny comment about my hobby? Sure, and I'm able to poke right back with a joke as well. You know, its as someone said in the post earlier, its in the eye of the beholder, but its also to me, at least, about treating people with respect. Whether an extra 10 people like WWE/TNA or whatever, those companies will still go on and make their money anyway, they will still have their fans that come to their shows, by their products no matter what the naysayers may say or do.

 

[Arkham Noir]

I remember when I went to a house show about two years ago. At one point during the event, one of the hottest girls I had ever seen in my life walked past my row. Man she was gorgeous, she had this great little white dress on and everything. And you know what? She was there to watch wrestling. Tons of people hate on wrestling, but honestly, who the fuck cares what they think. My example about the hot blonde is that she thought wrestling was O.K. If girls like that like wrestling, than why the fuck would I care what any of my friends or people in the media say?

I don't care if wrestling is considered "cool", I watch it because I love wrestling. As should everybody.

 

[Captain Jive]

Its just the cycle the world, its not just wrestling. Once upon a time disco was the shit, then the 80's came along and disco was lame. That doesnt mean that the actual songs got worse, just newer different things took their place. With wrestling, MMA took its place. It became the new cool thing, so in society's eyes, wrestling isn't cool anymore. Anthropologically speaking, the human race has always embraced certain parts of their respective cultures, only to shun them when something new comes along. We were all kids once, so just think about the toys you had back then. One day you're playing with a toy, you're having fun with it, but then your parents give you a new toy. Now even though your old toy is perfectly good, you just want the new one. There will even be a day when the people that have posted thousands of times on this site, will wake up and just find it boring and never post again.

 

[roethlisberger78]

I feel so normal when I post on here, 25 years old and grew up watching wrestling because my older brother is also a big fan. Gotta admit I'll always be a fan and hell in my younger days I might of even had some wwf clothes. I think during the attitude era it was good for teenagers of that time to watch because the characters were rebelling against their boss they were all badasses and it caught the eyes of those teens or others that normally wouldn't watch. Now we're back to PG and I myself still love the product, somethins need fixed but that's with everything, but I don't think it catches the eye of the new teen agers cause they don't have the curse words the blood and just those things that stick out to hormone crazy teens. You ask what would make it cool again, I don't exactly think It's the attitude era again because its already been done but its gotta be somethin to catch those teens eyes. Now beyond them you know the kids like it and us lifers will always be fans. I think somethin they could do to catch the attention is bring in some ppl from different sports. With all the talk of Brock wanting to come back think of all the attention the E would get and these UFC fans who love Brock would want to tone in and still see him. And I also think a more realistic feeling would go along way. I don't think a lot of non watches would dig super cena it just don't feel real compared to the real UFC. And for the record I do like cena he justs old. So that's just some ideas from this one persons head I like reading ya'lls ideas also.

 

[marklouis]

As I've said in previous threads, WWE today is similar to where it was from about 1993-1997. There is a loyal fan base who will always watch, but outside of that group, the product just isn't of interest. I would say that the main catalyst for the change in 1996 was the creation of the NWO, which forced WWE to answer with DX, Austin, The Rock, & various other Attitude Era staples. And I don't think PG is just about blood. The WWE could easily stick with the no blood rule & still come up with interesting storylines & characters, but they choose not too. Their booking is very lazy, & just about every heel is the same: arrogant smart ass who thinks he's cooler than everyone else. The funny thinf is, Cena right now is just as big a mainstream star as anyone was at the height of the Attitude Era. Cena is in a national ad campaign, does movies, does the late night talk shows. He just hasn't hosted Saturday Night Live yet, as The Rock did. Again, becoming cool isn't necessarily about blood or ridiculous stunts. Just be more creative. Of course, having a legitimate rival would help. But I don't see TNA filling that role any time soon.

 

[CerebralViper96]

Whether you like WWE or TNA...its just a difference of interest.Honestly,its just wrong saying you are a nerd or not cool if you like wrestling or any other subject.Its the same thing with everybody.My best friend is a huge fan of the Insane Clown Posse,now Ive heard some of their music and I actually bought one of their tshirts but now I dont like them that much anymore.Am I going to say my friend is a nerd now...hell naw man.I think wrestling is the shit.I have DVD's,T Shirts,Video Games,Cards,etc.Wrestling's popularity and legacy will not die.Whether its TNA or WWE,Im watching it.Its like this,if somebody said I was a nerd for watching wrestling.I would reply "Your a nerd for not watching it"

 

[nerd4life]

wwe isnt cool anymore is kind of bold isnt it?
it certainly isnt as cool as the austin and rocky days but its still cool. Its the lame gimmicks mostly with hornswoggle or santino they need to get rid of some stuff is just embarassing.

 

[CJ The Pirate]

Wrestling, on the surface is great for kids. It's violent... some might even see it as real, but for an adult, one who has been told that it is fake and that is the extent of their knowledge, it just isn't attractive.

It's a rare thing to find a wrestling fan who began watching after they turned 16. This is a kids thing that you must grow up with the fully appreciate. In the same way all your favourite childhood cartoons and films are riddled with double entendre or innuendo (and occasionally downright filth) which further endear you to that film when you're older , wrestling also has something for the grown up the child will later become.

For me, that was learning how the business worked.

Because wrestling is fake and that is a fact most people switch off but some of us want to know how much is fake. Read Mick Foley's Autobiographies and you'll find out just what these guys do to provide us with entertainment. A word that sounds so harmless.

One of my favourite arguments actually comes from his first autobiography. Mick explains how any other sportsman or athlete with the injuries that Wrestlers actually work through would have immediate surgery and time out of the game. Wrestlers actually work through them for months. That is worth a lot of respect in my eyes.

I have no problem declaring that I love watching wrestling. If I hear anyone try and discredit it then I will challenge them and I do often win my argument. Wrestling is cool and if you really believe that then it is worth standing up for.

 

[ilapierre]

News for the kiddies with no life who still watch wrestling religiously and defend it to the grave: pg era wrestling is one of the uncoolest things on tv. Now that's saying a lot. There is reality tv, there is no end to dumb ass crime shows, there's stupid ass karoke shows, etc etc. Everything on tv in the past decade is watered down crap. Not just wrestling. TV is all about beautiful people with fake attitude like the Miz, it's not about naturally unique people with real emotion like Steve Austin. All the best tv shows are cartoons, all the shows that were any good were forced off the air over half a decade ago by corporations trying to maximize their profits by taking dumb ass programming to the extreme and erasing anything of any substance. And WWE has followed suit, and they've done just as good as any billionaire corporation in watering down their product for dorky teenagers with fake attitude everywhere. Wrestling is for the same type of douchebag who likes shit music by Insane Clown Posse, Disturbed, or Slipknot. yay it's loud and stupid, so what, it's for kids who haven't developed taste for music, like how little kids love their kool aid and gotta develop taste for beer. Wrestling is like today's metal with its fake aggression that all sounds the same. That's what wrestling has become. Fake aggression that all looks the same. Real emotion is what had the majority of people watching wrestling in my high school a decade ago. Wrestling is fake, of course, but when it looks fake and scripted it's just pathetic. It's the sign of poor execution, and you can see it on every episode of Raw. Thus, fake aggression is uncool, that is unless you are a lame ass uncool 15-30 year old who has little going on in their life and need their weekly dose of PG Emo WWE.

Wrestling has always been uncool, although most people i knew watched from 1997-1999, and this period was considered by most as a 'cool' period. Everything before and after has been considered uncool and for children/adults with childlike mental capacities. I loved wrestling until 1995 and then started to grow out of it until the NWO, then i was hooked till 1999 and stopped watching regularly until 2002 and quit again in 2003. I loved wrestling when it made sense to me, when the characters and storylines felt real, when championships meant something, when pay per views were waited for and only a few guys were pushed at once instead of the entire roster..i still watch wrestling today, just not regularly and i fast forward over most of the wrestlers from the past decade because they are not even close to the same league with the guys i grew up watching. Wrestling does not draw upon its history enough, but EVERY program should be like the one on RAW a month ago with Piper. Piper should be hired and paid big money, but he isn't because WWE will only spend as little as possible on the blandest of the bland (ahem John Cena) that will work 325 days a year for less than they deserve. WWE makes billions and its wrestlers make squat and have to pay their own health insurance. It doesn't matter how old they are, guys like Piper still make the show, but WWE doesn't want to spend money to properly entertain its audience or to properly train its up and comers. It would rather spend less on guys who know nothing about entertaining other people so to make money off their core fans who in their spare time in between shows enjoy watching paint dry. So, that's why wrestling's uncool. Because it only attracts the same audience of outcasts that don't have the balls to put their foot down and protest the pathetic programming. They're a bunch of buttheads who'll defend WWE at all costs to justify all the wasted hours of bland television they've had to sit through since the Attitude Era.

WWE fans: you should know when enough is enough and just walk away. If you want to watch beautiful people in a pg soap opera reading their scripts badly, go watch Young and the Restless. I hear they've been winning the soap opera ratings war since 1987 with average ratings at 7 or 8.

 

[JGlass]

I've had people either think of me as nerdy for watching WWE, I've had people think I'm kind of goofy for watching WWE, and I've had people think nothing different of me for watching WWE. I will agree with you though, that WWE certainly isn't cool anymore.

But was it every really cool? I mean, during the Attitude Era were the majority of WWE fans really considered "cool" because they watched the program? I'm asking this seriously, because I was really too young to worry about anybody thought except my fellow 5th graders.

I've put this theory out before, and I'll repeat it: I think that WWE and comic books have a lot in common, and in this case that might be what people find nerdy about it. You've got your heroes and villains, everyone wears their own unique costume, and everyone has their own special power in the form of a finishing move. I know that this is why wrestling appeals to me as I am a huge superhero nerd.

That said, I don't think it being nerdy is necessarily a bad thing. I know I use the word nerd to refer to someone who knows a huge amount if information about a given subject. Watching wrestling, especially over a long period of time, can be kind of nerdy given the fact that the more you watch the more you historically know about any given promotion. So don't be offended by the fact that your friend thinks you're a nerd now, but don't be thrilled either. Let's face it, as (I believe) Slyfox put it, "professional wrestling historically caters to children and idiots." Now it takes a special type of person to put all the stupidity behind them to enjoy the product, but we sometimes forget that professional wrestling, as a concept, is not exactly a product for intellectuals. Nonetheless, there is nothing wrong with watching and enjoying professional wrestling, just don't be surprised if you are met with some negativity when you tell people you do watch it.

 

[DeathClutch]

WWE hasn't been cool since about Mid 2003, what can they do to become cool again?
Without getting rid of the PG rating, become more edgy like the attitude era, don't copy what they did but do stuff on the whim that is surprising, get rid of the dead wood PPV's and bring back the likes of KOTR and Survivor series (concept) and unify the belts so their is only one of each and bring back or debut a new belt (or two) I'd bring back the lightweight belt for the smaller guys to be used PROPERLY and bring back the hardcore title (with or without) the 24/7 rule, it would make for some awesome tv, plus it gives EVERYONE a chance to shine.

That is what would make WWE cool to me, but it's each to their own.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

If you want to be honest about it, when exactly has professional wrestling ever been thought of by the masses as "cool"? Even at the height of the Attitude Era, the WWF drew huge ratings but still never got anywhere close to the level of a Monday Night Football or Survivor or even more recent shows like American Idol. Professional wrestling, for all intents and purposes, will always have a so called "cult following". Oh sure, there'll be an occassional increase, sometimes a huge increase, that'll last for a while before it goes away. The Attitude Era in and of itself was a fad and, as far as a the 5s and 6s go in the ratings, started to die right after the Monday Night Wars.

I watch wrestling because I like it. What's "cool" depends upon what you think, not what anyone else thinks. Those that base their likings on something just because everyone else likes it are sheep, plain and simple. Constant news coverage and the keeping up of the latest train wreck with Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton isn't my idea of "cool". Watching people make absolute fools of themselves on MTV that don't have a shred of actual talent but are somehow famous isn't my idea of "cool". For anybody that does, more power to you.

If ones friends don't like WWE or TNA that's great. If they give you shit for it, fuck 'em. It's your life and your preference.

 

[TUFFY54]

I think Jack-Hammer summed it up pretty well. With the exception of 85-87 and 96-2000, wrestling has never been cool. I've been a fan since 1990 and in the last twenty years there was only a short window in the late 90's when people were actually talking about wrestling in high school. To them it was a fad. To us it was life.

I think a good parallel would be the show Survivor. When it came out ten years ago it was huge. Everybody in America was talking about it. I believe it did some of the highest ratings of any show in history. A lot of people still watched the next couple seasons, but ratings went down. Now its just another show on TV, and I haven't heard anyone talk about it for years. However, since it's still on, there are still a good number of people who watch every single episode, buy the DVD's, and talk about it on message boards. Sound familiar?

Bottom line is wrestling really isn't cool or uncool. It's whatever the person watching it thinks it is. To me, soccer is the most pathetically uncool thing in the world to watch. I feel the same way about basketball and damn near anything MTV has put out in the last 10 years.

At the end of the day we are a bunch of grown men (and a few women) who enjoy watching oiled up dudes with bad acting skills pretend to fake fight. And I'll keep doing it, because I think it totally kicks ass!

 

[Hovertical]

I actually get this a lot from people, however its mostly from people that have watched wrestling as a kid then realized that it was "fake" then stopped liking it because they wanted it to be "real" instead of realizing that these men they looked up to as kids were nothing more than actors.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Firstly, wrestling has never been cool, save for the 80s. Its nothing at all new.

Secondly why the fuck would you concern yourself with it. If its cool to you, then thats all that matters.