There is precedent for this. In the mid-1980s, the A far cry from the wrestling scene WCW had when it
”Rock and Wrestling Connection” brought Mr. T and introduced Rodman, Leno, Green and a host of other
Cyndi Lauper into the storylines and into the ring celebrities (of varying levels of actual fame). Eric
itself. The buzz surrounding Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Bischoff believed that basketball and football players,
the WWE (or WWF as it was known back then) and the rap stars, talk show hosts and actors could save a
first Wrestlemania drew thousands of new fans to company dominated by tired retreads of the New
wrestling, many of whom stayed to discover Tito World Order and WWE castoffs.
Santana, Ricky Steamboat and Andre the Giant, to say
nothing of Ric Flair, the Road Warriors, Nick
And McMahon will have no more success today.
Bockwinkle and the stars that came along afterwards.
Jeremy Piven and ZZ Top will not draw new fans to a
product that is some ten years removed from its last
boom. To make matters worse, more words are spent
mORE WORdS aRE SPENT ON
on the criticism of WWE’s product than in praise of it.
THE CRITICISm Of WWE’S
Fans are sick of Triple H and his DX reunions; John
PROduCT THaN IN PRaISE Of IT
Cena enters the arena to more boos than many heels,
and Randy Orton is perhaps the most unpopular man
in the industry (and not in a good way).
Fast-forward a decade and a half and the appearance
of boxer Mike Tyson at Wrestlemania XV recreated
the same buzz for pro wrestling when he served as a
special referee for the World Championship match
that saw ”the Stone Cold Era” ushered in.
But for every Tyson and T, there’s a David Arquette or
Lawrence Taylor, celebrities whose appearances have
non-wrestling fans scoffing, not turning into instant
wrestling fans. Meanwhile, those appearances have
served to alienate long-time members of the WWE’s
fan base.
McMahon forgets a couple of key points. First of all,
the involvement of Mr. T and Mike Tyson weren’t
one-shot deals. Both were involved in long-term and
high profile storylines, storylines that were
structured in such a way that the fans were caught
up in them. Could novice wrestler Mr. T help tag team
partner Hulk Hogan defend the honour of Cyndi
Lauper, the Rock and Wrestling Connection and the
fans against two seasoned veterans in ”Rowdy”
Roddy Piper and ”Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff? Instead of worrying about what clips ESPN or
Would Mike Tyson swing the momentum in favour of Entertainment Tonight will air on their next program,
Shawn Michaels after it appeared he had pledged perhaps McMahon and his booking staff should be
allegiance to DX? looking into creating (or really, simply recreating) a
Second of all, for those fans tuning in, they were
product that will keep the fans he has from tuning out.
greeted by a professional wrestling atmosphere that By the time you read this, Freddie Prinze, Jr. will have
made them want to continue to tune in. In 1985, Hulk served as a Guest GM, with news that Reverend Al
Hogan was reaching the peak of his popularity and Sharpton and Bob Barker will eventually follow and
was battling one of history’s best heels in Roddy
rumours of Jerry Springer, the cast of ”It’s Always
Piper. In 1998, even as Shawn Michael went down
Sunny in” and Robert Englund to come. It appears
with an injury, came the rise of ”Stone Cold” Steve
that the WWE is committed to looking outside of
Austin, the heel that had become so popular that the
their company for solutions to problems that they
crowd had turned him face even before the WWE did.
should resolve internally.
15 The online magazine for pro wrestling fans worldwide thewrestlingpress.com
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