I really enjoyed reading about the beginning of the Monday Night War. I have heard plenty of references to the event (especially now that the WWE has a documentary-esque show dedicated to chronicling the War), but I never really knew more than the basics of the conflict (that it was a fight for viewers between WCW and WWF). I was surprised that WCW posed a legitimate threat to WWF, just because I know how the story ends. Though Vince initially tried to say that WWF shows were "cleaner" or more child/family friendly than WCW's, he eventually began fighting the ratings war by going darker and more sadistic. He went from an almost believable sporting event to a real life horror show. His reasoning—that his wrestling had to compete not only with Turner's wrestling, but also with popular prime time television shows—seems valid, although I don't think I would have been a fan during that time. Whereas pre-taped dramas can use CGI and animation to provide (fake) realistic gore, wrestling is live, with no way to edit in some fake injuries. Knowing that people were actually getting hurt would make it painful for me to watch. We watched the Undertaker-Mankind Hell in a Cell match last week, and it was legitimately hard for me to watch. If wrestling looked like that every week, I don't think I would continue to tune in.
On November 7, 1996, the WWF aired a disturbing event that was planned between Brian Pillman and Stone Cold Steve Austin that implied that Pillman shot Austin in the chest with a 9mm gun. Vince would later argue that the show was no different from "police shows and cable movies," and that it was for an adult audience (why was a child's toy advertised after the clip?), and his content would continue to be dark, despite being continuously reprimanded by the network. He was, after all, competing with the likes of <i>NYPD Blue, Homicide, Cops</i>, and <i>Law & Order</i>. The path that wrestling was on would either bring it to the forefront of mainstream entertainment or condemn it as too violent and vulgar for television. I look forward to reading more about how this "war" played out and how McMahon managed to come out on top.
3 comments:
There definitely was a sense of both sides trying to one-up the other, whether it be in terms of name talent, brutality, or other tricks of the trade. That said, especially around 1997-1999, the two flagship shows (Raw and Nitro) were great for fans and to a certain extent for the business. Rather than dividing the market for Raw, the competition at least for a while appeared to be growing the wrestling audience. Mainstream attention was 1980s levels.
Sidenote: I knew WCW was real competition when non-wrestling outlets stopped calling all professional wrestling "the WWF".
WWE's TV-14 "Attitude Era" was invigorating in that wrestlers quit being so cartoonish and brought an edge and unpredictability to the show that had been previously missing. That, I think, fans responded well to. But the attitude led to some pushing the envelope just for the sake of doing so, which led to injury-related issues and styles that were hard to maintain in the ring, on the one hand, and which also led to a de-emphasizing of wrestling over outlandish stunts and skits on the other. Some of it was done just to see if they could get away with it. Some of it was truly embarrassing for its fans to find themselves associated with. Some of it seemed to be Vince airing his neuroses for the world to see (as well as that of some other members of his writing crew)...
This interests me Sam. Through the films we watched during this era, we definitely see a big change in wrestling with more stunts and unpredictability, along with more cartoon type characters. In short, there is definitely less wrestling.
You mention Vince airing his neuroses, but also there was Bishoff's and Turner's neuroses showing through too, all in the cause of competition for market share. I think this led to the change in framing of wrestling to the stunts and unpredictability, and a move more away from wrestling itself.
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