Hardtime #82: Trend Breakers, Part One
Submitted by RIPbossman on Monday, July 24, 2006 at 12:05 AM EST





Hardtime #82: Trend Breakers, Part One

Hello everyone, RIPbossman here with another column. This time it’s brand new, never before read by anyone. What you are about to read is part one of a two part series that investigates possible theories as to why the WWE ratings have dropped off over the years. I understand that the ratings have risen slightly over the last couple of years, but wrestling is nowhere close to being as popular today as it was during the late nineties/early 00’s. I’m going to present possible arguments as to why this has occurred.

Also, in the past I’ve been accused of being too serious of a writer, and that I need to lighten up a little with my writing. In this column, I have thrown in a few jokes here and there, and considering that it’s something new for me, let me know what you think of them and how it benefits or hurts the writing.

If you have any feedback for this column, you may send it to david12345575@yahoo.com I enjoy interacting with my readers, and I promise to respond to each and every piece of feedback that I get.

Without further adieu, on with the column…

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About six years ago, it was not uncommon to walk down the street and see people wearing t-shirts that read “Austin 3:16” or “Degeneration X”. Yes, wrestling was everywhere in the late nineties and the early 00’s. Teenagers would commonly spout off popular wrestling catch phrases such as “Suck it!” or “If ya’ smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell what the Rock is cookin’!”. (Stuff that I commonly found to be annoying) But in today’s society, if you happen to see someone wearing a t-shirt that reads “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect” outside of attending a wrestling show, your eyes pop out and you think to yourself “Hey, look at that, someone else who actually watches wrestling in this day and age.” Any time you see someone walking down the street wearing Word Life knucks, you think to yourself… well let’s just say you don’t think positive thoughts about the person. But back on topic, it’s no secret that professional wrestling’s popularity has dropped off significantly over the last five years or so. The days where you could be a professional wrestling fan and not get made fun of for it are long gone, at least for now. I personally know better than to tell most people that I like to watch a bunch of sweaty men rolling around in their underwear trying to pin each other to the mat. It just doesn’t sound right to most people, but believe it or not, it used to be the rage among teenagers and younger adults not all that long ago.. Considering that wrestling used to be such a huge trend to follow, that begs the question, just what exactly happened to the popularity of World Wrestling Entertainment?

In this two part series, I will investigate some possible reasons as to why WWE’s (And when I say WWE, I consider it to be synonymous with wrestling in general, because I don’t feel that TNA, ROH, CZW, or any other wrestling company is big enough to help set trends in this day and age) popularity has gone down considerably. Why is it that WWE’s ratings used to normally be around the 7.0 mark during the Attitude Era, but in today’s “Power Is Back” era, the ratings are generally around the 4.0 mark, meaning they have dropped off significantly over the years? Why is it that wrestling merchandise used to be one of the hottest selling forms of merchandise, but when you look at the merchandise sales of today, wrestling paraphernalia does not sell nearly as well as it used to? So many people decided to buy a damn can that said “Whoop Ass” on it, but not nearly as many people are buying Carlito’s snickering apple t-shirt. I know that this may be an outdated topic, considering that the ratings have slightly risen over recent time, but when you think about it, they are no where close to where they used to be. Doesn’t it make you wonder just what the hell happened?

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that in today’s wrestling scene, there is no one huge mega star as popular as Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock. Maybe it all has to do with the fact that there is no one huge star for people to cheer on wildly and care about on such a high level. I understand that WWE does have it’s fair share of big name stars. But let’s face it, no one in WWE right now can really be considered a mega star (and when I say “mega star” I mean being as popular as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, or Hulk Hogan in their primes.) Batista is probably the most popular regular face that WWE has right now (I’m not counting Hulk Hogan, because he is not a regular participant in WWE activities), and The Animal is no where close to being the next Steve Austin. For some reason, “Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass “ seems to be catchier than “You talking to me?”

This theory can be compared to going to see a concert. Normally at a concert at a large venue there are two bands that play: one that is called the headliner, and another that is called the opener. The headliner is usually more popular than the opener, (unless it’s Bruce Springsteen…right Jules? J) and thus, everyone who comes in to see the concert is mainly coming in to see the headliner band. But in return for playing before the headliner band, the first band will receive a portion of money from the ticket sales and will probably see a rise in popularity from touring with the headliner. But if the first band was playing by themselves without the headliner band there, they would probably see a drop in ticket sales. This analogy is not one hundred percent perfect, but I think you get the idea. The success from the headliners will trickle down to the opener, which is the idea I’m trying to get across in this theory.

In the 80’s, World Wrestling Entertainment saw it’s first ever golden age. Merchandise was moving very well, the ratings were up, and people were not afraid to come out and admit that they were wrestling fans. And who was at the leader of this new found wrestling revolution? Arguably the most charismatic superstar WWE has ever seen, (and one of the most political bastards the industry has ever seen) The Immortal Hulk Hogan. Once Hogan left the WWE, business didn’t drop off too far, considering that guys like Ric Flair, Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage, guys that in my opinion gained popularity from the fan base that Hogan had a very large part in creating, were in the main event scene. Just as the opening band will gain popularity from the headliner, this is how wrestlers like the ones I mentioned gained popularity from Hulk Hogan’s presence.

But when the WWE Title was put on Bret Hart, things went to hell for WWE. Bret Hart was brand new to the main event fold, and because he wasn’t a main eventer before he won the title, it was difficult t for him to get the “headliner” rub, considering that he did not get a chance to interact with any of the big main event stars before facing Ric Flair. I have a great deal of respect for Bret Hart, but I have to admit he’s not a mega star in this industry. When Hogan won the belt back at Wrestlemania 9, he wasn’t around long enough to make an impact while he was back on top in WWE. When the belt was put on Diesel, Shawn Michaels, and The Undertaker (I’m only counting baby faces, because I feel only faces are able to reach the level of being a mega star in this industry. I’ve never seen a heel do it, except for possibly Hulk Hogan in WCW, but even then he was running off of his reputation as being a mega face in the past.) The ratings and popularity of WWE continued to be nowhere close to where they were in the 80’s.

Enter Stone Cold Steve Austin. Once Austin won the title and was officially the WWE’s top man for the product, the WWE began to steam roll. I’m not saying that the World Champion is always going to be the top guy in the company, but most times the top main eventer is either holding the title, or chasing the title, and he can only chase the title for so long before he wins it and holds it for an extended period of time. Back on topic now, once Austin left the WWE due to injury back in 1999, The Rock had arguably became more popular than Austin, and became the mega face to carry WWE. When Austin came back from injury, The Rock and Austin basically shared the top spot in the company. But then when The Rock left to film a movie and arguably never really came back, and when Austin turned heel, it was as if there was no mega star face to look up to. A guy like Test just wasn’t cutting it. The heel Austin was not nearly the same character that helped WWE take on it’s meteoric rise in popularity, so it’s as if the old Stone Cold wasn’t there at all. A good argument can be made that when he Rock came back, he had lost a lot of his drawing power, so it’s as if The People’s Champ of old wasn’t there anymore, either.

What’s the point of all of this? This shows a pattern in the popularity of WWE. During the 80’s there was a big mega star for fans to look up to in Hulk Hogan. And not coincidentally, the WWE’s popularity was on the rise. When Hogan left and there were no mega stars to look up to, the ratings went down and WWE’s fan base became considerably smaller. When Stone Cold and The Rock came in, WWE steamrolled it’s way to being a very popular company. When Stone Cold turned heel and The Rock started to take leaf of absences to film movies, they both lost a lot of their drawing power, and not coincidentally again, the WWE ratings began to go down, eventually bringing them to about where they are today. See the pattern? When a mega star is present, popularity is up. When a mega star is not present, the best ratings can be is average.

Perhaps this is the reason that WWE and professional wrestling’s ratings as a whole are no where close to where they were in late nineties/early 00’s. Maybe it is all due to the fact that a mega star like Steve Austin is needed to keep the WWE extremely popular like it has been in the past. Maybe this is completely responsible for it, or maybe it’s just one of many factors that go into it. Or maybe it has nothing to do with it at all, and another possible factor or another possible single explanation comes into play. Perhaps it is all due to how when the Invasion storylines began, a lot of fans got turned off to the product, and there was no real major reason for the fans to come back. Could this possibly be the real reason that we’re looking for? How about we all take a closer look at the matter, shall we?

In order to explain this theory, let me first discuss a little analogy that I came up with. Take for instance the show Happy Days. Happy Days was a very popular show in it’s day, and for a while it was watched by many people. However, as most people know, the show jumped the shark in an episode where The Fonz literally jumped over a shark with water skis. After this episode, the show began to lose characters and went in a worse direction creatively. Due to this, the show began to become less and less popular. However, it was very difficult to bring back many of the viewers that they lost, because in my opinion (I was not around to watch Happy Days on prime time television, but I have caught reruns of it) the show had improved creatively as time went on (the episodes became interesting again) but they were not overly interesting like they used to be. The viewers who were turned off by the product needed something big to make them come back, and while the shows were interesting, they were not as interesting as they used to be, and thus there was no big reason for them to come back to the show.

This is what has happened with World Wrestling Entertainment. Just like the beginning of Happy Days, the Attitude Era drew in many, many fans, because it appealed to many people in a big way. The whole Austin vs. McMahon storyline was incredible to watch, as was Triple H in what many consider to be his prime. The Undertaker changing into the American Bad Ass helped ratings, as did The Rock being so damn awesome on the microphone. Billy Gunn was just… ok, well they weren’t all good times, or “Happy Days” if you would. There are a number of other reasons why the WWE was so popular, but my point is simply that it was very popular back then. Then when the Invasion storyline came in, the WWE main event scene gradually started to revolve around one storyline. That storyline could make or break the WWE, and due to the fact that it was done improperly, it broke the WWE. Basically, the introduction of the Invasion storyline is where WWE jumped the shark, in that the product got considerably worse and many viewers were lost.

Don’t get me wrong, the product has gotten better since then, just as Happy Days got better towards the very end, at least in my opinion. However, the WWE fans who left the product need something big to pull them back in. Triple H, as good as he is, wasn’t a big enough reason to draw fans back in. Neither was a Chris Benoit title reign, or a JBL title reign for that matter. Even though Chris Benoit is a tremendous wrestler and JBL is excellent on the microphone, they weren’t good enough to bring back fans to the WWE. Neither was John Cena or Batista during their initial title reigns. I’m a fan of both of those men, but I’ll admit they aren’t anything all THAT special when you look in retrospect at the last 20 years of professional wrestling. Edge was able to spark interest in the WWE product during his first run with the title, but not enough to get the ratings back to where they used to be. Basically, the WWE product after the Invasion storyline has been a good, solid product. But, is that a big enough reason to make fans who stopped watching after the Attitude Era come back and start watching it again? For most fans, no, it’s not.

Perhaps this is the reason why the WWE ratings have gone down considerably, and are now nowhere close to where they used to be. Maybe this is why you don’t see wrestling being as trendy today as it was in the past. Maybe it is all due to the fact that WWE, the only game in town after they bought WCW, jumped the shark with introducing the Invasion storyline, and simply hasn’t given the fans who left a good enough reason to come back. Or perhaps this is only a part of the reason why so many fans stopped watching the product, or perhaps this isn’t a reason at all. Maybe it all has to do with something that Steve Austin outlined in is autobiography as to why the ratings have diminished over time. He said that most of the WWE superstars started giving scripted promos, and stopped speaking from their heart. Could this be the reason behind the drop in popularity that wrestling has seen?

In professional wrestling history, most of the moments that really seem to be magical aren’t magical at all: they are very real. What I am referring to are the moments that make you get emotional or the moments that leave you awestruck with amazement. An example of this is when Chris Benoit won the World Title at Wrestlemania 20. He broke down and openly wept, because he was really experiencing the reality of a dream he had for his entire life. When he celebrated with Eddie Guerrero, you could tell they really loved each other and that they both were proud of the other one for being a World Champion. Another example is when Shawn Michaels won his first WWE Title at Wrestlemania 12. You could tell it really meant something to him, because he was really fulfilling a dream.

Notice a pattern here? In the wrestling industry, most of the magic moments that happen occur because there is an element of the person behind the wrestling character in them. Now using that same formula, the wrestlers who give promos from their heart are usually the ones who succeed and help make the sport popular. Not every wrestler needs to succeed like this, but it will usually work. But when you look at someone like Randy Orton, you realize that this could really be of benefit for certain wrestlers. Look at Stone Cold Steve Austin. No, he didn’t really hate his boss, but his character was basically who he really was as a person, with the volume turned all the way up. The same can be said for The Rock, Mick Foley, and even Vince McMahon. (Yes, there probably is an evil, sadistic side to good old Vinnie Mac) The characters these wrestlers portray have some very real elements to them. But after a while the WWE started using scripted promos for most of the wrestlers, and that has held them back.

There certainly has been a drop in WWE’s popularity over the last five years or so. Most people no longer wear t-shirts that sport famous wrestling slogans on them. Many fans stopped tuning in throughout the week to catch Raw and Smackdown, and many of the remaining fans have became closet wrestling fans. But why exactly has this happened? This could possibly be because there is no one huge mega star for wrestling fans to look up to and tune in to see every week. Or perhaps WWE has jumped the shark creatively, and although they’ve made improvements, they’ve given the fans who left no reason big enough for them to come back. Or maybe the real reason is because wrestlers stopped giving promos and having characters from their heart. Maybe it is a combination of all of these theories, or maybe none of them come into play. I’ll give you more theories plus my own opinion on the matter next week, but regardless of my own opinion, there’s no denying that WWE shouldn’t be considered trend setters anymore, but rather trend breakers.

To be continued…

(Once again, if you have any feedback for this column you may send it to david12345575@yahoo.com Remember, I promise to respond to everyone who sends me feedback. And if you want to send feedback, keep in mind that there is a whole other part to this series, and I did not cover everything I have set out to cover.)









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