The future is now...
REX A. JONES 857-9563
Clearly, the #1 organization remains the WWF (as far as size and depth of
talent pool goes...also recognition from the various grades of fans).
However, there is a change that is taking place due to the eventual
retirement of mainstay Hulk Hogan: He probably will be back for WM VII,
win the title back and retire. Also, Andre The Giant is reaching the end
of his career. These are two rather large holes to fill for Vince & Co.
Their main advantage is that they are the masters of the game (I think
it's fair to say that the modern version of wrestling--a.k.a. the Hogan
era--was invented by Vince and the CT boys). Another advantage is that the
WWF is a wrestling promotion with some expansion. Perhaps the only other
cloud would be if McMahon decided to sell the WWF and go into another form
of Mass Media.
The #2 organization remains the NWA. This organization is facing many
problems also. Long time champion Ric Flair appears to be at the end of
his career, and only the Road Warriors are close to nationally recognized
household names. Arn Anderson's career appears to be in question, and
apparently he was expected to help the NWA out of a mid-1989 to early 1990
downturn. Then there's Sting's knee, which may or may not be able to hold
up under the rigors of wrestling night in and night out. This organization
probably is better stocked than the WWF as far as tag-teams, but it will
be very difficult to move up based on that factor. A major hinderance to
the NWA (suprisingly) is the fact that they are owned by Ted Turner, as
part of his TurnerBroadcasting empire. Clearly, at least since the NWA was
acquired by Turner, wrestling is not even near the top of Turner's agenda.
Coupled with non-competitive contracts, inept bookings (IMHO), bad
announcers (so are the WWFs, but then again, the WWF does have Jesse), and
damage left over by the Crocketts, the NWA is at a crossroads as a viable
wrestling organization.
Then there's the AWA...which apparently will expire at the end of their
current ESPN contract. Mis-Managed by Verne Gagne, their last chance at
remaining competitive was when Jerry 'The King' Lawler was their world
champion. Apparently they were going to be part of a merging of several
organizations, and then decided to back out. *POOF* Without a creditable
champion, the AWA quickly sank out of mind, and soon will be out of sight.
The #3 organization appears to be the USWA (merger of CWA and WCCW). They
are the AWAs spurned partners. Jerry Jerrit ran the CWA as a successful
independent organization, and when WCCW almost went under, managed to gain
control of that organization. So far, the USWA has yet to really go
national. This may well be the strength of the organization. It does have
some national coverage, but does not promote outside of the old CWA/WCCW
areas. Jerry Lawler may well not be able to carry an organization
nationally, but he did fairly well as the CWA draw, and appears to be
doing fairly well for the whole USWA.
The CWF, ACW, and ICW all apparently are not currently promoting. The same
can be said of Stampede Wrestling in Canada (and apparently the attempt at
resurrecting that organization is not too healthy right now). Other local
promotions may be doing well, but are dwarfed for talent by the larger
orgnaizations.
Where does this leave pro-wrestling in the US?
I think wrestling is at the same crossroad that detoured with the
emergance of Hulk Hogan. The WWF is probably sound enough financially to
survive any downturn short of a total rejection of pro-wrestling by its
fans. The NWA and USWA are probably going to survive also, but my bet is
that the NWA will in a drastically altered form. The various local
promotions will come and go as they do today. I think that there will
finally be a single recognized national overseeing organization (WWF
probably) with its champion recognized as overall champion. There will be
one national talent pool challenging for the world titles, and the other
organizations will provide talent for the traveling cards. This is
analogous to the old NWA set-up as a loose cover organization of local
promoters. This time, I think that the national organization will be
much stronger, and will be able to maintain its overall dominance.
=================================
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"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
--Salvor Hardin
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jon...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu |One of these sigs should work.
JONESRA%AQUA....@silver.ucs.indiana.edu|This is not an official IU
jon...@iuqua.bitnet |document. This posting does
jon...@aqua.ucs.indiana.edu |not reflect the views of IU
|unless by coincidence.
Jim Riddle
In article <40...@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>, REX A. JONES 857-9563
<JONESRA%AQUA....@silver.ucs.indiana.edu> says:
>
>It's time to think of where wrestling is heading as it goes into the '90s.
>
>Clearly, the #1 organization remains the WWF (as far as size and depth of
WWF is just a poor second to the NWA. I am not concerned with all that
propaganda and promotion shit! I am concerned with wrestling ability of the
wrestlers and the fun of seeing a good "wrestling" match, not people
dressed up like clowns and embarassing themselves for some money.
That is all the WWF is the best in, waiving around huge amounts of money
to get the some of the best talent and they making them into fools!
There are many examples of this and I am sure you all know them, so maybe
the WWF is the best in family entertainment but not in wrestling!!
========= ----The one and only Chronos------------------------------
|( )| I AM THE ANTI-JEFF!!! My God what do you mean I signed
| (...) | a contract to live with Jeff?? I swear I was drunk!!!
| \:/ | Daylight come and I want to shut it off! Hey Mr.Asprin-man,
| /:\ | make the pain go way!
| (.:.) | It's 2 in the morning, the bars are closed, and your pissing
|(:::::)| on a dumpster! NOW IT'S MILLER TIME!! JMR105@PSUVM (JIMBO)
========= -version 2.2.1b2-----Words misspelled on porpoise---------
Byron C. Howes
>Clearly, the #1 organization remains the WWF (as far as size and depth of
>talent pool goes...also recognition from the various grades of fans).
Here goes the litany again. Rex, you're beginning to sound like Brother Love!
Granted the WWF heads the list in popularity and it would certainly be voted
the #1 _promotion_ on the basis of purely financial success. It would not be
voted the #1 organization by any group of smart fans or any of the kayfabe
sheets. This seems to bother you and I can't figure out why.
>However, there is a change that is taking place due to the eventual
>retirement of mainstay Hulk Hogan: He probably will be back for WM VII,
>win the title back and retire. Also, Andre The Giant is reaching the end
>of his career. These are two rather large holes to fill for Vince & Co.
They wouldn't be if Vince had significant change built into his booking.
The one weakness I've found in Vince's booking is that title changes involve
a great deal of tortuous reorganization. That he can, for whatever reason,
not have a heel champ made the Wrestlemania VI main event problematic.
There can be no long-term feud over a title and title changes cannot take
place at normal house shows (non-TV taped.) It pretty well ties his hands.
It's odd. Gene Kiniski was NWA champ for longer than Hogan has been WWF
champ. When he was beaten by Harley Race the NWA didn't miss a beat.
How come Hogan's retirement is a problem for Vince?
>Perhaps the only other
>cloud would be if McMahon decided to sell the WWF and go into another form
>of Mass Media.
If past is prologue I think he'll stick to what he knows best. "No Holds
Barred" just about made up for the money he lost on the Leonard LaLonde
fight.
>The #2 organization remains the NWA. This organization is facing many
>problems also. Long time champion Ric Flair appears to be at the end of
>his career, and only the Road Warriors are close to nationally recognized
>household names.
Agreed the NWA is facing problems. Mostly itself. The loss of Ric Flair
is not nearly as potentially devastating to the NWA as the loss of Hogan
to the WWF because while he's the centerpiece of the promotion (at the
moment) he has made himself replaceable. While he's close to the end of
his active career, like Terry Funk he's got years of commenting, managing,
and less active participation ahead of him. He's certainly a better
interview than Hogan which will hold him in good stead.
As for the Roadies, I think they've already lost their edge. The NWA
doesn't even use them as a top-card team any more. What's nationally
recognized and what is not is dependent on the promotion's publicity
machine not (sadly) on the innate ability of the wreslters.
>Arn Anderson's career appears to be in question, and
>apparently he was expected to help the NWA out of a mid-1989 to early 1990
>downturn. Then there's Sting's knee, which may or may not be able to hold
>up under the rigors of wrestling night in and night out.
Sting's knee is going to be fine. If Danny Manning can come back to basketball
with a similar injury (basketball being much harder on the knees than
professional wrestling) Sting's current rate of recovery indicates he'll
do fine. A more interesting question is to whether the NWA really wants
a guy who will refuse to do a job to get their top heel over as their
champ. I've lost considerable respect for Sting since his refusal to put
Funk over last summer.
>I think that there will
>finally be a single recognized national overseeing organization (WWF
>probably) with its champion recognized as overall champion. There will be
>one national talent pool challenging for the world titles, and the other
>organizations will provide talent for the traveling cards. This is
>analogous to the old NWA set-up as a loose cover organization of local
>promoters. This time, I think that the national organization will be
>much stronger, and will be able to maintain its overall dominance.
I don't agree. I think, if anything, house shows will become extinct.
As has been pointed out, the number of people making a living from pro-
fessional wrestling in the U.S. is probably under 200, down from 3,000
or so in the 60s. The world of professional wrestling is television
and national coverage. Who will go to a house show if they can't see
the same guys they see on TV? You can't get 500 people into a house
show run by a nontelevised promotion now.
One organization? Again not likely. Fewer titles == less draw.
Unless the WWF actually buys out the NWA and the USWA they'll retain
their own titles do do with as they please. We aren't talking about a
regulated sport, here.
--Byron
--
Byron Howes UNC Educational Computing Service
b...@uncecs.edu W: 919/549-0671 H: 919/933-2859
P.O. Box 663, Carrboro, NC 27510
"Ya talk the talk, but do ya walk the walk?" -- Animal Mother
Nicholas J. Simicich
JONESRA%AQUA....@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (REX A. JONES 857-9563)
writes:
>The CWF, ACW, and ICW all apparently are not currently promoting.
Not quite true about the ICW, although it probably should be. They
are going to have a show on Friday, April 20th, at Gleason's Gym, in
Brooklyn, NY. The usual gang of ICW incompetents, by the look of the
flyer. Personally, I wouldn't watch one of these shows if they let me
in free. I paid to see one of them once, and it was beyond trash. If
you want to appreciate the WWF's technical wrestling ability, drop in
on the ICW. The beer is cleap.
I do note that they are not promoting Paul E. Dangerously, which lends
credibility that he is on the move again, and is no longer booking the
ICW.
They advertise that this is a taping, and that the ICW Heavyweight
Belt is on the line.
--
Nick Simicich --- uunet!bywater!scifi!njs --- n...@ibm.com (Internet)
John Price
>If
>you want to appreciate the WWF's technical wrestling ability, drop in
>on the ICW. The beer is cleap.
And we all know that there's nothing worse than cleap beer! :)
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