Is Wrestling Really Child's Play?

[Gillberg: 0-175]

I wanted to post a long topic describing how wrestling is nothing more than a kid's show, but I'm not up for it.

But lately I've been feeling like I really don't belong in pro-wrestling anymore. Like I outgrew it. Vince shouting at the little kids last week just cemented my thoughts. Has wrestling always been geared towards kids? I didn't think so during the Austin Era, when I became a fan. But before that, it seems like wrestling's always been for kids, at least in the WWE. So I think I'm too old to enjoy it. I don't find any of it appealing anymore. None of the jokes. None of the characters, none of the matches. Did I outgrow wrestling? Wrestling seems like the most awesome faux-sport there is. Ideally, it takes the awesomeness of a scripted movie fight sequence, and puts it into (semi) reality, then repeats 6-7 times a card. It's all the satisfaction of an intense MMA fight EVERY SINGLE TIME! To me, I see it as a perfect male drama because men like violence, but it's also very humane in that it's fake. It's the best of two worlds, IMO.

Until I watch WWE and see that it's nothing more than a show that should be sandwiched in between Spongebob and Drake and Josh.

[Sajoa Moe]

Ask Rick Steiner.

[r.]

actually wrestling in the begining was geared towards a much older male audience, then during the 80's it was retooled to appeal to childeren, then vince(in one of the few smart moves he's done) saw that those kids grew up and wanted something more edgey and believable and we got the glory that was the attitude era, then for some unknown reason vince assumed those same people did'nt care about rasslin any more and surely no one would notice if he just plugged 1980 back in agian.

[Deleted]

I think it's a mix.

Yeah, it's mostly centered around children, but there are some characters and storylines that are there for the older people. For example, I don't think many young children had much interest in Edge and Lita's live sex celebration.

[Bo Rida]

The stupid thing is wrestling should be one of the few shows to appeal to all age groups.

Of course you can have promotions targeting specific segments of the audience (eg ECW & ROH) but a company like WWE should be able to directly appeal to everybody watching 75% of the time and still be tolerated for the remainder.
The key is not to alienate any group.

However when there's things like the diva search, barbed wire cage matches and live sex celebrations on the same show as Hornswaggle running though walls you're going to end up with large amounts of people being dissatisfied.
The weird thing is most kids prefer the more edgy parts whereas the adults think it's gratuitous or pointless.

If you look at Pixar movies they appeal to kids for the slapstick action and dumb humor but still appeal to adults with more mature themes and subtle jokes that go over kids heads.

So in conclusion WWE aim a lot towards kids but make the shows inappropriate for them, however they alienate the viewers with toned down characters such as Cena who sell t-shirts to the kids.

[AriadosMan]

sidesalad said:

The stupid thing is wrestling should be one of the few shows to appeal to all age groups.

Of course you can have promotions targeting specific segments of the audience (eg ECW & ROH) but a company like WWE should be able to directly appeal to everybody watching 75% of the time and still be tolerated for the remainder.
The key is not to alienate any group.

However when there's things like the diva search, barbed wire cage matches and live sex celebrations on the same show as Hornswaggle running though walls you're going to end up with large amounts of people being dissatisfied.
The weird thing is most kids prefer the more edgy parts whereas the adults think it's gratuitous or pointless.

If you look at Pixar movies they appeal to kids for the slapstick action and dumb humor but still appeal to adults with more mature themes and subtle jokes that go over kids heads.

So in conclusion WWE aim a lot towards kids but make the shows inappropriate for them, however they alienate the viewers with toned down characters such as Cena who sell t-shirts to the

QFT, but I've never seen Pixar pander to little kids in a really stupid way like the Hornswoggle stuff has become. Pixar usually has class and intelligence (at least Ratatouille did).

You can have a character who is popular with little kids and older audiences. The Rock is a good example, I saw little kids with Rock T-shirts during the Attitude Era all the time. I wish McMahon would make more of an effort to keep his existing fans and not try to turn Cena into the next Hogan, because it will never work out.

[Lenny: Smooth like Keith Stone]

evrbody said:

Ask Rick Steiner.

LOL... it took me a few minutes, but I finally got this joke. I almost didn't get it, in which case my Crapper membership would have been revoked.

Anyway yeah, I think WWE is trying to appeal to a younger crowd nowadays. I think they still want the horny teenage demographic hence all the fake boobied girls bouncing around, but stuff like Hornswoggle seems to target kids who like to watch "lovable" characters.

[Joekishi]

It's homo-erotic.

It really is very gay, i mean they are half naked most of the time, in impeccable shape, and are doing theatre essentially.

How is pro wrestling not gay?

Oh I've always watched it as a kid's show. Like GI:JOE definitely, or Carebears...See the Raw Roster is the Regular Carebears, while Smackdown/ECW are the Carebear cousins.

I wouldn't really call Cena toned down. He says ass and insinuates that his opponent is gay

[Back to being Cenanuff]

It's serious business. Just ask Big Daddy V.

[Reverend BTY]

I generally Drake and Josh....

[bubbles]

am90 said:

I don't think many young children had much interest in Edge and Lita's live sex celebration.

I sure as hell would have when I was younger.

[Deleted]

vincerussoisgod said:

I generally Drake and Josh....

.
.
.

FAIL

[Reverend BTY]

awataurne said:

vincerussoisgod said:

I generally Drake and Josh....

.
.
.

FAIL

Agreed. What I meant to say was....

I generally ENJOY Drake and Josh

[The Ichi]

evrbody said:

Ask Rick Steiner.

Best.Post.Ever!

[Real Folk Bruce]

Attitude Era believable? The fact that security hasn't blast Austin dead over all the time he's beaten up Mcmahon, or how Triple H's opponents heads never crack open after a sledgehammer shot, or how Undertaker can crucify(Uh... I mean strap to a symbol) Austin on live TV and not get arrested all baffle me to this day.

However way you look at it, WWE has ALWAYS been geared toward
kids. Who do you think all the action figures and lunch boxes are aimed towards? Regardless of how racy current wrestling is ,kids have always been shown in the crowds(Heck,even in ECW their were kids in the crowd),and buying the t-shirts and playing the video games,and impersonating wrestlers.Whether you like to admit it or not, they are the one demographic that never leaves.


Although I miss having everyone from the kids to the grandparents
watching and eating microwave popcorn,I'll take the current wrestling product over no wrestling at all.

[Gillberg: 0-175]

6volt said:

Attitude Era believable? The fact that security hasn't blast Austin dead over all the time he's beaten up Mcmahon, or how Triple H's opponents heads never crack open after a sledgehammer shot, or how Undertaker can crucify(Uh... I mean strap to a symbol) Austin on live TV and not get arrested all baffle me to this day.

However way you look at it, WWE has ALWAYS been geared toward
kids. Who do you think all the action figures and lunch boxes are aimed towards? Regardless of how racy current wrestling is ,kids have always been shown in the crowds(Heck,even in ECW their were kids in the crowd),and buying the t-shirts and playing the video games,and impersonating wrestlers.Whether you like to admit it or not, they are the one demographic that never leaves.


Although I miss having everyone from the kids to the grandparents
watching and eating microwave popcorn,I'll take the current wrestling product over no wrestling at all.

I think maybe I didn't come off as well as I should have when I meant realistic. Sure, a lot of those scenarios are over-the-top, but they are damn interesting and have real feeling attached to them. We all knew wrestling was fake in 1998, but you would have marks shout til they were blue in the face saying it's real because of the emotion that poured out of that product. It completely tarnished the stereotype of what professional wrestling is. It turned it from a carny act into compelling television. Now I feel like wrestling is back to that old mold...kinda like the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he wrestles. I kind of feel like that cartoon is a real world representation of how society views professional wrestling. And I'm becomming one of them.

[Real Folk Bruce]

doinksdoodoo said:

6volt said:

Attitude Era believable? The fact that security hasn't blast Austin dead over all the time he's beaten up Mcmahon, or how Triple H's opponents heads never crack open after a sledgehammer shot, or how Undertaker can crucify(Uh... I mean strap to a symbol) Austin on live TV and not get arrested all baffle me to this day.

However way you look at it, WWE has ALWAYS been geared toward
kids. Who do you think all the action figures and lunch boxes are aimed towards? Regardless of how racy current wrestling is ,kids have always been shown in the crowds(Heck,even in ECW their were kids in the crowd),and buying the t-shirts and playing the video games,and impersonating wrestlers.Whether you like to admit it or not, they are the one demographic that never leaves.


Although I miss having everyone from the kids to the grandparents
watching and eating microwave popcorn,I'll take the current wrestling product over no wrestling at all.

I think maybe I didn't come off as well as I should have when I meant realistic. Sure, a lot of those scenarios are over-the-top, but they are damn interesting and have real feeling attached to them. We all knew wrestling was fake in 1998, but you would have marks shout til they were blue in the face saying it's real because of the emotion that poured out of that product. It completely tarnished the stereotype of what professional wrestling is. It turned it from a carny act into compelling television. Now I feel like wrestling is back to that old mold...kinda like the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he wrestles. I kind of feel like that cartoon is a real world representation of how society views professional wrestling. And I'm becomming one of them.

Yes,their was lots of emotion coming from the product and from the
fans,which makes wrestling sad to watch now,because you'll never
see crowds go as nuts over the wrestlers and the product as they
did ten years ago.

I have no problem with late 90s wrestling.I was a big fan of the nWo, Sting, Dallas Page,Goldberg,The Rock,Mick Foley and many others. Unlike nowadays,their was plenty of wrestling to go around, and almost everyone had an individual favorite. I just didn't care for the over the top stories and the lame humor(Puppies!Austins middle finger,DXs pseudo gay antics,etc.)

[saggyboyflair]

Well I think I part of it how vince went from appealing to the young demographic of small kids to the older teenage-young adults who wanted to see beer drinking and hell yea!! Now he is targeting kids again. For the most part without all the naked blow up dolls on the roster flashing their boobs. Vince is always appealing to someone different. Now I guess he is appearling to the families involved in incest. If you watched the rock n wrestling era where some of the storylines and characters were a little goofy but there were some great great matches and storylines mixed along with the superheroes it was a pretty good balance I thought.

Then they went with really kiddish characters in the early 90s which was ok if you were a kid. To the attitude era, but now u have a mix of some attitude with some ridiculous goofy storylines and vince trying to recreate hulk hogan, its easy to find the current wwe pretty lame.

[MCMGM]

evrbody said:

Ask Rick Steiner.

Damn it.

[Loki]

It turned it from a carny act into compelling television

SUre he did, but it became compelling television the moment they toned the wrestling down to focus on a half soap/half action flick style. Wrestling was almost an afterthought in the Austin v McMahon feud, and even in more "wrestling oriented" programs it was a run-in/interference fest, more like a bar brawl off a Chuck Norris film.

IMO wrestling has ALWAYS been kids oriented. Just the kids of the 80s were treated to a SUperhero/comics style, accordingly to the social trend, while 90s kids and young adults got a raunchy and pseudo-rebellious act instead. Once again fitting the trend.
00s have been a grey area in social trends, so WWE are struggling to ride a new fad, and are mixing both styles hoping to hit the jackpot.