How did WWF survive?

[Boo!]

So from 1991 onwards you had the steroid issue and the subsequent indictment and allegations that this product, primarily marketed towards children, was full of drug users/pushers with the practically everyone who anyone had heard of being accused including the faces of the company and the owner. This alone may have been enough to bury any company.

Then you had the fact that because of the above a lot of top stars were leaving including the big draw - Hogan who after WM8 made just two further in-ring appearances on television (discounting house shows, shows tape for Colosseum Home Video etc) the loss of star power alone could have been enough to bring it down, especially in conjuncture with the above.

But the biggest thing it survived had to have been the child-sex allegations. We've seen subsequently how organisations otherwise considered unshakable such as the BBC almost blown apart when allegations emerged that their employees had, many years ago, sexually abused children. WWE had all of the above to contend with, this and also the other sexual abuses at a time when homosexuality had a huge social stigma and ignorant assumptions based on gay people's interest in children.

How the Roddy Piper did they ever survive. It's remarkable they didn't collapse under the combined weight of these scandals.

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

The fans. And keeping a tight budget.

No matter what happens, the fans will always be there to some extent.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Wait...WHAT child-sex allegations? I actually cannot bring to mind any from that time period discounting the ridiculous Savage/Stephanie malarkey.

[jmule]

Oct 22, 2014 12:40:26 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Wait...WHAT child-sex allegations? I actually cannot bring to mind any from that time period discounting the ridiculous Savage/Stephanie malarkey.

I think they're talking about the patterson/ringboy stories

[mizerable]

Actually, I believe it's regarding ring announcer Mel Phillips. WWF was made it their effort to erase him from their records.

Patterson likely had absolutely nothing to do with it, and was just roped in there because of his homosexual background. Phillips on the other hand had many instances of sexual abuse. Terry Garvin may have also been involved.

[Tiger Millionaire]

[Deleted]

Because my father, Vincent Kennedy McMahon had the courage to stand up and fight the unjust and untrue allegations and do what he does best, entertain the fans. As a family we proved that we are stronger than any and all that want to try to discredit and destroy all that we've worked for. We're McMahon's dammit!

[MC Blowfish]

I remember when that happened. I swore at the time that they were talking about Ronnie Garvin. Didn't they lose an announcer over this as well?

[Boo!]

Mel Phillips was involved, the ring announcer. He had a thing for feet apparently. Only kids feet so he must have had a problem with laces, preferring the Velcro set-up they have on theirs.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 15:59:13 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Mel Phillips was involved, the ring announcer. He had a thing for feet apparently. Only kids feet so he must have had a problem with laces, preferring the Velcro set-up they have on theirs.

Oh crap, once he's old enough to be put into a home, the other old men better look out. This dudes gonna be in Velcro heaven.

[Deleted]

Did we stop watching after Vince McMahon told us that it was "entertainment"?

Did we stop watching after Owen Hart fell to his death on live television?

Did we stop watching after Chris Benoit killed his wife and baby?

This is the first I've even heard of the child sex scandal, and when the steroid trials were happening I was too young to understand or care, as was the majority of the WWE audience.

There's your answer.

It stayed alive because no one stopped watching it.

[Dean-o]

Before the Internet and not being a publicly traded company certainly helped all those scandals be swept under the rug too.

[wildojinx]

They also did plenty of overseas tours as well, not to mention working with USWA and SMW, which helped expand their audience in the South (while WWF had long since gone national by this point, the south was still dominated by WCW and the aforementioned USWA and SMW, albiet with a small but loyal audience).

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Expansion into Europe. While the steroid allegations against guys like Hulk Hogan were fairly well known, the sex ones weren't so they weren't a factor that damaged their growth overseas. They also cut costs, pretty much everyone making a big wage from the 80s vanished within a relatively short period of time and they teamed up with SMW, ECW and Memphis to make them look like they had a bigger roster than they did.

[Hit Girl]

Honestly as someone who was a kid back then, I had no idea there was even a steroid/sex scandal. Where exactly would I have found out about such things? The internet wasn't around. I was unaware that dirtsheets existed. My enjoyment of WWE never abated until about late 1992, and that's only because I didn't have Sky TV for a few years. Once I got it back in 1996, I was right back into fandom.

[MC Blowfish]

I remember seeing something about it on some late night tabloid show. I did read Inside Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Illustrated and they may have spoken about it.

[Lupin the Third]

Don't forget that 12 years ago, Vince tried to kill his own creation. He tried to INJECT the WWF with a LETHAL dose of POISON. He would do it! Him.....


And the n.....W......o.

[jimmyjames]

Oct 23, 2014 8:35:38 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Honestly as someone who was a kid back then, I had no idea there was even a steroid/sex scandal. Where exactly would I have found out about such things? The internet wasn't around. I was unaware that dirtsheets existed. My enjoyment of WWE never abated until about late 1992, and that's only because I didn't have Sky TV for a few years. Once I got it back in 1996, I was right back into fandom.

It might not have been big in England, but in the US it was pretty big news. I didn't watch any wrestling what so ever at the time, and I knew all about it, because it was on the regular news and entertainment news shows.

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

Oct 23, 2014 8:35:38 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Honestly as someone who was a kid back then, I had no idea there was even a steroid/sex scandal. Where exactly would I have found out about such things? The internet wasn't around. I was unaware that dirtsheets existed. My enjoyment of WWE never abated until about late 1992, and that's only because I didn't have Sky TV for a few years. Once I got it back in 1996, I was right back into fandom.

I while I am sure Meltzer reported it in his publication, the Zahorian' trial, the sex allegations and Vince's own trial made national news headlines in in the mainstream media in the US. I remember seeing Vince on both Larry King Kive and Phil Donahue's show debating (and, let's be frank, bullying) Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham about those controversies. This was right around the buildup to Wrstlemania 8. Since there was no Hogan/Flair main event, I actually found Vince's news appearances more entertaining than his wrestling shows at the time!

[RowdyRobbyPiper]

The infamous Donahue appearance.

youtu.be/cPTCRnBEUJM