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Post by ben:friendship frog on Mar 30, 2015 10:31:00 GMT -5
Long seems the days of carny folk and being looked down on, you have Seth on NBC today (granted that's nothing new), but have wrestling highlights ever been covered on SportsCenter before with the presenter hyping it up and saying "THAT WAS AWESOME!" ?
There seems to be a shift, does that mean all us wrestling fans can emerge from under our bridges soon?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 10:32:33 GMT -5
If WWE would notice that wrestling is nerdy like comics and stop mocking said nerds, waaay more money will be made.
Irony being Bryan is the top man for that demographic.
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Post by Famous Rocking Chimes on Mar 30, 2015 10:32:54 GMT -5
You see the likes of Orton's RKO on SportBible and LadBible all the time on Facebook and Twitter all the time so it's not like wrestling's been under a rock since the Attitude era.
It's certainly improved from around the time of the Benoit murders.
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Post by Zombie Mod is not a ghoul. on Mar 30, 2015 10:32:57 GMT -5
nope
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Post by Slingshot Suplay on Mar 30, 2015 10:36:26 GMT -5
No, they have connections within ESPN and certain talk shows because the hosts might be fans, but they're still not mainstream and accepted as they were in the 80's or the late 90's-2000's.
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Post by joeiscool on Mar 30, 2015 10:37:57 GMT -5
lol when was wrestling not accepted?
Ever since the days of Hulk Hogan wrestling was all over the place.
However what we are seeing is the WWE becoming the NFL of professional wrestling.
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Perd
Patti Mayonnaise
Leslie needs to butt out for fear of receiving The Bunghole Buster
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Post by Perd on Mar 30, 2015 10:38:33 GMT -5
I went to chicagosporte.com. Which is the Chicago Tribune's sports site, I was looking for the latest Cubs and Bears news, and they had an article about Seth winning the title. I've visited that site regularly, for years, and have never seen an article about wrestling.
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mizerable
Fry's dog Seymour
You're the lowest on the totem pole here, Alva. The lowest.
Posts: 23,475
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Post by mizerable on Mar 30, 2015 10:41:54 GMT -5
The only way it's accepted is when it's as popular as it once was. Certainly, media groups can play along or not mock wrestling the way they once did, but it doesn't mean a lot if people aren't watching.
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domrep
Hank Scorpio
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Post by domrep on Mar 30, 2015 10:43:37 GMT -5
Have ESPN cover Extreme Rules and then come talk to me. They used Rousey and Brock to a certain extent for that UFC tie-in, which ESPN does cover.
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Post by Urfarkendarf on Mar 30, 2015 10:46:22 GMT -5
Wrestling will ALWAYS be niche, just like comics. Aspects of both can cross into the mainstream. Its not a secret that its a worked sport, but the fact is now that the WWE and more specifically Mania, is such a behemoth its impossible to ignore. Mania is that much bigger even just 10 years later. Cities are bidding on it like the Super Bowl. It's never going to be taken "seriously", but as long as they skirt the line by having legitimate athletes and celebrities involved (i.e. Brock & Rock) there's going to be a certain amount of interest from the general sports and entertainment media. Mania is an aberration.
I don't think their exposure on ESPN this past week/weekend is a big surprise. It's the companies biggest week of the year and WWE push the hell out of their biggest stars. Rock hosted SNL this weekend specifically b/c of Mania, regardless of the fact that he has a new movie out shortly. ESPN have two former employees in on-air roles and obviously Beadle is gaga for it, add to that Brock is a former UFC champ who made a huge announcement on their channel, they were going to pay attention because of Mania. Mania is the big deal here. You're not going to see articles about Extreme Rules or Hell in a Cell unless something extraordinary occurs.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Mar 30, 2015 10:47:34 GMT -5
Correction: sports entertainment.
Sincerely,
Vince McMahon
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Pushed to the Moon
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Tony Schiavone in Disguise
Working myself into a shoot
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Post by Pushed to the Moon on Mar 30, 2015 10:48:38 GMT -5
If WWE would notice that wrestling is nerdy like comics and stop mocking said nerds, waaay more money will be made. Irony being Bryan is the top man for that demographic. I agree. They need to start embracing their niche-factor and appeal to the weirdos who like it instead of begging for acceptance from the mainstream.
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Post by kingofthings on Mar 30, 2015 10:52:20 GMT -5
I don't really follow any other newspapers, etc. so I'm not sure about their coverage as well, but here in the UK it was honestly surprising to see The Independent posting three separate news items about Wrestlemania last night/this morning.
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domrep
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 7,461
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Post by domrep on Mar 30, 2015 10:56:44 GMT -5
Wrestling will ALWAYS be niche, just like comics. Aspects of both can cross into the mainstream. Its not a secret that its a worked sport, but the fact is now that the WWE and more specifically Mania, is such a behemoth its impossible to ignore. Mania is that much bigger even just 10 years later. Cities are bidding on it like the Super Bowl. It's never going to be taken "seriously", but as long as they skirt the line by having legitimate athletes and celebrities involved (i.e. Brock & Rock) there's going to be a certain amount of interest from the general sports and entertainment media. Mania is an aberration. I don't think their exposure on ESPN this past week/weekend is a big surprise. It's the companies biggest week of the year and WWE push the hell out of their biggest stars. Rock hosted SNL this weekend specifically b/c of Mania, regardless of the fact that he has a new movie out shortly. ESPN have two former employees in on-air roles and obviously Beadle is gaga for it, add to that Brock is a former UFC champ who made a huge announcement on their channel, they were going to pay attention because of Mania. Mania is the big deal here. You're not going to see articles about Extreme Rules or Hell in a Cell unless something extraordinary occurs. And that's the rub, let's pay attention to WWE once a year and ignore it for the other 364 days.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 10:59:31 GMT -5
I think it just feels that way because of the WM promotion machine that's been in full gear lately.
It always seems to happen around WM where a lot of sites that don't normally cover wrestling have articles and videos and such about it. Seems like its less "wrestling is being accepted" and more "easy way to target wrestling fans for your site, show, etc"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 11:07:29 GMT -5
Wrestling is a lot more accepted than most people probably think.
When Skyrim was released in 2011, I don't remember Anderson Cooper making "Arrow to the Knee" jokes on CNN or M'aiq the Liar shilling pizzas for Papa John's. Does that mean that Skyrim wasn't a huge commercial success and hasn't been a major fixture of pop culture? Of course not. It was all over the internet. It still is, to a lesser extent, but that's not what's important here: what is important is the fact that it was something that was accepted pretty widely despite not being a fixture in every media sphere.
With wrestling, it works pretty much the same way.
Wrestlers as a whole (there are exceptions, here) might not be marketing icons like professional athletes and might not be the buzz of news like A-list celebrities, and major news outlets might not focus extensively on pro wrestling, but that does not mean that wrestling isn't a big deal. Monday Night Raw is a ratings juggernaut with enviable consistency. I see people wearing wrestling shirts all the time. The WWE games are pretty big releases. WWE is ubiquitous on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I don't think these would be true if wrestling wasn't accepted by a great deal of people.
It's just that it's been accepted for so long and the Benoit murders are so far behind that major media outlets are finally starting to acknowledge it again.
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Post by eJm on Mar 30, 2015 11:25:29 GMT -5
I don't really follow any other newspapers, etc. so I'm not sure about their coverage as well, but here in the UK it was honestly surprising to see The Independent posting three separate news items about Wrestlemania last night/this morning. The Independent pretty much started covering wrestling from (and I think I have this right) just before Survivor Series for basically no real rhyme or reason. Don't remember if they covered Bryan's win but they certainly covered Sting's WWE debut and such. I wouldn't even know how long it'd take someone at a major newspaper to get to a position where they can just go 'Hey, can I goof off and write about this whole pro wrestling thing?' unless you were someone like The Sun and could use the excuse of it being in the same umbrella/demographic as Sky. It's weird. I think Art Ruth has a point in that it's accepted more than people think it is because people in the media see it the same way as most would see things like comic book TV shows/movies and video games. They're popular and cover a lot of demographics and people are charmed by its goofiness and amazing moments. It's not like Attitude Era popular but people reference it and others understand them. Heck, it gives a better image of wrestling when people like Jon Stewart and Michelle Beadle are seen as fans.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2015 11:31:11 GMT -5
It's better than anything pre-2012 that's for sure. We will see what happens.
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Post by wallabylikeyou on Mar 30, 2015 11:35:49 GMT -5
People were asking this last year when sports fans were YESsing and the Rumble reaction made the news. Sure the year before that everybody was talking about Fandangoing.
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Dang!
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Dang! on Mar 30, 2015 11:40:38 GMT -5
Nope. It's not as mainstream as it was in the nWo days and it's still looked upon as "fake and gay" by the people who always have been regarding it as such.
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