A non-kayfabe wrestling magazine

[JMA]

Does anyone think that a wrestling magazine that doesn't follow kayfabe could be successful? I don't mean a completely smark magazine that uses inacessable jargon and harshly criticizes wrestlers all the time. I just mean a magazine that doesn't pretend wrestling isn't scripted. Granted, the Internet has made wrestling magazines FAR less important, but I think there's still a market for them. After all, it's easier to read a magazine article than an article on the Internet. In addition, the magazine can be read anywhere and be accessed easily and referred back to at any time.

Frankly, the current Apter mags are kind of embarassing. I still look at them from time to time, but I'd certainly never buy any (except for the almanac). Right now they in-between kayfabe and shoot, but they lean more towards the kayfabe side (the magazine I'm suggesting would not be in-between the two, but would instead be complete shoot made accessible to non-smarks). In addition, the "writers" (many of whom aren't real) can be quite annoying. Many of them even have characters, which is something I've never liked in wrestling magazines. (For example, "Frank Krewda" uses his articles to push a radical political agenda, while "Brandi Mankiewicz" plays the smarmy heel with the faux cult fanbase.) Sadly, there is no magazine alternative (one that covers ALL wrestling) to this line.

What does everyone think? Could this idea work or not?

[THE Dinobot]

The only thing that comes close to this was the old WOW magazine from around '99-01 that only ran for like 28 issues or so.
It would be neat to have a magazine that wasn't completely kayfabe or moronic, but perhaps they don't want to ruin the mark aspect of things for a kiddie who picks it up at the newsstand.

[Andrew is Good]

I think one reason it might be embarassing is because you're so used to non-kayfabe. It still has it's place, just like the WWE magazine. People still like to suspend disbelief, even when reading magazines like that, and they do it kayfabed enough where you can still do that.

I think it could be ok, and discuss backstage happenings and stuff. My fear is a magazine like that would look too close to one side of the spectrum, which is the "Workrate, Holly is a bully, Punk is being held down" garbage, and try to see all points of view.

[JMA]

andrewisgood said:

I think one reason it might be embarassing is because you're so used to non-kayfabe. It still has it's place, just like the WWE magazine. People still like to suspend disbelief, even when reading magazines like that, and they do it kayfabed enough where you can still do that.

Maybe. Yet who doesn't know that wrestling is scripted these days? While young children still believe, they won't read much of the articles anyway (some will, but not most). While kayfabe magazines had a use in the past, I don't see the need for them now.

I think it could be ok, and discuss backstage happenings and stuff. My fear is a magazine like that would look too close to one side of the spectrum, which is the "Workrate, Holly is a bully, Punk is being held down" garbage, and try to see all points of view.

Well, like I said, it wouldn't really be a smark mag (at least not in the way we view smarks). It would need to be accessible. Writers could discuss events and give their opinions, but most of the time they would need to be objective.

[Banned Member]

I miss WOW. I really do.

[JMA]

Did WOW treat wrestling as scripted or non-scripted? I remember reading the magazine, but not what the format was.

[tommyvercetti]

WOW was a great magazine...a great balance of non kayfabe and usually not being overly smarky either.

[Chris Decker-The Wild Rover]

see observer, Wrestling

[Tyfo]

Yeah, WOW was a good magazine. I remember when it first came out I had just started towards smark mode. So that helped the process along faster, until I got the internet about 9 months later.

[Bret Hart Rules]

In England we have 2 magazines like that. One is Power Slam which has been around for many years (I first saw it in 1996) and it doesn't follow the kayfabe ideals of say PWI. Also there is a new one called Fighting Spirit which covers wrestling and MMA and it seems to be pretty good too.

[KingPopper]

The new WWE magazine, while it does have kayfabe roots, has a really cool smark sence of humor, and since the change to a more FHM/Maxium type magazine, they have been pretty decent, and full of info too. Though the Raw magazine when it first came out in the 90's was ahead of its time.

[LARIATOOO!]

Fighting spirit is the best.

[Deleted]

In the UK, there's a magazine called Power Slam that is exactly what you described. It's pretty damn good.

[MichaelRBoh]

wow was good. what happened to it anyway? i wasn't watching or can't remember why it stopped. i guess it was wrestling not being as popular after the attitude years.

the best wrestling magazine/newsletter is figure 4 weekly because you get to read the newsletter online and hear 30 radio shows a month and all the old shows. and 5 years of old newsletters online (i personally like reading all the wackiness of the early tna days)

[Mayonnaise]

cowpee said:

wow was good. what happened to it anyway? i wasn't watching or can't remember why it stopped. i guess it was wrestling not being as popular after the attitude years.

I believe the publisher went out of business. They also made the ECW magazine and put a lot of money into it. When ECW went under, it took WOW's publisher with them.


EDIT: The weird thing is, Apter left the "Apter mags" (PWI, Inside Wrestling and the Wrestler) to go work for WOW about 6 months to a year before they went under. When WOW went under, they were bought by the former Apter mags.

[Deleted]

I subscribed to the ECW magazine, then when ECW was in its dying days, they stopped making it. They sent me 2 issues of WOW to fill out the subscription. I was in the process of moving, so I didn't re-up.

The 2001 PWI awards had a prologue talking about how one company bought their competition during the year. They didn't mean Vince buying WCW, it was the PWI people buying WOW.

[maxx420]

brethartrules said:

In England we have 2 magazines like that. One is Power Slam which has been around for many years (I first saw it in 1996) and it doesn't follow the kayfabe ideals of say PWI. Also there is a new one called Fighting Spirit which covers wrestling and MMA and it seems to be pretty good too.

Power Slam is excellent! They once published my letter about Johnny Parisi, lol.
I don't like Fighting Spirit. I just don't like that it incorporates MMA into it's magazine. I have always felt that wrestling & MMA should be kept seperate.

[Square]

I love Fighting Spirit it has a good mix between both wrestling and MMA

and that I won a DVD of them!