Could WWE tap into the female market?

[Reflecto]

WWE is all ass backward when it comes to drawing the average female market. The entire Cena/AJ story is to apparently draw women in soap-style, except the entire appeal of Cena is being single and potentially available. It's kind of the way the "Trish has a boyfriend" thing in 2006 died on the vine in the Mickie James build. People want to romanticize and fantasize about them as attainable, even though they're clearly not. And as a result (in this case) it alienates men who feel the whole thing is stupid, and women don't care. I mean, who could possibly care and want to see them together? They have less chemistry than Kristen Stewart and the sparkly vampire.

Now, on the other hand, WWE should be building up say an AJ, in the ring, as a relatable avatar for younger girls. Instead of the schitzo character they write that is increasingly unlikeable. I've always thought that girls doing amazing things in the ring could get over if produced and booked right. But instead, WWE keeps churning out the same one minute cheesecake shlock, only without the actual cheesecake.>>


You could make the argument, as my own GF has, that it's not romance that sells these days, so much as domesticating and breaking the spirit of unattainable men. From Twilight to 50 Shades, the main Arc is a seemingly unspectacular woman molding a dangerous archetype into what THEY want him to be. All the while, these male characters, never really explain what it is about these boring and flat female characters that they're actually attracted to, and go to the ends of the earth for. It's pretty much ego porn for women.

These two posts, when combined, say the actual reason WHY the Cena/AJ romance makes the most sense. At the moment, AJ is the most relatable avatar for young girls there is, which makes her the easiest Diva for any female fan to project herself onto. Because of that, exactly, AJ almost HAD TO have Cena fall in love with her, simply because of how relatable an avatar AJ is to the fan at home. Projectability is important for this- if John Cena kisses AJ, he's really kissing that female fan watching at home- which can, in theory, help them be more vested in the story.

[TCA]

Nov 23, 2012 20:03:04 GMT -5 Sam Punk said:

I don't think it's possible. Women typically aren't into pro wrestling. The ones that do go to a show, at least according to Tyler Black, are not there to see the show.

That's complete rubbish what Tyler Black said.

[Piccolo]

Nov 24, 2012 10:04:40 GMT -5 TCA said:

Nov 23, 2012 20:03:04 GMT -5 Sam Punk said:

I don't think it's possible. Women typically aren't into pro wrestling. The ones that do go to a show, at least according to Tyler Black, are not there to see the show.

That's complete rubbish what Tyler Black said.

He's clearly never heard the old maxim about how it's better to keep silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

But hey, I'm sure he knows more about women than us. Maybe Tyler Black would like to mansplain to us a little more about why we act like we do.

[Bo Rida]

The role-model kind of diva only really appeals to younger girls, it makes sense for WWE to try and hook them at a young age.

Older women (or anybody really) are highly unlikely to start to watching wrestling as adults without a push from relatives/partners.

Like anybody you can pull them in with role-models (kids), spectacle, comedy, stunts, actions etc but they'll only stay if there's a consistently good product for a decent period of time (after which they'll drift away of be hooked for life).

[carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army)]

From my experience showing my GF and female friends some wrestling (mostly Chikara and other indies), there are certain steps that would help:

1. Tone down the hard-hitting violence and replace it with showmanship. That is, the less things seem to REALLY hurt, the more my friends can get into believing that the wrestling character is hurt. (This could be a new fan thing more than just a female thing)

2. The presence of good-looking dudes (and ladies) doesn't hurt. You have to be REALLY attractive to have lots of muscle and still count as good-looking.


3. Realize that "soap-opera style storyline" doesn't mean romance necessarily, so much as it just means relationship conflict. So, all the characters should have relationships that are defined and make sense.

4. Realize that female fans are not all stupid, and won't come flocking in droves just because you had two people kiss once, or you feature a woman for a few weeks.

5. Don't have a carny, jock attitude of contempt for women.

6. Don't at all be associated with the WWE, because that's completely been branded to non-fans as being just for men (redneck men specifically, but that's neither here nor there).

So, to answer the original question: no.

[The OP]

I'd say they have done so already. According to WWE's corporate website, 34% of their television viewership is female. That's like 1 out of 4 fans.

I think a couple people took the "role model" thing the wrong way, I think it's what someone else said about the nice girls vs. the mean girls and that the booking is shallow and boring. It's not so much an issue of there being nobody to look up to, it's that there's nobody to relate to. So it's kind of like two different ways of getting to the same point. I do agree they could most likely attract more female fans if they made those changes.