In this weekly column, I will comment on the past week's goings-on in WOW, and whatever else it occurs to me to discuss :-) I also hope that a big part of the column will be printing and responding to your e-mails. So please send them in (the address is thatthing35@yahoo.com)!
This week, I've written a column discussing the promise, and problems, of WOW in a general sense. For commentary on the events of the Feb. 4 PPV, you can just look at this recap of the updates I posted to the various character pages.
2/6/01: There's A New Kid In Town!
We are currently in the midst of -- or perhaps more accurately, we're just past the peak of -- the "third renaissance" of professional wrestling. Stars like The Rock and Chyna have received a level of public recognition previously only granted to the likes of Hulk Hogan and Gorgeous George. And yet, despite all the attention that is suddenly being paid to the sport, the spoils of this wrestling boom have been gathered almost entirely by one federation, the WWF. WCW would have already gone out of business several times over by now, if not for Ted Turner's willingness to lose money on it. WCW somewhat justified Ted's confidence with a nice run in the mid-'90s, but the WWF has taken the fight right back to them and clearly has triumphed. Interest in WCW, both from the fans and from the financial backers, is dwindling rapidly. ECW can always at least brag that their product is "something different" ... but apparently, it's not one that enough people want to buy, since the organization is in severe financial straits.
So, we're faced with the current reality that a lot of wrestling fans are only interested in the WWF, which leads to the future possibility that the WWF will soon be the only show in town, at least as far as television goes. I have nothing against the WWF, honestly. Sure, it deliberately goes for shock value and raunchiness, but I have no problem with that. In fact, the fact that I have so little problem with it is exactly why it gets boring to me sometimes! If someone is trying to do something supposedly "shocking", and you're the type of person who doesn't get offended by supposedly "shocking" things...well, guess what, you're not going to be that into it. WWF appeals most to people who are trying to prove they are hipper-than-thou. But what if you're already as hip as me? ;-)
I put it to you that there must be two sizable groups of people out there: people who are legitimately offended by the WWF, and people who are already so jaded that the WWF shock tactics no longer get a rise out of them. Putting together these two groups, there has to be enough people to form a substantial audience for another wrestling federation. Enter the Women of Wrestling, WOW. "The Women of Wrestling???" you may laugh. I say "Sure, why not?" It's a great idea for three reasons. 1: As we just discussed, the men's federations that have gone up against the WWF are having trouble succeeding. So you might as well try something different. 2: A big reason why a lot of people don't like WWF is because of its degrading treatment of women. WOW presents women as being able to stand on their own and succeed just like the men do. Although the women are very good-looking and WOW doesn't hide that, they don't overtly exploit it either, which leads to point 3: It's not gonna hurt the ratings that the WOW women are very attractive.
So there is a possible niche for WOW, and in fact, doing very well by fledgling federation standards in a lot of areas. From the beginning of the fed, WOW has been on basic television in most of the nation's major markets. Sometimes the time slots have been piss-poor, admittedly, but in others, they are not half bad. And after only a couple of months of televised matches, WOW had a Pay-Per-View event. I'm not sure what the buy rate was, but judging from the fact that the WOW web site went down right afterwards, apparently it attracted some attention :-)
But make no mistake, there is still a long way to go if WOW is going to become a legitimate alternative to the WWF. WOW is a publicly traded corporation. This puts them in a precarious financial situation (note that the WWF didn't go public until recently), and it doesn't help that their stock has drawn very little trading volume. WOW also apparently did not have the luxury of perfecting their product before putting it out for public consumption. I don't pretend to know anything about their business, but it seems like a good guess that they wanted to get something out there ASAP so they could start making some money, even if things were still a little sloppy. In any event, the WOW wrestlers are learning on the job, in front of millions of people every week on TV. Even with such gorgeous women, the results aren't always pretty.
The point of all these rantings? Simply this. If we want to have another wrestling federation to watch in addition to the WWF, WOW is our best shot. So we need to support them. Don't be turned off by the "growing pains"! They just show why WOW needs our support! So watch the shows; buy the PPVs, if you can afford them; buy the merchandise, if you have a particular wrestler you like; buy the stock, if you aren't risk-averse like me ;-)
Most importantly of all...give WOW feedback! WOW has often incorporated ideas and phrases from its fans into its programming. And about half the WOW wrestlers regularly chat with their fans on the message board. This is a wonderful thing! Ever try e-mailing Triple H or Stone Cold? Good luck!! Because they constantly communicate with us, they hear what we have to say, and they're all very good people whom you will want to root for. So, support them now when they need it most, and hopefully, there will be a payback when WOW becomes another wrestling federation that can give us compelling sports entertainment week in and week out.
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(e-mail: thatthing35@yahoo.com)