1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Can the WWE recover?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by PhilaYank36, Jun 27, 2007.

  1. Big Game

    Big Game Member

    Exactly.

    I haven't heard many people calling for the NFL to die a quick death, despite the recent revelations that concussions are having long-term effects on current and former players.
    Here's a link: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2007-06-18-concussions-cover_N.htm
    But because many of us watch football, and enjoy it, well, that's OK.
    But because pro wrestling is perceived to be a joke or something seedy that should be limited to small, dimly lit, smoky arenas, then the business as a whole should be wiped out.

    I think before all is said and done, the autopsy is going to reveal that Chris Benoit's brain is going to have similar damage to what has been found in former NFL players who've committed suicide or are suffering severe depression. WWE needs to do something about protecting its wrestlers from chair shots, or using their heads as battering rams, like Benoit would do with his flying headbutt.
     
  2. WWE makes so much money abroad that I think it would keep them afloat even if the domestic market all but fizzles out. And as others have mentioned, the true McMahon diehards (of which I am not one) will still be there with wallets open.

    I wouldn't mind seeing the resurgence of smaller-scale territorial wrestling, when guys could work shows closer to home and move from area to area when they got stale.
     
  3. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    The fall didn't kill her; the stop did. Stop blaming us.
     
  4. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    After blaming the media, the WWE blames the Chris and Nancy Benoit's arguments how to deal with their child's illness.

    As always, don't blame WWE. It's not like they don't want their wrestlers to look like Greek Gods come to life.

    http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2918751
     
  5. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Can it recover?

    We have no idea what damage Benoit's death has done yet. Let's see the ratings and ticket sales in the next few weeks and then we'll know where we stand.
     
  6. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    If there is any justice in the world, this will make WWE go away forever.
    I doubt we will be so lucky.
     
  7. Big Game

    Big Game Member

    I've never understood people who, just because they don't like something, they want it to go away forever.
    I don't like auto racing. I think it's boring and plenty of people risk their lives and have died while participating. But, I also know that there are millions of people who love it, so no, I don't think it should go away.
    There are mainstream sports out there that are dealing with scandal. Baseball with steroids; football with off-field issues, concussions, steroids.
    Does that mean they need to "go away forever?" Probably not in the opinion of most people, who religiously follow the sports.
    But because pro wrestling is "fake" and seen as something you watch as a child and look down upon as an adult, it's easy to criticize it.

    But sports in general isn't much better.
     
  8. Meat Loaf

    Meat Loaf Guest

    Pro sports leagues are just as fucked up as the WWE, but sports purists seem to choose not to view that side. They're bigoted.

    Chris Benoit was just one guy. He did what he did, people will be outraged for a while, and then things will go back to the way they were. Why? Because the cable networks will find a new drum to beat, and the industry makes too much fucking money to disappear. That's why most people don't seem to give two shits that baseball players juiced.

    Personally, I don't care what athletes do to themselves.
     
  9. bostonbred

    bostonbred Guest

    WWE is a powerhouse...they are regularly top in cable ratings, pull strong buyrates even though they have way too many 40 dollar pay-per-views, and sell out venues across the world. They are not going anywhere. The industry and this company in particular makes too much money.

    I stand by Meat Loaf's statement that other pro sports leagues are just as fucked up as the WWE (look at all of the brain-damaged retired NFL players...and wait another 25 years, it's going to get worse), but of course the snobby sports purists will cross their fingers for the demise of professional wrestling.
     
  10. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    I dont have a problem with professional wrestling. I like the actual wrestling.
    It's the plot lines and the body paint and the scripted contrived bullshit that I can't stand. Throw in Vince McMahon's nonsense with drug use/abuse and his admitting it was staged -- not because it was the right thing to do, but because continuing to claim it was a sport would force it into manditory drug testing in some states -- and I won't watch.
    Wrestling is a sport. WWE is athletic theater.
     
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    There's a segment of the population that, no matter what the WWE does in the coming weeks, it'll be wrong.
    They try to remind or tell people that Benoit was a little cuckoo to begin with, and might have had plenty of personal issues, and they're shifting the focus off of steroids and concussions.
    They bring up the point the Benoits had a troubled marriage and argued about their son, then WWE is blaming the victims.
    They put in a better form of drug testing and some reforms, it's all for show. In a couple months they'll just go back to the way things have always been done.

    The biggest problem WWE will face over the next six months or a year is that the people who say these things will say them louder. More news outlets will start investigating the string of wrestler deaths and play up that angle -- rightly or wrongly.
    Some of the criticism is warranted. I don't think it's unfair to say that the wrestling culture breeds personal demons. Between the time on the road, the physical abuse on the body, the party mentality and the need to be bigger and stronger, it's easy to see how a lot of substance abuse problems crop up. And McMahon certainly has done his share to promote that culture. But in the end, it's still the wrestler's decision to go along with it. There's no law saying you have to go along with it. If you don't want any part of it, this is America. There's plenty of other professions you can go into.

    Personally, I can see the next couple weeks of RAW being among the highest-rated ever. People will tune in to see how WWE handles this and moves on. Hell, I made it a point to watch the first few minutes of ECW the other night to see how they addressed it.
    Beyond that, is up in the air. This is a chance for McMahon and WWE to really change things. Like in any tragedy, there is good that can come of it through reforms that obviously need to be made. If McMahon is smart and shrewd -- something no one has ever doubted -- he'll do something about the steroids and the scheduling before Congress or the media take a good, hard look at it. Kind of like the movie industry did back in the day.
    He'll put in a real drug testing system, give wrestlers more time off (something the "branding" of RAW, ECW and Smackdown seemed to do for a while) and follow pro sports' leagues models on concussions. He'll back off the more extreme storylines for a few months (his own "assassination" storyline has already been scrapped) and have more shows like Tuesday's low-key ECW. That'll give his wrestlers time to process the situation and show the wolves at the door that he's taking the situation seriously.
    So far, it seems like they're off to a good start on some of this stuff. Hopefully it continues. But it certainly won't be easy for WWE. Nervous investors are going to jump ship and the shitstorm that's heading their way is a Category 5, to say the least. It'll be interesting to see how they weather it.
     
  12. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    And once we stop paying attention to WWE, Vince McMahon will revert back to having his wrestlers work more than 300 nights a year, steroids running through their veins.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page