It is known fact that Vince McMahon himself was trying to push wrestling out of the equation of the WWE product during the late 90’s and even went as far as pitching the idea for labeling it as an action/adventure series; thank God, that never came to fruition. However, even to this day, the word “wrestling” and/or “wrestler” is hardly, if ever used or spoken by today’s commentators. The labels are “Superstars” or sports entertainers but even then… the “Sports” is becoming an ill advised word used in the business today. Don’t get me wrong, most people including this writer love backstage segments that have nothing to do with in-ring athleticism. In-fact, segments outside the ring have been just as, if not more memorable such as Pipers Pit to grocery store battles with Austin bashing a milk gallon over Booker T (one of my personal favorites).
Nevertheless, inside the squared circle is where stories are told best if the chemistry is right and champions are made and meaningful and not just politically given time and time again to the guy running the business. This may very well be a fear that hopefully will never come to be reality. However, while growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s, I always thought music would be on MTV. So personally, I think how much the entertainment field evolves and targeted demographics, who is to say wrestling will always be on WWE? When was the last time you even heard someone say “World Wrestling Entertainment”; because of the “wrestling” in it, you won’t.
To reiterate, hopefully we’ll always have in-ring action in the WWE and if not, there seems to be more promotions popping up by the year and sooner or later with the right money backing it, they’ll end up creating competition again for the WWE; which surely would keep wrestling in it. However, with the launch of the Network and more and more shows becoming not about wrestling but, simply about reality or simply relying on previous footage to attract prior generations and various fan bases. (i.e. Rock, Austin, Hogan, Hart fans etc) One would have to be naive to think wrestling will always be on WWE television, after all, as said earlier… Music’s not even on MTV, so this is nothing more than an analytical thought and concern that should be shared with fellow fans. What say you? Will WWE be the next MTV?
