Wrestling Fans, I Need Your Help

1. PT Barnum quote
2. Family Annihilators
3. Monster truck shows

1) It's got some incredible exposure. Two hours a week on prime time cable is nothing to sneeze at.
2) They really don't have a break-out mainstream star like they did with Hogan, Austin, or the Rock.
3) Gotta be UFC and the other MMA leagues.

3. Gay porn

1) Promotion. These guys could promote a match between shorn toenails and Danny Bonaduce, and McMahon would still find a way to get people to pay for it.
2) Vince McMahon's inability to put out a successful product that doesn't rip off other promotions in one way or another.
3) MMA, and I guess for the moment, TNA Wrestling. Oh, and logical storylines.

Look up the congressional hearings with Stephanie McMahon that were recently thrown on the internets. It's a really good look at the behind-the-scenes machinations of the company on a different level than the one you've already examined.

1. A product that is always new and easy to cross promote with video games, music CDs, movies, etc. Also, semi-lower overhead because the wrestlers aren't employees but rather independent contractors. There's also no wrestlers' union.

2. Inability to innovate. Aside from the player's, products pretty much the same as it was 10 years ago or even 20 years ago.

3. MMA, TNA Wrestling.

1) Promotion and talent. High production values. Low-paid workers.

2) Wrestling has a very negative stigma to it. Kids love it, but adults usually stick their nose up at the product being a work.

3) UFC is becoming more and more mainstream. As a result, punches are now "allowed" in WWE matches and talent's been told to work a lot stiffer. TNA doesn't have a chance in hell at competing with WWE (the only reason WCW was able to compete with WWE in the 90's was that they acquired Hogan). If TNA acquired someone as over with the kids as John Cena, they might have a chance of competing.

1) For me, the thing that always keeps me coming back to WWE is, just when things become stale and predictable, BOOM! They come out with something wholly unpredictable/controversial to keep me interested. I've been a fan since I was five, and even though the guys that I really loved (namely The Rock) aren't as omnipresent as they used to be, the potential for a shocking angle or burgeoning Superstar is what I consider to be the company's strength. They know how to keep me on my toes.

2) The thing that I always have seen as the company's weakness is its callousness (real or perceived) in the face of tragedy. The Owen Hart thing...I have gone back and forth for years about whether or not that show should have continued after the accident, and even though I'm sure Owen would have wanted them to continue, it looks bad publicly. The Benoit situation was a clusterfuck of almighty proportions. I understand the company's need to go on the defensive after the true circumstances of the deaths was revealed, but Vince came out of that with shit all over his boots. For such a media-savvy guy, he really comes across like a jackass rather than remotely sympathetic when defending his company.

3) UFC UFC UFC UFC UFC. TNA is no competition. UFC is almost as mainstream over right now as the Attitude Era was in its heyday.

The WWE still does a great job at promoting and getting their name out there. WrestleMania usually makes millions for both the city and at the actual event. Even though ratings aren't all that great right now they still do really good business in other countries. They also still do very well selling merchandise especially John Cena t-shirts and DVDs.

Their main weakness is the shows they put on. They used to be very popular in the late '90s when the shows were more soap opera like with storylines, characters, etc. Now they've kind of gone backwards to just putting on a normal wrestling product and it's hurt them. They're not doing anything real new or different when it comes to their actual in-ring product.

Their biggest competition right now is definitely the UFC. The last Brock Lesnar fight actually got a higher buyrate than WrestleMania which is huge because WrestleMania is usually the biggest PPV of the year.