I'm 26 years old, I have been watching wrestling (mostly exclusively WWE) for the best part of 21-22 of these years and I was questioning do WWE care about people in the same bracket and older? Or are they focused solely on the CeNation Army munchkins?
Honestly, I feel it is both.
Unless you've just crawled out of the boiler room of you will know that WWE is PG. This simply means, of course it is directed at the young audience. Over the past several years WWE has changed from the blood soaking - boobie bouncing - weapon wielding - bird flipping - gritty - bonkers world it once was. It now prefers the family friendly - hand clappy - lady skipping - shiny glossy world.
This to me still doesn't prove that WWE has lost touch with the older bunch. Not even close.
Sure we can bang on all day about Cena running the place in Superman mode for the kids to cheer and adore, but we had Hogan doing the exact same thing! Sure the Hulkster only had two colours at the time but he still came out in the brightest yellow and reds, was all wholesome and all patriotic, put across messages of goodness and was cleaner than a DDP smile.
Then we can say that the abolishment of the much loved Attitude Era was a spit in the face to older fans, well I am not gonna sit here and say I don't miss those days. Of course I do. I grew up watching that, however to me it's like saying I also miss the Nickelodeon I used to watch. Kenan and Kel, Sabrina, KaBlam, I miss them too but I don't proclaim Nickelodeon hates me or ignores me, I just accept the fact that they have invested in a new future. Just as any business would Nickelodeon, just like WWE wants to not only continue but wants to grow and stay future proof. The only way to do this is get new customers right? Where do these new customers come from?
My opinion on wrestling is that at least 90+% of fans have grown up watching the product and have stuck it out to adulthood with only a small percentage somehow becoming fans as adults. This would mean that WWE would need to continually pull in younger viewers to keep the business going and growing. So I feel for the product we watch PG is acceptable, yeah Attitude was great but wrestling stories don't need the blood, boobs or adult content to move forward or be compelling. While we bouncing around the blood thing. Does any one else feel a little gripped when we see any trace of blood now? During the Attitude Era, you may just agree that seeing blood pretty much every week took the meaning of bleeding for your trade away from the wrestlers.
How else could Raw be the longest episodic show in America? It must continue grow up with fans and once those fans are locked in focus on getting a new generation interested. If they focused on one generation, just like most other shows on TV it would come to an end, at best when that generation dies out.
Now then. Are we being ignored by the WWE? In my opinion, it is a firm no. Look around, WWE bends over backwards to keep stars like Undertaker, Jericho and The Rock around as much as they can. Wrestlemania main events since the Attitude Era have been littered with these three with additions such as Brock Lesnar, Triple H and Shawn Michaels. We get endless stream of DVDs based on "our days" of WWE, ranging from interviews of our favourite stars, documentaries and just re-releases of old PPVs. We have the odd nostalgia run from guys such as The New Age Outlaws. WWE has even released a range of retro Tshirts for us geezers.
As a 26 year old, 20+ year viewer I will always watch WWE until it either physically sets fire to my family or for what ever reason ceases to operate. Until then I continue to watch and learn about the best form of entertainment I know of.
After all, it is Then. Now. Forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment