Controversy Creates Cash

It is a cultural phenomena that has survived the test of time. A singular concept that when analyzed from a denotative perspective makes little to no sense. However, every week thousands of people fill stadiums, and millions of people tune into their televisions to watch the global "glorified ballet" that is known as professional wrestling. Professional Wrestling has been around for longer than you might think, however began to make a cultural impact once Vince McMahon Sr entered the picture. After passing his legacy on to his son, Vincent Kennedy McMahon Jr the business entered new realm of success. This success lead to developing competition and the scrutiny that comes with being a multi-million dollar industry. As the 1990's progressed pro-wrestling emerged from the cult following to become a global entity.

As the decade progressed two pro-wrestling brands distanced themselves from any competition. Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation, and media mogul Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling were in direct competition with each other on a weekly basis. This lead to a creative duel with each organization battling for viewership, and public attention. The two organizations both represented the same niche manufactured industry and thus were in direct competition. The competition and battle for audience attention lead to each organization pushing the proverbial limits to what could be aired on television. Each week both organizations were producing more raunchy, controversial episodes that shifted the intrinsic focus away from the wrestling and more toward character and plot development. This was the beginning of the "attitude era" in professional wrestling.

After a decade of competition, Vince McMahon's WWF won and monopolized the industry by buying out competitors such as ECW and rival WCW. World Wrestling Entertainment was the only wrestling show available on cable television. It was at this point that the public relations aspect of professional wrestling altered the product and public perception. Although the demand for wrestling was still incredibly high, the loss of high profile characters such as Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and Stone Cold lead McMahon to alter the target audience. The target audience for professional wrestling had always been ages 18-35 males, however McMahon began to try and shift the primary target audience. Now known as World Wrestling Entertainment was going to tone down the violence and edgy characters in an attempt to segment and add a younger audience. Males ages 18-35 were still a target audience, however had become a secondary audience making way for the "PG era" of pro-wrestling. McMahon and his Public Relations team envisioned maintaining their loyal adult viewership while attracting younger audiences with more resonating characters and family orientated story lines.

This change brought about some explicit changes. The violence was toned down significantly......which was done on purpose....however the charisma and iconic Ora that surrounded the characters and story lines also began to fade. Another thing that began to fade was the viewership. The 18-35 male segmented audience began to tune out because the story lines and characters that had originally attracted them were now obsolete. The public relations attempt to attract younger audiences also did not pan out as expected because many parents who had grown up watching the violence and raunchy material associated with professional wrestling would not expose their children to the product. Even though pro-wrestling was now theoretically acceptable for the younger generation, the stereotypical persona could not be removed.

Professional Wrestling has been proven to be a billion dollar concept that is a million dollar industry. The foundation of pro-wrestling is controversial story lines and characters that are to be directed at males age 18-35. Cable televisions increased restrictions on violence and foul language has limited the capabilities of professional wrestling, however the most important aspect of wrestling is segmenting and targeting the most applicable audience. From the early days of professional wrestling, through the attitude era, to today; the male 18-35 demographic is professional wrestling and that is how McMahon needs to market his product.