Against The Grain 12.21.08: The WWE Universe

Welcome everyone to Against The Grain, my (bi-weekly) take on some of the most unconventional and not-often talked about subjects in the wrestling world. I want to apologize for my long absence from writing this in the last few weeks. My finals came creeping on me and now they are finally dead and long gone. Due to the lack of brain power left in me, I will make this edition short, sweet, and to the point. The term “WWE Universe” has left a sour taste in a lot of wrestling fans’ mouths in the last few months since its creation. Some find it insulting to the well-knowing viewers, others believe it to be just another lame marketing scheme from the WWE, and I for one (as a wrestling fan and a major in the study of Business and Marketing) think that it may be an unpopular but great shift for the company…and here is why.

“As The ‘WWE Universe’ Turns”
Exhibit A: McMahon’s Million Dollar Mania. The multi-week event that was featured on Raw and had WWE owner Vince McMahon give out a million dollars in total to WWE viewers. To the casual viewer, it was a chance to win some money from rich fat cat McMahon. To the smart wrestling fan, it was seen as a silly and stupid stunt for get ratings up. And to me, it was a genius and random marketing ploy in order to get the WWE’s name into the current mainstream media. While everyone was complaining or just simply hoping for cash, I was busy seeing the small, but definite success of this event. Vince saw that the WWE wasn’t getting as much attention from its fans, let alone from the main press. So he decided to pull out one of the easiest headline grabbers for everyone to see: “wrestling company gives away a million dollars”, and it equaled a pretty good move to gain some widespread media hits. In the weeks following this, I’ve heard mentions of it on my daily morning radio station, the evening news, a whole slew of popular non-wrestling websites (including Yahoo!), and even a random appearance on the well-watched E! comedy show “The Soup”. Despite not being the greatest thing to ever happen on Raw, it sure as hell brought more attention to the company than I’ve seen, not even around the big-themed Wrestlemania or having to do with steroid scandals, in a very long time.

Exhibit B: The term “WWE Universe”. The words created by the WWE to describe its loyal branch of fans, new and old alike. To the casual viewer, it equaled a whole slew of cool new features on the WWE.com website. To the smart wrestling fan, it was taken as another “sell-out” action by the company in an attempt to get more fans. To me, it was a sudden, but understandably good move that was done in order to draw current and new viewers closer to the existing product. Marketing wise, by providing specialized items made for certain age groups (particually WWE Kids magazine…not just action figures), creating new unique content for their website (web shows by wrestlers Miz/Morrison, Cryme Time), and establishing a “social network” for fans to interact with each other (“Facebook for WWE fans”), the company wanted to group all of these changes and put it now under the umbrella as “the WWE Universe”

All I’m trying to say here is that I feel everyone’s pain when you know that you’re referred to as a member of the “WWE Universe” if you watch any of the company’s shows. If the names “wrestling fanatic” or “wrestling smark” aren’t bad enough, to be pigeonholed into being a part of a fake wrestling “universe” sure doesn’t help things. But at the same time, we as fans aren’t in the wrestling business. We read, see, and hear about certain things happening all of the time, but we aren’t the ones who trying to run a million-dollar empire. With every single move that the company makes and some fans think is stupid or nonsense, they is usually a meaningful purpose behind it.

A few weeks ago, Santino Marella, a man who is pretty popular with the IWC and casual fans alike, lost his Intercontinental Championship in a horribly short fashion against the highly skilled grappler William Regal. I saw that plenty of people on the net (particularly here) were pissed that this suddenly and somewhat undeservedly happened to him, but on the WWE business side it make perfect sense. The company had a “History of The Intercontinental Title” DVD coming out and also a multi-man tournament to match going on the week after the change, so business and image wise, they wanted to go with having the title around the waist of a serious looking contender (Regal) than one of a perceived comedy act (Santino) as to get people looking at the title more seriously and to get them watching more Raw for the tourney and buying the DVD.

So the next time you see the WWE make a seemingly silly decision that makes you cringe, just pause, take it in stride, and know that it’s for a legit reason made for the better of the company….stupid or not.

Next Time On….Against The Grain
To start out the new year, I want to offer a unique take on what it feels like to be one of the most patient, enduring, and everlasting type of wrestling fan that exists today. This fan, like myself, is one of the company TNA. Until then ladies and gents, I’m out till the new year! Happy Holidays and eats lots of cookies.