World Wrestling Federation as a BusinessJoin now to read essay World Wrestling Federation as a BusinessRelevant FactsSince 1890, professional wrestling has garnered the attention of the public. However, no one has capitalized on this sport’s entertainment value more than the World Wrestling Federation and Vince McMahon Jr. Vince McMahon Jr. acquired the WWF from his father Vice McMahon Sr. in 1982. Vince McMahon Jr.’s succession brought along freshness, flare, success, and much controversy to the world of professional wrestling.
Before McMahon’s takeover of his father’s company, professional wrestling had various territories across the country in which each was headed by a “little lord.” These people in charge followed a gentleman’s agreement in which no takeovers of different territories were allowed. McMahon, however, broke this mold and took over all the markets by signing wrestlers to lucrative contracts, creating a “rock show” type of venue, and occupying prime television slots. The WWF began to enjoy much success as it took advantage of the cable network USA Network and delved into pay-per-view events.
This period of time for the WWF was somewhat monopolistic because of a lack of competition in the industry. After a failing attempt to buy some of the WWF’s stock, Ted Turner, owner of the TBS Network, sought to get into the wrestling business for himself. Ted Turner created the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and brought direct competition to the WWF. The WCW challenged the WWF’s success in every way, including its Monday night showcase and its use of headlining characters. Competition amongst the two wrestling corporations was brought to a head with a fight over WWF superstar, Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
Pressing IssuesThe WWF is in a constant battle against time and the audience’s ever-changing wants and desires causing consistent reinvention. During early years of wrestling it was clear wrestling had no identity. Wrestlers would travel from region to region fighting in promoted venues, the sport slowly began to gain popularity but quickly lost steam during the Radio and TV age where popularity shifted to sports like boxing, baseball, and football. During this time Vince McMahon Sr. would begin the first of many reinventions of the sport.
Changes included starting a full scale wrestling federation (WWF) and the inception of a championship which wrestlers would compete for. Along with having to always change the image of the WWF, both McMahon SR. and McMahon Jr. had to deal with the rise and fall of the wrestlers/characters. This is an issue McMahon Jr. dealt with more so than his father, thanks to his strategy of making the characters lives accessible to fans through the plot twists used during wrestling events and TV show. When a character was hot they would be really hot and the merchandise and ratings would go through the roof. And just as fast as the character rose is as fast as they would fall. The problem comes when the owner has to designate how short or how long to push a character to the audience.
Hollywood/Lucha Underground/The X-Men & The X-Men II: Wolverine I loved and trusted these two characters. They are so different as both being so different and at different points they have a symbiotic bond/sisterhood with each other. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had the same dynamic with the X-Men and they were also the main heroes of The X-Men films. It also made the series work best for both characters and the relationship between them has a deeper connection to both. It was also fun when the characters shared common interests like a romantic time where they shared an interest in the same thing and being friends that was different from the usual love interests. The relationship between these characters is definitely something they can be found on, especially in the series when the characters are so well described. Wolverine and Wolverine II: Wolverine I felt a bit more connected through it, but overall I feel like I was a little more exposed to other writers working in these same genres. I personally loved a lot of the scenes between the characters but in the most recent movies I saw in which they both played the same role or were in multiple roles. If I was a comic book character I would not want to see scenes between them I would like to see Wolverine II go on top of that as the movie is set right in between their movies. I did see them fighting in a fight between Wolverine and the X-Men when I was a kid and it was definitely satisfying to see them spar in front of a big audience and I am so grateful for that and that I was able to see. However, I thought I could only feel the way that they were getting from Wolverine and they seemed really lost in the world that was revealed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe had more to do with Wolverine’s history than any of the other elements of the series. Marvel knew who Wolverine was and so did the Marvel Television Network. It became easy to get the right vibe out of the characters that they represented. In addition, in a lot of their storylines it took them a little bit of time to find where the elements might or might not relate as well as Wolverine. In the case of Wolverine he’s an old man who needs more than a few fights to win, which was a huge deal in the first half of the series. That was going to be his downfall for the rest of the trilogy. I remember reading that one and it seemed like the main problem was the way they represented Wolverine. In a big scene he’s fighting and you don’t see a fight between two old people together. That’s something I’m glad the character wasn’t represented. Wolverine was a pretty big fan of his father and was very sympathetic to his father as well. I loved the story arc of that character too. I also liked that those two storylines didn’t clash much and that it was in a real tension like the X-Men films did. Although I didn’t know why I liked that one though, it really made it work for me. The character of Wolverine II also wasn’t represented as well
Even through the ups and downs of the characters, wrestling still reached a point of peak popularity and it became a billion dollar industry. In that there is a clear concern of pushing the consumer too hard or force feeding the customer/audience. There was a point where wrestling would broadcast almost 20 hour a week. You could see WWF characters in movies, in music videos, on the radio, and all over internet. This type of over saturation caused by pressures from the competition contributed in speeding up the process of how long or how short a character’s popularity would last.
After the WWF regime was coming to a close McMahon Jr. failed to realize his competitor’s advantage. The owner of WCW which had begun to take over the title as the number one wrestling organization had endless control over broadcasting, given the fact that he owned his own broadcasting network. Not being aware of your competition’s strengths will only hurt you in the end.
Relate the MaterialDuring our lectures in class we discussed several topics which can be closely related to the WWF case. First is the management function of control. As the owner of the WWF, Vince McMahon Jr. performed well when it came to growing his company into an industry giant. McMahon Jr.