The internet has arguably done the most to revolutionise the way that we send and receive information since Johannes Gutenberg printed his version of the bible on the 30th September 1452. In a relatively short period of time it has become widespread and an accepted part of our society. It is now hard to imagine a world where there is no e-mail, no google and no illegal downloading. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the internet is the fact that it is clearly still growing. Year on year it has enabled us to do more; its potential has clearly not yet been fully realised. Wrestling was initially slow to embrace this technology, but it now appears as if it is ready. If it does take the leap into the unknown of cyberspace then only one thing is for certain – wrestling will never be the same again.
Those controlling wresting have always been reluctant to embrace change. Their reluctance extends beyond the usual fear that other industries face. It is natural to be scared that by tampering with a moderately successful system you may create something that is far worse. However, the wrestling industry, due to its nature, has far more fundamental fears. It relies upon that tantalisingly difficult to define and abstract noun – kayfabe. The Urban Dictionary, perhaps, offers the best definition for the term:
Reading that it is clear to see why wrestling shivers and withdraws every time it confronts the possibility that it may need to change and open its doors to allow fans a better look. Kayfabe is exclusive to pro-wrestling; off-camera the Undertaker pretends to be the Undertaker not Mark Calloway whereas off-camera Pierce Brosnan does not pretend to be James Bond. The more information about a person the fans have the more able they are to explore their ‘real’ side rather than their ‘television’ side. The fact that kayfabe is an “unsaid rule” expresses its equivocal nature. It doesn’t just refer to knowing about the personal lives of wrestlers but also about the way wrestling operates; merely knowing who is on the booking team, or even that there is a booking team breaks kayfabe. Kayfabe is designed to create a feeling or reality. It is unique to wrestling because it is what defines wrestling. Without it wrestling just becomes soap opera. It is for these reasons that wrestling companies have historically tried to prevent fans from accessing information and have shunned items such as dirt-sheets like the Wrestling Observer.
The internet, however, represents a threat far greater than anything Dave Meltzer could produce. By its very nature it offers fast, cheap and easy access to a wide variety of people. This is something that a subscription, paper based pamphlet could never manage. Additionally, what a fan can find out is pretty much unlimited; the information is not just limited to what an editor sees as deserving to fill a few column inches but whatever anyone, anywhere desires to put out for public consumption. It is with this in mind that we should not be surprised at the acute level of caution that the wrestling industry has traditionally shown the online community. A couple of years ago Brock Lesnar was reported as saying that he’d kill any wrestler who leaked anything to the internet. Although not meant to be taken literally, it provides ample proof of the attitude that many wrestlers have. Another result of its accessibility is that it splits wrestling fans into two distinct groups – the smarts and the marks, the informed and the uninformed. Fair enough, the Observer would seem to do the same, but the internet has the ability to create a group of smart fans who do not equal a negligible amount of the total but a very significant part. There is thus clearly a danger for any company who has half its fans with one mind-frame and half with another; how do you cater for both?
As with any industry, successful innovation is a massive strength. Of course no one is ever quite sure what is going to be successful. It is only with teleological reasoning that we can say why the Hulkster worked but so many failed. It would be wrong to say that wrestling hasn’t innovated in the past. Around fifty years ago it moved away from being strictly about who could genuinely wrestle the best and towards who could create the biggest buzz around them. With the onset of wrestlers such as “The Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers wrestling changed to be more like we recognise it today with colourful characters and worked matches. In fact, that particular innovation also led to the creation of kayfabe as prior to that wrestlers were themselves and there was no need for it. In the late 1990s both hardcore wrestling and the ‘attitude’ era came to their zenith. This created a massive upsurge in popularity for wrestling with ECW and the then WWF gaining most. Thus although there is an underlying current of distrust regarding change in the wrestling industry there is also a solid historical foundation showing how successful it can be.
Those who innovate are, unsurprisingly, those who are forced to. WWE created the attitude era as a response to the dominance WCW had over them. Quite simply, they had to gamble or else they would die. ECW had to try something new, different and…well, I suppose…extreme in order to create their own little niche. When RoH arrived the market for Sports Entertainment was saturated so they had to innovate and try to make pure wrestling work even though it had seemingly been doomed decades ago. However, since the death of WCW we haven’t seen much daring come from WWE. The reason is that they are so far ahead of everyone else in the game that there is no need for them to risk their product in the search of something that may or may not work. Those who innovate tend to be those who have to, those who if they don’t will shrivel and cease to exist.
Up until very recently the only wrestling companies who attempted to fully exploit the internet were those who were struggling for a foothold in the market, those who weren’t WWE. That’s partly because they need to try something new and partly because it was their best means of getting word out. RoH in particular has marketed itself to an internet using, smart audience. Its style of wrestling is a direct attempt to woo the purist and it uses its website to interact with its fanbase in a way that no other company does. TNA, since it lost its TV show, has been using its website to broadcast its shows. True enough, this was something forced upon them, but it also shows their willingness to embrace the internet. WWE, by contrast, has been successful and has had its television shows as well as the finance for advertisements to promote itself. The risk of opening up to the internet and all that entailed was seemingly not needed.
Very recently, and I mean very, WWE’s position seems to have changed. It is understandable why they wouldn’t want to take on the gamble of opening themselves up to the internet, but it seems that they now have. This is a trend that has only really become noticeable since One Night Stand a few weeks ago. One Night Stand, in itself, was a PPV surely designed to appeal to former ECW fans who now scoured the web. The JBL/Blue Meanie situation that came out of that was acknowledged by WWE on their website and transferred itself to a Smackdown match. Those watching who didn’t follow online must surely have been left fairly confused. Never before had WWE prioritised the smart fan over the mark in such a blatant manner. Going even further, WWE has dedicated an unusually large amount of its website to the Muhammad Hassan angle, even hosting a promo he cut at a house show. When all this is added to Eddie furthering his gimmick through taking over Rey Mysterio’s website it becomes clear that WWE is now both acknowledging the internet fan and developing stories through the internet. All that's without even mentioning the Edge/Lita/Hardy situation which is perhaps the biggest of the lot. This is a marked change in policy.
Why? That’s the obvious question, and a question that needs to be answered. As has been shown those taking on risks of innovation, and this is most certainly that, have been those who need to. WWE has certainly slumped since its high point five years ago but it is hardly knocking on the Pearly Gates asking to be let in. It still dwarfs any other wrestling company around. Therefore the one thing that this can’t be seen to be is a last ditch, high-risk desperate attempt to turn around a failing company. What is far more convincing is the argument that WWE are dipping their toes into the water in order to see what happens and if they can get back to their glory days. That perhaps explains why they’ve taken a risk but why the internet? Not only have they seen how others have used it to their advantage but they are probably also noticing that smart fans tend to be the ones who are turning off less. As they are part of a community online it is harder for them to isolate themselves from the product as they would also have to isolate themselves from an entire community, not something the individual watching at home has to worry about.
The biggest unknown in all of this, and frustratingly the most important component, is what the consequences will be. If it is a failure then, due to its limited nature, it’s not going to bring down WWE, but it may bring down other smaller companies who have a much higher proportion of internet fans. However, these same companies appreciate that they have a high proportion of internet fans and thus market themselves directly towards them rather than marks. If it is a success then the consequences, in one sense, are much clearer – it will revolutionise wrestling. If all companies, or even just the major ones, used the internet to further storylines and focus, for the first time, on a different section of their fanbase then the industry is going to change. What the changes will be, beyond the fact that there will be some, is anyone’s guess. Maybe it will replace television shows? Maybe it will create competition again? Maybe it will allow smaller companies to achieve more recognition? Maybe it will end kayfabe? Who knows? All I know is that we’re at a crossroads and it’s going to be a hell of a lot of fun to wait and see.
What do you think? All feedback can be sent to ianweinstein@hotmail.com
