Sports Entertainment

[wwe_fanatic]

I was just wondering what is classed as sports entertainment apart from Vince's idea of 'wrestling'

I can't think of anything :?

 

[Quintastic One]

Sports Entertainment at it's core is essentially entertainment value > wrestling talent. Sports Entertainment concentrates on your ability to cut good promos, be marketable to a mainstream audience, and be able to tell enough of a story in the ring with hand and body gestures that you can still loosely resemble the sport that is wrestling. You don't have to be a great wrestler to be great at Sports Entertainment. Hell The Rock & Stone Colds most memorable matches consisted of nothing more than punches, kicks, wild brawling, and finisher atttempts. Same as Hogan. All of these guys COULD wrestle a good game, but Sports Entertainment isn't about that. It's about charisma and storytelling more than competitive fighting.

Basically, it's a weird mix of American Gladiators + American Idol + Celebrity Death Match.

 

[Soul_of_Ruby]

I actually wanted to make a thread about this.

I think that people have just taken the words "Sports entertainment" the wrong way. In this day and age, normal people who live in the mainstream way of things simply don't want to watch wrestling. Whenever I try to introduce wrestling to a friend, they go, "Nah, that shit is gay". People associate wrestling with 2 sweaty guys grappling each other on the floor. Then, when I show them Rey Mysterio or KENTA matches, they start marking out and become wrestling fans.

Like it or not, wrestling has become a bad word for the mainstream public. And I'm not talking about mainstream wrestling fans, I'm talking about the average joe, the guy who thinks wrestling is "gay". Whether it's right or not is open to debate, but I think what Vince is trying to do is smart. He's trying to change what we call it so that more ppl could tune in. Back in the days of before I was a wrestling fan, I remember thinking, "wrestling is gay and fake" and would never watch it. I guarantee I would have been more open to watching it had it been called sports entertainment.

I think the only reason people hate it nowadays is because they associate Sports Entertainment w/ not enough in-ring action and too many cheesy comedy or bad segments.

 

[straight_edge76]

One theory I had about why it is called "Sports-Enertainment" and I know their might not be any real truth to this but maybe because after the original Steroit scandal in the early 1990's Vince McMahon came to a realization that maybe if it wasn't classified as "Sport" the regulations on steroid and various other PED's would become less strict.

 

[noumenon]

Pretty much Vince going... "WHAT?! THEY DON'T CONSIDER ME A SPORT!? FUCK THEM! I'll make my own genre!"

 

[LKP]

What i want to know is how long is Vince going to give people to get into the product? I mean lets say he stops at the rumble? Does that then mean wwe goes back to being violent or just the same old dribble?

 

[noumenon]

Its been "Sports Entertainment" for quite some time now. That has nothing to do with the product. That is all on the heads of the writes and the PG rating.

 

[straight_edge76]

Yeah, Sports Enertainment is basically just a way for Vince to stroke his ego by "creating" his own genre of enertainment.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

Well, actually Sports Entertainment is defined on the company website's mission statement somewhere. Basically it says that Sports Entertainment is compelling storylines anchored by the Superstars in the format of many media outlets, television, PPV, internet, videos (On demand and DVDs) etc. to provide mass entertainment to the WWE universe or some shit like that. I know the word wrestling is nowhere in it though.

In a basic nutshell, Sports Entertainment is how Vince McMahon has presented professional wrestling ever since he became the owner and most influential person in the business over 25 years ago. And everyone who has molded their company after the WWE has presented Sports Entertainment. WCW, ECW and TNA had over the top storylines and gimmicks, they were/are sports entertainment. To me, pro wrestling basically died in the States with the territories. Pro wrestling still exists through Puroesu.

 

[PeepShow]

ROLLERJAM

 

[Soul_of_Ruby]

Wow, the unwarranted hate for Vince Mcmahon is so thick here. Calling it sports entertainment is a way for him to stroke his ego? Some people will use anything to jump on the "EGO STROKINGZ!" bandwagon..

 

[Airfixx]

In a basic nutshell, Sports Entertainment is how Vince McMahon has presented professional wrestling ever since he became the owner and most influential person in the business over 25 years ago.

Thank fuck someone else acknowledges that "sports entertainment" is not a new(-ish) concept.

Hell The Rock & Stone Colds most memorable matches consisted of nothing more than punches, kicks, wild brawling, and finisher atttempts. Same as Hogan. All of these guys COULD wrestle a good game, but Sports Entertainment isn't about that.

Nah... Rock was never a so-called pro-wrestler.

 

[CT Styles]

Wrestling as we know it is Sports-Entertainment.