Terry Taylor's thoughts on today's wrestling audience.

[¡Tranquilo!]

In the interview, which dates from March 2001, Terry Taylormade some comments that are just as relevant as they were fifteen years ago:

“There was a time when people watched to be surprised, to be disgusted, to be moved emotionally…and it seems that the bar gets higher and higher.

What will it take tomorrow to please the audience? It isn’t enough to excite them – they now have the means to find out the happenings behind the curtain, they’re let into the locker room…and ultimately the innocence is lost.

They become jaded from things they were never before allowed to know. Do they have a right to have that access? I think not. They are the audience – they are not part of what we do. Hence the term ‘audience’.

When ECW and some guys – wanting the smart marks to put them over – allowed the audience to become part of the show, the illusion of what we did disappeared in its original form. The audience now dictated what we did, instead of reacting and enjoying what we were offering.

The nature of what we did changed forever.”

TERRY TAYLOR Shares His Thoughts on Today's Wrestling Audience

I miss the days when I wasn't a complete smark...life was so simple and fun back then but that's not the case anymore. We live in an age where information is far more accessible then ever before and nothing--almost nothing is private. So when your industry thrives off of the crowd being oblivious to certain aspects of it...it needs to change the way it approaches said audience. Don't insult our intelligence, as a God once said, " you either adapt-ugh or perish-ugh."

What are y'alls thoughts on this?

 

[RedDwarfTechy]

Yeah, I made a thread (similar argument) of whether wrestling was more fun before the interwebz.

I think as fans we'd enjoy the shows a hell lot more if we didnt know the backstage stuff, but the issue is filling the time between the shows.... what would we do? :idk:

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Yeah, I made a thread (similar argument) of whether wrestling was more fun before the interwebz.

I think as fans we'd enjoy the shows a hell lot more if we didnt know the backstage stuff, but the issue is filling the time between the shows.... what would we do? :idk:

Play 2k17?...

 

[Roadster]

I think it's more of the saturation that killed the enigmatic portrayal of the business. People, naturally, gravitate to lifting the veil over things they enjoy or are interested in. I don't think it's a problem with the internet, though it fastens the pace of which the information travels, it wasn't the first exposure to the behind-the-scenes dealings. Before the internet it was magazines, and other publications. Many kept form and didn't talk about backstage issues, but some did.

And as for ECW, I do think they saturated the level of action and violence that was usually portrayed in wrestling. I do think ECW left a positive impact on fans, but a negative one on the industry.

I think Terry Taylor is right, overall.

 

[The Phenom]

It's just like when Kane took off the Mask everyone wanted him to take it off (Not me) but when he did the magic was gone so here we go years later and the mask is back. My point is that, the magic is gone we know to much to be excited nowhere near as excited as we would have been say back in the cough, cough The Attitude Era!

 

[Snowman1]

There's some truth to this. There's a lot of reaction for the fans, but you can see us watching shows that aren't Raw that we still can get excited by wrestling.

Don't expect us to get excited for Jericho running in the cell when the entire buildup set off warning bells in all our heads that interference was coming.

 

[Gman003]

Yeah I've said it a few times in the past year and a half... knowing all the information sucks. It's reeeeeally sucks. It's bad enough that we can access almost anything we want information wise through 'dirt sheets' or whatever. But it's even worse when the company itself advertises for weeks and weeks in advance when someone's going to be making a return. What the fuck happened to the surprise?

When triple H came out and altered the outcome of the fatal 4 way.... THAT was great tv! Noooo body saw that coming at all.. and even when it happened at first was like ughhh he's helping rollins then BOOM nope! Swerrrrve. That's the shit I miss.

I've recently unfollowed and kept away from anything wwe on the Internet and social media. And I enjoy it so much more. Sure, some things are still pretty predictable at times, but it keeps the surprise factor for the rest of it. Plus shift work makes me miss half the episodes a month and I was getting things spoiled for me on Facebook all the time (even the ko win in the fatal 4 way. But I didn't know how...I saw it and quickly closed the page. That was the last straw for me, I was legit bummed)

All in all, it was far better entertainment 15 years ago, just not having such easy access to knowledge

I'm just staying away from it all until I watch the episodes and find out what's going on. It's much more worth it.