Why a Workrate Prioritized Product Cannot Draw

[Brad Boyd]

Eddie Guerrero was getting 6.0 rating segments with Chyna throughout 2000, that’s the most money and exposure he’s ever drawn, with his Latino heat/mamacita shirts in best sellers during the peak of the business.

You may like the rest of his career better, but that’s irrelevant to the fact that he drew more in 2000 as an upper midcarder than as a main eventer in 2004 because card placement is fictional and irrelevant when talking about drawing.

Crash Holly drew more money in the hardcore division in 2000 than any main eventer did in 2004 and that’s a concrete fact.

This is why a niche shouldn’t be appealed to, your tastes don’t represent the overwhelming audience and you have not only zero right to demand they cater to you, but also no sound argument as for why they should in any way care about workrate.

You never listen to a niche in any business, nor do you change the genre of a show to suit your niche.

Professional Wrestling isn’t about the moves, it’s purely about storyline and characters, a soap opera fictional show about wrestlers, if this bothers you then it’s not for you, and you should probably watch MMA, Gymnastics or Amateur wrestling if you want moves and sport.

Yeah those guys did memorable things. Crash holly fought in a kids jungle jim during a match, fought hardcore holly on top of a truck etc. Eddie tried to sneak into playboy mansion etc all those interesting angles are what got them over big. The more boring in ring only oriented stuff they started to do in the RA era, the less interested the fans became. When people say attitude era is overrated its pretty funny seeing as its one of the most successful eras if not the most successful. Its hard to compare that to the golden era because of how young wwf was. But im pretty sure wrestlemania 3 was a record attendance for a while.

 

[RLStern]

I'll probably just keep watching wrestling seeing as moves and workrate will always be a facet of it, and there will always be a company somewhere that's offering it as the primary element of its product, and whether those companies do great business or not doesn't really impact mine or most other's viewing pleasure. If this bothers you, then it's not for you.

Of course the niche products aren’t for me, they aren’t for everyone really except a very niche.

They hold no weight in the wrestling market and should not be catered to by definition.

It’s fine that you like niche things and are apart of a niche fanbase, but don’t come and try to radically change what mainstream wrestling is, against millions and millions of mainstream tastes.

It’s entitled and has absolutely no basis, not only that but by definition the niche shouldn’t be catered to, and what they dislike is what draws.

 

[CakeWalker]

Of course the niche products aren’t for me, they aren’t for everyone really except a very niche.

They hold no weight in the wrestling market and should not be catered to by definition.

It’s fine that you like niche things and are apart of a niche fanbase, but don’t come and try to radically change what mainstream wrestling is, against millions and millions of mainstream tastes.

It’s entitled and has absolutely no basis, not only that but by definition the niche shouldn’t be catered to, and what they dislike is what draws.

So right now 2021 - what wrestling product/s do you watch?

 

[RLStern]

So right now 2021 - what wrestling product/s do you watch?

None.

The biggest show draws only 2 million viewers, it’s a hardcore Niche fanbase

And it gets worse from there with AEW and NXT.

 

[CakeWalker]

Then you complain about fanatics and niche markets - but ironically you're a zealot.
If you don't even watch any of the products from the US - Europe - Japan - then your opinion is 100% irrelevant.
A zealot shouting from the rooftops about why fanatics are ruining wrestling. So ironic.

 

[Deezy]

Nobody is watching rasslin because it's lame.....there's too many fucking characters in it.....the abundance of stupid characters is at an all time high.

Also. ....work rate is a fanzine term.....Mr wrestler should know.that.

 

[Swamps]

Nobody is watching rasslin because it's lame.....there's too many fucking characters in it.....the abundance of stupid characters is at an all time high.

Also. ....work rate is a fanzine term.....Mr wrestler should know.that.

^^This.

Not only is the number of stupid characters too high. The number of matches with goofy shit has increased. I mean, its at the point where some of these matches is like wrestling Jason Voorhees. By that I mean, you have super kick after super kick and it doesn't finish a wrestler off. Remember when HBK hit that move, your ass wasn't getting up.

Also, why do main event guys wrestle 15 minutes with jobbers? What happened to building a dominating star? Oh, let's just pull this guy out of the Indys and have a 15 minute match on TV with our TNT champion. Who cares if he is blown up after 3 minutes!? Our hardcore audience that isn't growing will love it.

 

[RLStern]

Then you complain about fanatics and niche markets - but ironically you're a zealot.
If you don't even watch any of the products from the US - Europe - Japan - then your opinion is 100% irrelevant.
A zealot shouting from the rooftops about why fanatics are ruining wrestling. So ironic.

I’m a regular fan they’ve turned away along with the millions and millions

My opinion is 100% relevant because I’m the target audience, not niche fanatics.

You’re so entitled that you think because you watch obsessively that they should cater to you, when in fact by definition they should never ever cater to fanatics, they’re a niche who have a taste that goes against the grain/mainstream taste.

Nobody is watching rasslin because it's lame.....there's too many fucking characters in it.....the abundance of stupid characters is at an all time high.

Also. ....work rate is a fanzine term.....Mr wrestler should know.that.

There are no characters today, only a handful select and even with the small amount it’s bad characters.

 

[CakeWalker]

Watch obsessively? Where have you got that information from?
Also if you aren't watching the product at all - you're not even the audience.
Your just someone who doesn't engage in the product.

 

[RLStern]

Watch obsessively? Where have you got that information from?
Also if you aren't watching the product at all - you're not even the audience.
Your just someone who doesn't engage in the product.

I am the audience, the audience for wrestling doesn’t watch it anymore, because it’s catered to a niche.

I’m not apart of the niche. If you watch more than 4 hours of wrestling a week, various companies a week, then it’s obsessive.

Back in the day people would choose WWF or WCW, some switching back and forth, and only watched 4 hours per week max plus the occasional PPV

Nobody cared about indy or Japanese wrestling and they still don’t.

Until those companies can draw over 5 million viewers it’s culturally irrelevant.

The market for wrestling would destroyed when WWF bought WCW, then the WWF’s boom period ended when the had the brand extension, which drove them from 5.0 averages to 3.0’s in the span of 6 months from April-October of 2002

 

[CakeWalker]

Who said I watch more than 4 hours of wrestling a week?
Also I dont even live in America

 

[CakeWalker]

If you don't watch the product - you aren't the audience. Saying otherwise just makes you sound like a 3 year old in kindergarten

 

[RLStern]

Who said I watch more than 4 hours of wrestling a week?
Also I dont even live in America

Then you have zero say when it comes to American wrestling.

Boom periods are a National situation, then companies can boom elsewhere. But first they have to be successful in their country.

Hulkamania and the Attitude era were American pop culture, then other countries got a taste on occasion.

 

[CakeWalker]

Because I don't live in America - I have no say one when it comes to American Promotions? What absolute nonsense are you talking about? The English language comes from England so on your basis I would suggest you stop using it - because you have zero say when it comes to the language.

 

[Swamps]

I listen to Jim Cornette's youtube channel, more than four hours a week. Is that obsessive or is it cool?