Wrestling: Two views

This is in relation to the local wrestling show I helped produce in 1994-95, billed as Pro-Wrestling Ringside, and later, Wrestling Hot Seat.

The first point applies not only to this show, but to other shows that went "live" over the cable system. All "live" shows happened to be call-in shows, where viewers could call, comment, and contribute to the proceedings. This was a huge draw to volunteer crewpeople on shows like the previously-mentioned charade show.

But with the wrestling show in particular, I think call-ins were a downfall.

In regular network programming, it's called broadcasting; specifically, you are showing something to a general, broad audience. In local programming, though, you strived for narrowcasting, as each program was tailored for a specific, small group of people. You weren't out to please everyone. Each show was supposed to have its niche, narrow-cast, and therefore be the opposite of what television popularly was.

Narrow-casting, however, can weed out small groups of people who might be profane, as you would undoubtedly find when you are at a wrestling event. It's not just for the kids anymore, anyway. This is what we would be saddled with on any given production. We had to end up screening calls, half of which we couldn't put on the air anyway, because people thought the whole thing was a prank. They weren't shy about spouting profanities on the air, which we couldn't bleep out because a bad word could come without a moment's notice.

No current wrestling show on the air these days has unstaged, live calls. And look how rabidly popular they are with the audience they capture. I think the show could have done better, and many red faces could have been eliminated, if we had just shut the phone lines off and left the talent to do their scripted routines. Some of them were quite funny, and the calls would throw them off.

The second point is about marketing. Detroit has a rabid wrestling fan base, and many of them do go to the local events, where names WWE has never heard of headline as if they were legends. The show host was even a wrestling manager in character, and he had a line of tapes he'd sell to fans documenting past interviews & matches.

Why he never chose to market these tapes better, I'd have no idea. He spent a lot of time thumbing through matches, picking out the best, and providing additional commentary for them. They mean something to the narrow-casted few. It should have been pursued with the same rabid rawness that is the atmosphere for locally-produced matches.

One man's opinion only.