Following the Business vs Following the Product?

[Grimmas]

This board may be an exception, where we really value footage and dissect, but there seem's to be a lot of people who care more about the business end of things.

 

I've completely given up on back stage shenanigans, stock prices, tv ratings, all of that. Do I like the product or not, determines what I watch.

 

Has there been a shift towards more business caring than product caring?

 

Has Metlzer influenced this change?

 

Am I out to lunch thinking this is happening at all?

[gordi]

It definitely seems to be happening. It's one of the reasons why I more or less only discuss wrestling online here at PWO these days. I'm with you, I wanna watch and discuss and argue about matches and wrestlers. That other stuff does not interest me.

[Mad Dog]

I have less time so I follow the business side less. I mean who really cares that much about ratings anymore. Though, I do find the WWE's business position to be kind of interesting as I think they are kind of in a dangerous position with how much they rely on TV money to make a profit now.

 

Even with less time, the WWE product has just been a wealth of conversation just from a bad booking point of view the last few years that the business side is boring compared to it.

[Richeyedwards]

I like it when a promotion I like is doing well business wise because well quite simply good for them. But i don't really like talking about the business side all that much, i appreciate that it is massively important and maybe the most important thing but i would much rather discuss matches and wrestlers and to a lesser extent promos and announcing etc. Discussing what i see on screen holds far more interest to me than discussing backstage or business goings on.

This is not to say that the backstage stuff cannot be fascinating but the tv ratings and sponser money and all that, really i don't care what I do care about a good wrestling product.

[El-P]

I guess listening to Meltz is the way I kept in touch with the scene as for a very, very long time, I was only following WWE from the business standpoint. I went back for a few years (more or less when Daniel Bryan won at Mania until the Saudi Arabia debacle, with various spots of interest) but the WWE still is a pretty awful product to watch anyway (some matches are great, but that's it, all the rest is eye gouging), so I'm probably going back to following more or less the business side again. Listening to the Bruce podcast certainly goes into that category as well.

 

LU, which is the promotion I've been following the past few years, really, I don't care about the backstage stuff.

[SPS]

I think it's become such a big thing due to the fact the more fans can see why outside and backstage influences can cause the onscreen matches and stories to be affected. Once promotions got lazier at explaining or wrapping up loose ends of stories then me personally wanted to know what happened?

 

Then once you delve into the rabbithole and you see more interesting tales and rumors being spun about the backstage stuff than anything going on in the product then it makes it harder to commit your time and emotional investment in the onscreen stories.

 

When you see how due to this reason or another then it's not gonna ever get paid off or end in a satisfactory way and talent you cheer for and support languish aimlessly for reasons on screen you don't understand but read some news backstage and in situations like Enzo recently you see why shit just stopped and disappeared.

 

With so much entertainment at our fingertips and so much product to sift through I would much rather have an idea of what the possible direction of the product is gonna be vs just blinding sifting through the near 8-10 hours of weekly shows for WWE alone.

 

I see it kinda like going to the movies, if it's a franchise or a director that hasn't let me down then I'm gonna watch regardless but if it's something that has a history of bad content or poor stories then I'm gonna check out some reviews and critics opinions before I invest my time.

 

Pro wrestling fans online are notorious complainers but sometimes it's valid, because most of the time at least with WWE they seem to mock fans when they take the product seriously and also they dump on fans for not giving a shit about what's going on. You can't have it both ways.

[Matt D]

People were doing this in 98 though. Some of it is easier now but we were all staring at quarter hours in the late 90s.

[Loss]

I care when it confirms my biases. Otherwise, I dont. Just like most people.

[Laz]

People were doing this in 98 though. Some of it is easier now but we were all staring at quarter hours in the late 90s.

It's actually insane how much my wrestling fandom, and learning about the business of it (as much as I can without being part of it), taught me about television ratings. I can imagine it's the same with the rest of us.

[dawho5]

I watch wrestling for the wrestling. If somebody puts the information in front of me about why this match went this way, I'll take it into account. Same time, the match is the match and you either like it or you don't. The reasons it happened the way it did don't really matter. That being said, I am thoroughly enjoying the Kayfabe Commentaries History of WCW series that I've watched. Probably not 100% accurate, but a fun watch that illustrates changes in the wrestling business from the 70s to the 90s to where we are today.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I do both. I don’t bother with Meltzer’s business analysis but I am a Wrestleomics Patreon supporter because I think Mookie and Brandon do terrific work and break down stuff going on in the business beyond just really superficial stuff that Dave covers like TV ratings, etc.

[fxnj]

I think it's become such a big thing due to the fact the more fans can see why outside and backstage influences can cause the onscreen matches and stories to be affected. Once promotions got lazier at explaining or wrapping up loose ends of stories then me personally wanted to know what happened?

 

Then once you delve into the rabbithole and you see more interesting tales and rumors being spun about the backstage stuff than anything going on in the product then it makes it harder to commit your time and emotional investment in the onscreen stories.

 

When you see how due to this reason or another then it's not gonna ever get paid off or end in a satisfactory way and talent you cheer for and support languish aimlessly for reasons on screen you don't understand but read some news backstage and in situations like Enzo recently you see why shit just stopped and disappeared.

 

With so much entertainment at our fingertips and so much product to sift through I would much rather have an idea of what the possible direction of the product is gonna be vs just blinding sifting through the near 8-10 hours of weekly shows for WWE alone.

 

I see it kinda like going to the movies, if it's a franchise or a director that hasn't let me down then I'm gonna watch regardless but if it's something that has a history of bad content or poor stories then I'm gonna check out some reviews and critics opinions before I invest my time.

 

Pro wrestling fans online are notorious complainers but sometimes it's valid, because most of the time at least with WWE they seem to mock fans when they take the product seriously and also they dump on fans for not giving a shit about what's going on. You can't have it both ways.

Agreed. I haven't followed WWE's weekly shows in close to 10 years, but I can't remember a day during that time I haven't checked out the news and rumors. The truth is more entertaining than fiction. If WWE does do a segment I want to watch I can just look it up on Youtube later without having to subject myself to hours of TV a week or pay for the network.

[JaymeFuture]

As soon as the wrestling world became about who is winning a ratings war in 1995, it opened the door to looking at that side of things as a barometer for success or failure, rather than whether people personally liked it.

[Cap]

I never got into caring about the business side. I have probably used it - as Loss said - to confirm my bias before, but I usually don't even care to know enough to do that. That is why "draw" has always been the least interesting analytic for discussing the relative strengths of wrestlers, promotions, matches, angles, etc.

[Dooley]

I don't think it's exclusive to wrestling. Half of the sports pages are dedicated to contract negotiations, locker room gossip and the like.