thee Reverend Axl Future Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 8 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said: Great post, but I have one quibble: Ted Turner did understand how to leverage cable, but he was focused on doing so with the baseball club he owned rather than with pro wrestling. Putting the Braves on national television made major waves. I feel like people forget how innovative Turner was re: cable television. You are right, I was in my 'rassling bubble. I think the WWF was a better product, however, to take nation(world)-wide, merchandising- & brand name-wise. 7 hours ago, Mister TV said: While cable tv was part of the WWF’s national expansion, syndicated tv was the main tool Vince used. Stations had been giving away tv time to wrestling promotions based on handshake deals, then you had Vince show up with a briefcase full of cash and a cut of house show money in that market, those station managers jumped at that deal. That syndication network enabled Vince to sell commercial time, sponsorships and so on. I see it that the syndicated TV was a means to an end, to thee Big Takeover, if you will. It hurt the territories and help drive them down but it was the cable exposure that gave the WWF product the big time shine, and the ability to do the magazine, the merch in stores and the nationwide roadshow. The syndicated shows worked, but some were loss leaders. That market* was a short term deal that became secondary quickly. * The closed circuit market ended right quick, and eventually the PPV market became superfluous (Network) and even now the venerable house show market (Saudis and NBC and such). p.s. - I know we are veering off the Purge thread theme, but I really dig talking the details of this pivotal era. If anybody says that Mr. McMahon is/was not a genius at least once, their fanboy hatred has overtaken their reason. Is he a nice fellow? Well... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 For better or worse, Cyndi Lauper was never gonna come to the ring with Dusty Rhodes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 12 minutes ago, Dog said: For better or worse, Cyndi Lauper was never gonna come to the ring with Dusty Rhodes. But Debbie Harry might have. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thee Reverend Axl Future Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Dog said: For better or worse, Cyndi Lauper was never gonna come to the ring with Dusty Rhodes. I love thee Dusty Rhodes, but Capt. Lou is the real punk icon. Ms. Harry can do no wrong, and transcends all genres. Everybody wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technico Support Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) I can only speak from experience on the "syndicated vs cable" thing, but I can tell you I became a fan shortly before Mania 1 (so I would have been 10) and I didn't have cable until my late teens. So my whole fandom (WWE and Crockett) was created and built on syndication, house shows promoted by syndication, and those glorious every-few-month drops (like manna from heaven) of new videos I could rent (Beta at first, VHS later). Edited December 13, 2021 by Technico Support 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister TV Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Remember cable as we know it really didn't roll out in big cities until 1983-1984ish and didn't hit peak viewership until the mid-90's when the Monday Night Wars started. Having the WWF on USA, regional sports networks like MSG, PRISM and NESN along with Super Stations like WTBS and WWOR, at first filled the gaps in markets(usually smaller ones) that Vince didn't have syndicated tv in yet, along with gaining a monopoly on pro wrestling on cable tv, since everyone with a brain knew at some point it was going to be a money maker. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Hero Morganti Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 And even when the Monday night wars started. House show promotion was still a huge part of both raw and nitro until at least 97/98 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 Is there a definitive book on the life (and impending death) of cable television out there that anyone in this thread would suggest? I know quite a bit of the story simply from reading books about the early players in the industry, but I am always on the lookout for a good book on this topic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 According to SRS on Fightful, Toni Storm is gone from WWE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 or AxB will just drag it up... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 I am sure we will need to start a new one in January but we are good for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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