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diversions:
XFL cancelled
after low ratings, little attention
Fans, the only thing
newsworthy in wrestling right now is … football.
The XFL, World
Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon's attempt to offer
an alternative to the National Football League, folded Thursday
after just one season. I know, I'm as shocked as you are.
Every sportswriter's
worst prediction for the league came through: low ratings,
abysmal live attendance, a "brave new world" approach
to football that sports fans are not ready for.
The XFL will be
now be known as the new Coke of sports.
Want to know why
exactly the XFL failed? To paraphrase a shopworn catchphrase
from D-Generation X, "I got two words for ya … Vince
McMahon."
It should not be
a surprise to anyone ? McMahon included ? that the football
league was bound to fail.
For one thing,
any non-wrestling product promoted by a wrestling company
is bound to fail because of the wrestling stigma. Believe
it or not, there is a segment of society who actually looks
down on wrestling as a lowbrow circus freak show for Copenhagen-dippin'-coupon-clippin'
rednecks. Therefore, a football league that is closely related
to a nationally prominent wrestling federation would be seen
in the same light.
There is also the
worry that some of the worst elements of wrestling would creep
over into the XFL, and this isn't the play-by-play that was
provided by WWF commentators like Jim "Damn it, touchdown!"
Ross. The biggest fear is that in desperate times, the WWF
booking team might script a football game. Never mind that
fixing a football game is close to impossible ? there's no
way to ascribe the results of a pass ? but perception is nine-tenths
of reality, and the possibility of "fake football"
always haunted the XFL.
Another reason
why the XFL failed was because McMahon never discovered a
fanbase. For one thing, NBC gave XFL a terrible time slot
? Saturday nights. A decade ago, "The Golden Girls"
was pulling in high ratings. There's the problem. Older ladies
are not big football fans. The young males the XFL hoped to
attract do not stay home and watch television on Saturday
nights.
The Sunday games
were not much better. Games were shown on UPN and TNN. The
former has the lowest ratings and market share of the six
free-television networks, and the latter is trying to shed
its country-fried image while still showing bull riding and
monster truck rallies. The XFL was desperately trying to be
big-league football on bush-league stations.
Most of all, McMahon
should have known that his ventures outside wrestling end
up failing. A decade ago, McMahon formed the World Bodybuilding
Federation to complement the WWF. The WBF showcased ripped,
hulking masses of humans who did nothing but flex their biceps,
pecs and other well-developed muscles. Televised bodybuilding
is a very small market to begin with, and because these muscular
ogres never fought, WWF fans never crossed over to the WBF.
McMahon quickly torpedoed the WBF after a few months.
McMahon also attempted
to jump-start a multimedia empire centered on wrestling after
"No Holds Barred" was released in 1989. The movie
was a star vehicle for Hulk Hogan, who was McMahon's golden
child at the time. "No Holds Barred" was supposed
to be the springboard for WWF's domination of movies, music
and all other forms of entertainment. Instead, the movie was
panned by viewers and critics alike, and rightfully so.
McMahon's first
strike was "No Holds Barred" in 1989, the second
was the WBF in1991 and the third and final strike was with
the XFL this year. Maybe now he will learn to stick with wrestling
before he strikes out again.
Until next week,
fans, keep watching.
Chris Ledermuller
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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