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Gregg Mixdorf

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The Ramblings of an Insane Wrestling Fan
Morality in Wrestling

ROME: For instance, if you had an 11 year-old son, you don't right now, but if you did, would you let him watch? Would you want him to watch?
VINCE: Absolutely.
ROME: Really?
VINCE: Yes. Those are my values. I'm very comfortable with them, and very very proud of what we present. You may differ with that point of view, and you have a right to differ with that point of view, and that's fine with me. It's not for everybody.
ROME: Granted, but is it for an 11 year-old kid?
VINCE: I guess that's for you to decide, if you have an 11 year-old child.
ROME: I don't personally. Probably I wouldn't let an 11 year-old child watch it. I mean, I think there's a certain audience for it, but I'm not sure it is an audience for an 11 year-old.
VINCE: That's your opinion, and that's fine.
(Thanks to MiCasa for the transcript of this interview)

The comments made by Vince McMahon above are one that is shocking to me. He is so proud of his wrestling product to let a hypothetical eleven-year-old son of his to watch Raw. What does Vince think about morals for him to be able to say that he would be proud to have his hypothetical eleven-year-old son watch wrestling? Is this his justification to himself to continue to market an obvious adult product at children? How many action figures, fake title belts, and comic book tie-ins are we going to get before we all decide to take a stand and not let our children buy this stuff? There is no need to market to kids when you have a substantial adult audience like the WWF. You can market to an adult orientated demographic and develop fans who will have more money to spend. There is no need for people under the age of fifteen to be watching Raw, thus there is really no need to encourage there viewing participation. This is something that I think most of us can agree upon.

But what about the parents of these kids that watch wrestling at a young and impressionable age. I attended a Raw taping in Milwaukee a while back. We didn't have the greatest seats in the building; in fact it was pretty near the last row. In the row behind us there was a father with three children the oldest being at the most 12. Next to us was another father with 6 children with him all between the ages of 8 and 15. The taping was going along well enough and was an enjoyable time. The thing I found most disgusting was the children all around us screaming obscenities and other things that would normally offend a parent. For example one eight year old boy behind me kept screaming 'Bring out the ho's!' at the top of his voice and giving the finger to anybody with in range. When the Godfather came out all these kids went nuts. They fucking loved the Godfather. They sung along with his catchphrase and actually commented on the quality of the ho's (restaurant I believe). These kids really got into this stuff, and they knew what to say by heart, seemingly with their parents blessing.

It is parents like the one Vince says he would be that let their children watch Raw and Smackdown. It is parents like these that are at fault for the marketing of the WWF towards children. They buy the figures to give to there kids and they take them to the live events like the one I attended.

The WWF is not totally to blame for their marketing stance towards children. It is effective and profitable, although totally devoid of any morale thought since they changed the wrestling landscape to Attitude. If there were a substantial ratings loss or revenue loss because of it they would stop this marketing plan. It is extremely successful so they don't.

This wouldn't be such a problem if they just admitted that fact. Instead they try and hide behind this argument that their product is child friendly. That kids 'Get It' while adults don't. Then they claim that Jakked and Metal are the shows that air on Saturday morning and are toned down for children with parents who disagree about Raw being child friendly.

To this I say bullshit. You remember back during the whole Mark Henry/Chyna angle that ended with a guy going down on Mark Henry. That specific segment was on in the Green Bay market at ten o'clock on a Saturday morning. I was shocked. Not only did I not need to see that retarded angle again but this was put on all there recap shows so everyone of their fans could see it. They directly marketed this at that audience they claimed they would protect by editing that kind of stuff out of the recaps on those two shows.

When it comes to morality in wrestling Vince McMahon defends what he does with his eye firmly focused on the bottom line. If there were an extreme backlash against their story lines and blue humor skits they would declare such things immoral and go away from it. The WWF gives people what they want. There is no question about that. But can I support a company that markets an adult product deliberately at children? I don't know. I love wrestling and thankfully things have gotten better since Vince Russo left the WWF but I have got to wonder how far they can take it before people backlash against them.

Thanks for reading. By the way if you have any criticisms or praise or anything that you would like to yell at me for email me.

Also check out Justin Transue's columns All in a Days Workrate, he is doing some fine work and he would also appreciate some feedback. So go on and read some columns on the [slash].

Gregg Mixdorf
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