CALDWELL'S TAKE VIP - CALDWELL: Twenty Years and 1,000 Issues Later (PWTorch Newsletter #1000) Nov 28, 2007 - 2:08:37 PM

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The Perspective with James Caldwell
By James Caldwell, Torch columnist
Original Headline: WWE Financial Analysis
Torch Newsletter #1000 (Originally Posted 11-28-07)

How "The Why" has become the most important goal of the PWTorch Newsletter

The year was 1987 and the Pro Wrestling Torch was born. 20 years later, after KFAN, Hotlines, adbars, and E-Subs, the Torch has carved its own niche in the pro wrestling reporting landscape. Back in 1987, there were fanzines, bulletins, fan clubs, and newsletters. Now, those are websites, message boards, forums, e-feds, and blogs.

Reporting on pro wrestling has changed considerably over the past 20 years. Dozens of newsletters produced on a typewriter and distributed by postal mail amongst a group of fans scattered across the world has given way to a few newsletters and hundreds of websites dedicated to wrestling read by hundreds of thousands. The means of distributing information has changed, as has the question we must answer.

Pro wrestling, in case you haven't figured out, is a weird hybrid form of entertainment with its own set of rules and quirks that create a secret club of sorts. Making sense of stories, results, and the hidden messages on the TV shows broadcast across the world is part of being in the club.

If you're reading this, you obviously want to be in the club. You turn on the TV to watch Raw, Smackdown, ECW, or Impact and you crave more information about what you watched. You represent a small percentage of the viewing audience, but you're hungry for information.

"The Office" is clearly the best TV show in the history of the world, and I crave thirty minutes of Michael, Jim, and Pam every Thursday night, but I don't search out more information online. I watch the show and I move along with my life. That represents the majority of the viewing audience that wants to watch a show regularly, but they can take or leave the additional information available to them on their favorite show.

You, on the other hand, want to read Creed's blog. You want to know when the next Office convention is taking place. Your relationship with the show doesn't stop when the show ends. You crave more information about what you just watched. And that's where PWTorch comes in.

Twenty years ago, the information you sought was results from a promotion that didn't have a TV presence in your market. Twenty years ago, the information you wanted was which big name star from the AWA would be appearing on the next WWF show. You wanted to find out where World Class was outdrawing the WWF in Texas.

In 2007, that information is a click away. You're not coming to the Torch to find out how many times Snitsky has been pinned on Raw the last two years. That can be found in a simple Google search. You're coming to the Torch to find out why it matters that WWE would say Snitsky has never been pinned on Raw despite everyone who watches the show knowing he's been pinned more than his fair share. Okay, maybe you don't care about that either, but you get my point.

What's changed the most in the past 20 years is the question. The question you were asking was who, what, and where. Yes, it's still important. We're still giving you the live results from TV shows, PPVs, and house shows to maintain a consistent record of what happened each week.

Now, the main question is why. When all the information in the world is available in a second, you come to the Torch not primarily for a record or account, but to find out "the why" from an experienced staff of writers who collectively, more times than not, have seen something like it before and can provide perspective and context.

The newspaper business has taken its fair share of blows to the head over the past decade, with newspaper owners selling their properties left and right in hopes of generating a reasonable return. What has happened is that the record or account that newspapers provide can easily be found online in a click of a button.

In a society where there is so much information, newspapers almost represent an additional overload of content. Instead of seeking facts, which are easily accessible, readers need "the why" to the front page story. Why does a story on global warming matter to me when I'm driving to soccer practice at four o'clock in the afternoon?

Op-ed pieces from random Joe Blow down the street writing in to the paper don't suffice. Firm analysis, based on fact, provided from a reliable source with a track record of making sense of information with reasonable accuracy is what readers seek.

For the Torch to continue another 20 years and beyond, our goal cannot be a simple record or account. We will become obsolete if we're simply providing basic information such as match results and TV ratings. Whereas the Torch started as a reliable source of factual information, the sustainability of the Torch comes from making sense of that information.

There is so much hearsay and fluff tossed around in the wrestling universe on a daily basis that you're seeking clarity. What's close to the truth and what's a fabrication? You desire a source of information that will give you the facts and analysis to make sense of a crazy business.

Full page magazine ads for Pro Wrestling Torch in the mid-'90s said: "Find out not just what's happening, but why it happening"......

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