{"id":53291,"date":"2017-12-30T17:40:52","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T23:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=53291"},"modified":"2018-01-01T14:20:52","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T20:20:52","slug":"20-years-ago-bruce-mitchell-feature-column-adult-contemporary-controversy-wwfs-move-edgier-programming-later-dubbed-attitude-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/12\/30\/20-years-ago-bruce-mitchell-feature-column-adult-contemporary-controversy-wwfs-move-edgier-programming-later-dubbed-attitude-era\/","title":{"rendered":"20 YEARS AGO &#8211; Bruce Mitchell Feature Column: Adult Contemporary \u2013 The controversy over WWF\u2019s move to edgier programming (later dubbed &#8220;The Attitude Era&#8221;)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1643055673\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><em>The following column was published 20 years ago this week in the Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Newsletter by Bruce Mitchell. His long-form monthly columns in the 1990s were a staple of the PWTorch Newsletter&#8217;s rise to prominence, part of pro wrestling journalism moving to places it hadn&#8217;t gone prior.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>BRUCE MITCHELL COLUMN<\/h2>\n<h3>Adult Contemporary \u2013 The controversy over WWF\u2019s move to edgier programming<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cTelevision is democracy at its ugliest.\u201d<br \/>\n\u2014 Paddy Chayefsky<\/p>\n<p>The biggest crock in wrestling these days is the controversy over the WWF\u2019s new \u201ccontemporary\u201d direction. Suddenly various fans and small town newspaper columnists are wringing their hands in self-righteous indignation over the effect Shawn Michaels\u2019s ass has on the impressionable youth of America. Vince McMahon is so sensitive to this criticism he defended the new direction on Raw against the Los Angeles Times piece that has yet to even appear. He wasn\u2019t sensitive enough to change the direction he chose to combat WCW\u2019s star power, however. Titan Sports is doing its best business in years, after all.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly it\u2019s not enough that pro wrestling delivers television ratings, house show gates, merchandise revenue, or pay-per-view buys. Now wrestling promoters are supposed to provide role models for children, like they supposedly did in the good ol\u2019 days. By this standard the WWF is coming up a little short. Hunter Hearst Helmsley talks about his \u201cguided missile,\u201d or Sable is pretty much naked, or Steve Austin says \u201cdamn,\u201d \u201chell,\u201d or \u201cass,\u201d or some maniac is trying to kill people with a chainsaw and these critics are shocked.<\/p>\n<p>The WWF is bad for kids, they moan. Even wrestlers such as Bret Hart and Davey Boy Smith cite the vulgar direction of the WWF as part of the reason they left the promotion. Jim Cornette, part of the WWF\u2019s front office, wondered aloud on television why he got into this business while commentating on Goldust\u2019s antics.<\/p>\n<p>Who are these people kidding? From the first time a carnival worked the wrestler vs. the ringer scam a hundred years ago, through \u201cDangerous\u201d Danny McShane cutting his forehead and bleeding all over Texas, to the Sheik throwing fire at his hapless victims, to those Bruiser\/Crusher bloodbaths, through the Fargos in Memphis, Johnny Valentine, Ray Stevens, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, the Ultimate Warrior, through countless hours of Saturday morning television, one thing has been constant: professional wrestling has never been suitable viewing for children.<\/p>\n<p>Wrestling is violence with the thinnest veneer of sports covering it. Wrestlers in every promotion in every era have always solved their on-air problems by beating somebody up. No educator or professional who works with children has ever endorsed pro wrestling as a model for appropriate behavior. Any teacher who has ever heard the plaintive cry of \u201cHe hit me first!\u201d (not coincidentally, the motivation for almost every feud in wrestling) knows pro wrestling has no redeeming social value.<\/p>\n<p>As an elementary school teacher, I\u2019ve learned to dread the infrequent times my students discuss pro wrestlers. The worst was the day the biggest kid in my class offered to Vaderbomb his pal before I interrupted the proceedings. (Okay, okay, that wasn\u2019t the worst. The worst was the morning a child walked into my class yelling, \u201cMr. Mitchell said the ass word!\u201d because he heard me discuss Steve Austin on a local radio talk show. Hoo, boy. Turned out Dad was a listener.) Nothing in wrestling, though, has caused more annoying and inevitably painful \u201ckarate\u201d demonstrations on the playground than those no-good Power Rangers.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2884495754\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Pro wrestling historically has been marketed mostly to adults but (Hey, kids! The midgets!) it has also been willing to take a buck off of any children who wanted to come along. Parents, like marks, were expected to know better. If not, well, that\u2019s why they call them marks, young or old.<\/p>\n<p>So the pious concern over the WWF\u2019s new direction is misplaced at best, and hypocritical at worst. At least the marketing of t&amp;a, gang warfare, homophobia, racism, cursing, misogyny, sexual perversion, anti-social behavior, and cannibalism, if you count Mike Tyson, is aimed at supposed grown-ups \u2014 the kind who put the \u201cadult\u201d into Adult Entertainment.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s each adult\u2019s decision whether they buy into this stuff or not. The hypocritical irony of the recent criticism of the WWF is that the wrestling these critics seem to be nostalgic for was the one time wrestling was clearly harmful for children \u2014 the era of Hulkamaniacs, Little Stingers, Little Warriors, and all the rest.<\/p>\n<p>The full-court marketing press that Titan Sports led on unsuspecting kiddies and their parents in the \u201980s, covering the \u201cbeat \u2019em up \u2019cause they\u2019re different\u201d ethic of wrestling with a sick cover of merchandising malarkey, was obscene. The best part of the current Hollywood Hogan character is that Terry Bollea finally abandoned the \u201csay your prayers and take your vitamins\u201d role model crap that helped make him a focus of the steroid scandal. No one knows how many children who idolized the wrestlers of that day followed them into drug abuse when the opportunity came for them to get the same type of bloated bodies their heroes had. At least now, the type who is most likely to be influenced by Degeneration X is probably old enough to go to the strip club if they want.<\/p>\n<p>One difference between that era and today\u2019s shock value approach is that now parents have a better chance to responsibly monitor their children\u2019s wrestling viewing. There are no cartoon shows or vignettes doing charity work to fool parents into thinking wrestling is appropriate for their children.<\/p>\n<p>And as much as these phony moralists might argue otherwise, it\u2019s the parents\u2019 job, not Vince McMahon\u2019s, to oversee their children\u2019s television viewing. The advances in technology have expanded consumer choices in entertainment, including television. As the consumer choice has expanded so did the number of bad choices. When I as an adult choose not to watch often manipulative, cynical, pandering shows like \u201cTouched By An Angel\u201d I am making the same choice that any parent can make for their child about wrestling shows.<\/p>\n<p>And while many parents weren\u2019t sophisticated or knowledgeable enough about wrestling in the \u201980s to make informed choices for their children, that is hardly the case today. Now the WWF has made parents\u2019 jobs a lot easier.<\/p>\n<p>Any parent who doesn\u2019t understand what the WWF is up to after seeing Goldust with a ball gag in his mouth, or Shawn Michaels in his briefs grabbing himself, or Sable as the Human Blow Up Doll stripping down to her g-string, or Stone Cold saying \u201cass\u201d five times in 30 seconds, has more serious problems than what their kids watch on television.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-4209123868\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The WWF is vulnerable in one major area, though. The WWF is asking for a public relations fiasco in the mainstream press by continuing to have children\u2019s toy sponsors like Milton Bradley Karate Fighters. The WWF needs to make a major effort to sign up new sponsors like the beer and pick-up truck advertisers who support pro sports. It\u2019s too bad Penthouse magazine doesn\u2019t do much television advertising because Raw\u2019s new targeted demographic would be a perfect fit.<\/p>\n<p>Vince McMahon also ought to save his \u201cFriendly Vince\u201d persona for another time and forget about making phony promises to clean up the Saturday morning Live Wire show. If the WWF can\u2019t get Live Wire moved to a later timeslot, USA ought to slap a warning label on it and forget it. USA, after all, is the network that runs gambling tout shows on Saturday morning encouraging viewers to break the law and bet on ballgames. These shows, with their fraudulent success claims, are a bigger con than anything the WWF usually pulls.<\/p>\n<p>The alternative direction that ECW and Paul Heyman pioneered, the fast-paced music and cuts, the bad-ass posturing, and New Japan style fake-shoot angles have been an inaugural success at the box office and a mixed success critically.<\/p>\n<p>Superserving the strip club audience (or the audience that wishes they were in a strip club instead of their parents\u2019 basement) has brought more passion and aggression to the product than the WWF\u2019s security force and many of their wrestlers are accustomed to experiencing.<\/p>\n<p>The recent riots at WWF house shows are indicative of one of the keys to success in this approach, a key that ECW has also failed to master. The alternative approach ironically takes more discipline than the all-American approach. Many of the wrestlers now immersed in what those in the business sometimes call the \u201creligion gimmick\u201d know that you can get away with more if you thump that Bible because you take advantage of the trusting nature of true believers. Hardcore offers no such benefits. The balls-to-the-wall approach takes more discipline because you have to know how to use it for maximum positive effect.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a couple of years ago I attended my first ECW spot show. First match, Ian Rotten grabbed the house mic and called his opponent a \u201cmother f\u2014-.\u201d I raised an eyebrow toward the guy taping the match \u2014 not that I was shocked at the phrase, just at when Rotten said it. \u201cHappens all the time,\u201d was the blas\u00e9 reaction. By the end of the show the word had been used so many times no one paid the slightest attention to it.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, there\u2019s the HBO show \u201cOz,\u201d a show that finished at the top of many influential television critics\u2019 year-end \u201cBest of\u201d lists. The emotional crux of the series was a brutal scene of torture, revenge, and excrement. A verbal description of what happened in the scene, never mind the scene itself, would get the ECW show yanked off the air if the station manager heard it.<\/p>\n<p>But because the producers of \u201cOz\u201d paid so much attention to detail and to the emotional truth of the story they told, the show was hailed by critics as a television break-through. And because it was so intense and so well-done it was saved from brick bats \u2014 except, that is, from the same fringe that complained about the airing of \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d on NBC because of the occasional unclothed breasts. The key to the success of \u201cOz\u201d was the producer\u2019s extraordinary discipline and attention to detail. Sometimes in art, it\u2019s not what you do, it\u2019s how you do it.<\/p>\n<p>As anyone who followed pro wrestling last year knows, discipline is not WWF management\u2019s strong suit. The Bret Hart debacle was a classic case study of personnel mismanagement. Vince McMahon was too busy coddling, in-turn, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels and ignoring or caving in to their misbehavior that he destroyed what was left of his credibility with his wrestlers, no matter his, Hart\u2019s, or anyone else\u2019s interpretation of the phrase \u201creasonable control.\u201d It\u2019s telling of the WWF\u2019s lack of discipline that both Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels recently dodged doing jobs that would have helped strengthen other wrestlers and storylines. No one can afford to take Vince McMahon\u2019s promises of trading a job now for a boost later, if they can avoid it.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, the lack of discipline is hardly confined to the WWF. It has caused problems throughout the history of ECW and is also a major problem, perhaps worst of all in the business, at WCW.<\/p>\n<p>As you might expect with the lack of discipline, the early creative results of the hardcore approach are mixed for the WWF. Austin 3:16 is a clear success, making Austin the most popular wrestling performer in the country. Austin\u2019s swearing just adds a little salt to a primo act. Shawn Michaels and Degeneration X are so effective at blending the worst of their behind the scenes attitudes with their tremendous performing ability that they have eclipsed the NWO and anything at ECW for cutting edge viewing. That Michaels seems to be capable of a live meltdown at any moment only adds to the high-wire nature of the act.<\/p>\n<p>The rest? The WWF\u2019s ethnic gangs, with the exception of the rising Rock, are a bust. Mick Foley seems to be reverting to Cactus Jack just in time, since the multiple personality gig was starting to get a little silly. Chainsaw Charlie is going to get lame fast since ol\u2019 Uncle Terry probably won\u2019t actually whack off any of the New Age Outlaws\u2019 limbs. The Mero Family storyline is worthy of a psycho-sexual treatise, what with Sable\u2019s husband supposedly degrading and abusing her by not letting her take her clothes off in front of sex-starved loner-types. Despite efforts to humanize the characters, the Undertaker-Kane storyline belongs in a Ninja Turtle movie. The Head Bangers are to Metal what the Bushwackers were to The Sheepherders.<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s wrestling\u2019s answer to the class showoff, Dustin Runnels. It would be easier for the audience to buy Goldust-Sex Pervert if the gimmick hadn\u2019t been watered down by Dustin going from Gay to Pretend-Gay to Family Man to Cuckold to Pervert so quickly. Runnels\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll do anything\u201d attitude is emblematic of the lack of discipline in the WWF\u2019s approach. The WWF has to know what is pushing the envelope and what is offensive and unimaginative. Marc Mero punching Sable in the face would get a reaction. So did Goldust in black face. Both are bad ideas, and it takes discipline to know why.<\/p>\n<p>Actually, Goldust\u2019s attention-seeking gimmicks seem more like a guy who based his act on a couple of porno mags he bought on his one visit to the adult book store than a real life pervert, and the audience seems to sense it.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the most perverse, unsettling, subversive gimmick in the sport isn\u2019t in the WWF or even ECW. It\u2019s in WCW, the same promotion that Eric Bischoff claims is toning down on-camera misbehavior. Raven\u2019s Nest, to put it bluntly, ought to be renamed Raven\u2019s Rough Trade. The clues aren\u2019t subtle. This All-Male-Revue features Raven, who had the classic butch\/fem abusive relationship with Stevie Richards, so much that the Richards character went back to submissively serving Raven after declaring his supposed independence. Raven constantly talks of his alienation and rejection from his parents, without being specific as to the reason. Everyone in the Nest vies for Raven\u2019s love. Saturn didn\u2019t steal his look from Taz, he took it from Biker Boys magazine. Lodi\u2019s look is straight out of every college gay bar in America. Hammer, whose name fits this concept perfectly, comes right from the peep shows. Nice fishnet, too. Billy Kidman has got the Bus Station Runaway look down cold.<\/p>\n<p>Why do you think Raven wanted to \u201crecruit\u201d Scotty Riggs, whose only distinguishing characteristic is he looks like an (American) male model (and Eric Bischoff)? Tellingly, the climactic moment in Raven\u2019s courtship came when Raven DDT\u2019d Riggs unconscious, then lamented damaging his face and claimed to feel his \u201cpain.\u201d Hammer then carried Riggs out lovingly over his shoulder. What did Raven and his boys do to Riggs, exactly, to get him to embrace his true nature? And the Nest doesn\u2019t like Chris Benoit because he\u2019s simply too straight.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to that, Goldust and Luna are just wanna-bes. If the WWF wants to succeed in the alternative \u201ccontemporary\u201d world, they\u2019ll have to sweat the details as carefully as Raven did. The WWF can take heart. Every revolution in pop culture first comes with howls from those who don\u2019t know they\u2019ve been passed by. With their new direction, the WWF has offended the right people.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>VIP MEMBERS, explore <strong>more of Bruce Mitchell&#8217;s remarkable work<\/strong> from the 1990s in the Bruce Mitchell Columns section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/artman2\/members\/search.cgi?action=search&amp;page=2&amp;perpage=250&amp;template=articleLists\/newCategoryIndex.html&amp;categoryNums=19&amp;includeSubcats=1\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you aren&#8217;t a VIP member, get info on becoming one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS FLASHBACK:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/12\/30\/10-years-ago-tna-montreal-quebec-12-27-07-j-styles-kurt-angle-challenges-world-title-eric-young-vs-james-storm-plus-samoa-joe-jay-lethal-lax-abyss-kim\/\">10 YEARS AGO \u2013 TNA in Montreal, Quebec (12-27-07): A.J. Styles, Kurt Angle challenges for World Title, Eric Young vs. James Storm, plus Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, LAX, Abyss, Kim<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1049573032\"><div id=\"pwtor-1307837007\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The following column was published 20 years ago this week in the Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Newsletter by Bruce Mitchell. His long-form monthly columns in the 1990s were a staple of the PWTorch Newsletter&#8217;s rise <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/12\/30\/20-years-ago-bruce-mitchell-feature-column-adult-contemporary-controversy-wwfs-move-edgier-programming-later-dubbed-attitude-era\/\" title=\"20 YEARS AGO &#8211; Bruce Mitchell Feature Column: Adult Contemporary \u2013 The controversy over WWF\u2019s move to edgier programming (later dubbed &#8220;The Attitude Era&#8221;)\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/11\/AustinSteveWK_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53294,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53291\/revisions\/53294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}