Ryan’s Network Review - Monday Night Wars Episode 003
Oh you didn’t know? Its the return of Ryan Network Reviews back with episode three of the Network series, Monday Night Wars. Thus far, we’ve seen WWE’s biggest babyfaces jump ship and we also saw the birth of the New World Order. With his back up against the wall, Vince McMahon decides to change the direction his company is going in by introducing a little attitude.
Now, Vince McMahon had a very talented roster at that time. We were seeing the likes of new superstars Rocky Miavia, Hunter Hurst Helmsley, The Ringmaster and more. The only issue: none of these on-screen characters were getting over with the shrinking audience that WWF had left. He had to do something to change things. The Ringmaster evolved into the man we know today, Stone Cold Steve Austin by adding a little attitude to the wrestling scene. Feuding with former best friend Brian Pillman, Austin had a fire fueled feud with Pillman. He was even met by Pillman’s gun after Austin decided to break into his house. The next week, McMahon and the WWF quickly apologized for the offensive television but also stressed the fact that 75% of the feedback they got was positive.
Prepping the audience, networks, and the sponsors of the new, edgy direction of the company allowed them to express the content that the WWF audience wanted. Introducing more mature characters such as Val Venis, The Godfather, DX, “Sexual Chocolate” Mark Henry, and more, WWF began making a ratings comeback against their competitor WCW. With a roster filled with the biggest superstars, Vince started to focus more on his female roster by adding divas such as Sunny, which added a little sexyness to the WWF screen. What was WCW’s response to this edgy move? They decided to add The Nitro Girls, who would dance going to and coming back from break.
Now by pushing the envelope week after week, sometime’s both companies would just put the corniest ideas on tv, such as Mae Young giving birth to a hand. While they both offered racy content, smaller Philadelphia promotion ECW was offering non-traditional wrestling on a weekly basis with matches including things such as chairs, tables, barbed wire bats, and blood. Being the original company they are, WWF took some of ECW’s ideas and began showing more violent matches on their weekly programming. This introduced the Hardcore matches and with that brought the Hardcore championship which was given to Mankind as joke from Mr. McMahon. The title itself is funny because it came with things like the 24/7 rule, which means the Hardcore Champion could be pinned anywhere, anytime, by anyone. Hell, even one of Godfather’s hoes was a hardcore champion at one point.
Introducing matches like the Inferno Match, First Blood Match, and the infamous TLC match, WWF began improving in the ratings war against WCW. Now the superstars that Vince had at the beginning of this time are now evolving. The Ringmaster? Now Stone Cold. Rocky Miavia? Now cocky trash talker The Rock. Hunter Hurst Helmsley? Try crotch chopping, suck it saying superstar Triple H. And now the superstars that Eric Bischoff had acquired are starting to get old and stale. Turn on WCW and it’s going to be saturated with nWo t-shirts, corny storylines, and Hulk Hogan going over on the little guys. With the evolution of his superstars, Vince McMahon also had evolved his on-screen persona. He is now the evil, asshole of a boss that everyone wants to punch in the pelvis. This created great chemistry on television between McMahon and Stone Cold because America was living vicariously though Austin when he wailed on his boss on a weekly basis. With this feud building, WCW’s checkbook began to tighten up and their ratings started to drop. But how do they take down WCW completely?
Well this was the third installment of my review of the Monday Night Wars. I’ll be back soon enough with the rest of my reviews and whatnot. Keep your eyes peeled. Or don’t. Whatever.