Final Entry

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been blogging about the misunderstood sport of wrestling. I’m a huge fan, and I constantly follow what is going on in that world, but it was very interesting to think about all the news reports from the marketing perspective. I had a few blog entries regarding TNA – higher pay per view prices, their attempt to get mainstream attention by inviting Sarah Palin to a show, and two former WWE wrestlers they have brought into the company. As for my perception of TNA…I feel like they’re not a very smart company. They rose their prices randomly in the worst possible time and it probably did nothing positive for the company other than bring in some extra revenue. But it really would make no impact overall on things for them. As for Sarah Palin – she obviously never came to the pay per view. While it did get them some press, it was more or less just silly, and most wrestling fans don’t like TNAs silliness (they did have a look-a-like show up though). Al Snow and Mick Foley were smarter moves, but still a little unnecessary. They bring in these guys to compete with WWE, but they’re such a mega-company, it just might never happen. Hopefully they stumble onto something that works though.
As for the WWE, I touched upon their TV ratings, some charity events that they do, and their biggest pay per view of the year, Wrestlemania. It’s nice to see that Smackdown has been doing good ratings. I think it’s a great sign for the company and showing that they are giving equal attention to their shows right now (Smackdown is considered a B show) in terms of the creative side. It was also interesting to see how often WWE does charity events for people. I knew they did them throughout the year, but it seems like they do things all the time to give back - especially the Tribute to the Troops, which is such a huge event. I was surprised to see Orlando lobbying for another Wrestlemania so it will bring money to the city and because they know the fans want it. WWE seems to be on an overall positive path as a company right now (at least in terms of the news that is reported).
It was unfortunate that one of my blogs was about the passing of a wrestler and that had occurred. It’s never a fun thing to hear about. I know that that kind of thing happens too often, but I hope that I was able to open other peoples eyes to what goes on. The Wrestler opens in New York City on the 17th and is almost certainly getting Golden Globe nominations. I’m still really excited to see how this will affect the wrestling world and if will change other people’s perceptions on wrestling and increase their knowledge. I think that it is the most significant thing that I talked about throughout the semester. Overall, I enjoyed doing this blog, and keeping an extra close eye on the news that went on in the world that I constantly follow anyways. I really hope that it helped other people not just look at it as a thing where guys run around in speedos, hit each other with chairs, and have scripted winners and losers. There are millions of people that watch it, thousands that work in it, and is constantly exposed to the world on almost an everyday basis.