For The Wrestling Fans

[Prophet 451]

I know there's some here. You might have heard that Linda MacMahon, wife of Vince, mother of Shane and Stephanie, has resigned from the corporate arm of WWE to run for Senate. Assuming she survives the primary, she's be challenging Chris Dodd of Connecticut. The Daily Beast has a pretty good article up about Linda's chances, complete with some choice quotes from wrestling luminaries (Jim Cornette, who is an outspoken progressive, has a good one). If she ends up being astoundingly vicious in the campaign, try to remember that she's the nice one in the family.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-09-16/chris-dodds-cage-match/

[rcrush]

1. I thought she dropped out already?

lol a MacMahon in public office. Thats scary.

[Prophet 451]

3. Not as far as I know

And yes, it's a terrifying idea. Still, could be worse, it could be Vince.

[thatsrightimirish]

2. she has no chance in hell

:)

[Prophet 451]

4. Nice

Subtle references are always better than OTT ones.

[Chisox08]

5. I'm waiting for the first chair shot

[Eric68601]

6. I'm waiting too.

I'm waiting for the first cheesy campaign slogan that will be religiously promoted by wwe rednecks.

[Chisox08]

9. The WWE turned the rednecks off by going PG

[Prophet 451]

12. "rednecks"?

Way to embrace the stereotype.

First off, wrestling fans (and it's debateable if WWE actually promotes the art form of wrestling) cover the same variety of intelligence and income levels as fans of any other sport. There have been actual studies done on this because wrestling promoters got sick of that stereotype stopping them from securing lucrative ad contracts.

Secondly, WWE's promotional powerbase has always been in the north-east. JCP and later WCW were the Southern promotions and when they folded, most of their fans didn't jump to WWE because WWE promotes an entirely different style which they weren't interested in and can only loosely be described as "wrestling".

Thirdly, don't worry about the fans. The fans have a love/hate attitude to Vince and Linda at best. Be worried about the fact that Vince is a master promoter and have 12 or 13 hours of TV a week at his disposal, plus a powerhouse book and magazine publishing department, a 3-4 hour ppv each month, at least 3 dvds every month and a heavy web presnce. All of which will mention Linda's candidacy frequently and may well turn it into an angle (TV storyline). Vince is a megalomaniac with very deep pockets and a heavy powerbase. Be worried about that, not the fans.

[OutNow]

7. Remember Jessie the Body?

Folks in the professional wrestling "profession" are often drawn to politics, maybe because of the similarities between the two occupations.

Several wrestlers have served in the Mexican congress, complete with their mask. Bob Backlund ran for Congress a few years ago. Jessie Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota.

Why do you feel that someone in the wrestling business is a worse candidate than someone in the legal profession?

Having said that, the MacMahon family is scum. I'll contribute to Dodd's campaign.

[Prophet 451]

10. You missed some

At least three wrestlers have been elected and served in the Japanese Diet. They were all promoters at some point which may have something to do with it. Hulk Hogan periodically announces running for various offices, usually president although in his case, it's a publicity stunt.

There's some wrestlers I think would make excellent politicians (Mick Foley, for example). Here, my horror is because it's the MacMahons.

[flvegan]

8. I'm actually a tad concerned about this.

I know some folks will laugh, but still. Here's a "charismatic" woman that has more experience playing a crowd than anyone. Add deep personal pockets, and deep pockets of contributing supporters. Combine that with what, 10 hours of prime time programming a week that you know will have her candidacy worked into it, even as a byline.

Combine all THAT with a populous with just too many stupid people that believe whatever the idiot box tells them, and those that are stupid without the tv and will vote R anyway.

It's a potential recipe for disaster.

[Prophet 451]

11. "charismatic" is questionable

Of the four MacMahons (five if you count Triple-H, who married Stephanie), Linda is by far the least charismatic. That said, since this is a business built on larger than life personalities, she's probably still more charismatic than most politicians.

Very deep personal pockets, WWE will make a profit of about a hundred and fifty million this year (and this year has been pretty weak for wrestling). Her husband is an honest-to-gods billionaire and Linda, Shane and Steph are probably not far behind.

For tv, there's five hours of first-run TV a week (six when RAW goes to a three-hour format), plus repeats for RAW and Smackdown (four hours) plus the three recap shows (an hour each). That's 12 or 13 hours of TV a week which will quite definately mention Linda's candidacy frequently and may well turn it into an angle (TV storyline). Add to that, a powerhouse publishing department that puts out multiple magazines each month along the same lines as the TV shows and mentions in the fan and industry publications (about a dozen "fan" or "kayfabe" mags, the Pro Wrestling Torch, Observer and Power Slam for insiders); a 3-hour PPV each month; a heavy web presence; at least three DVDs every month (one of which is usually a biodisc for some old-time star so can probably be excluded).

Finally, there's a legion of fanboys who don't really care about wrestling but love WWE (actual wrestling, the art form, took a backseat in WWE years ago) and the fact that Vince is an evil megalomaniac but a world-class promoter and there's every reason to be worried. If I wasn't disallowed due to being British, I'd donate heavily to Dodd.