By David Butler
Mr McMahon is Netflix’s latest big hit. As a child of the 90’s I grew up with the growth of the WWF, so the documentary was an entertaining watch for the nostalgia.
I guess professional wrestling is a quasi-sporting setting . Yes, it is scripted - the outcome uncertainty or doses of suspense and surprise are pre-determined – so it is an “entertainment product”. That said, the sophisticated technical ability, athleticism and risks taken by the performers are traits shared in sports where outcomes are not predetermined. Maybe it is just impure (or acceptably rigged) sport. It is an open secret that the outcomes are rehearsed but most the wrestling within the bouts is impromptu . Perhaps darts, snooker and esports are just as impure – they (hopefully) have true outcome uncertainty - and are not rigged - but of course lack the athletic capacities needed for typical sports.
Maybe demand and the mass cultural appeal of the pro-wrestling lies in the ability to engineer the outcomes. Just like the soaps, the WWF stood the test of time. The products broadcast by the WWF/WWE are some of the longest running weekly episodic television shows in U.S. history. Scripted drama opens up far more opportunities to entertain.
One message from the documentary is that the heyday of the product was between the late 90’s and early 00’s. The data below shows estimated PPV buys from 1993 to 2013 (the spikes are WrestleMania) – the growth in and about this time-period is clear and there has been a downward trend since. This is interesting as corporate consolidation took place in March 2001 when the WWE acquired its major competitor (WCW). The sentiment was that the best days ended upon effectively becoming a monopoly - the incentives to innovate changed.
There's lots of economics that can be drawn from the documentary, particularly on competition and consumer demand...even if it is/is not a sport?
Mr McMahon is Netflix’s latest big hit. As a child of the 90’s I grew up with the growth of the WWF, so the documentary was an entertaining watch for the nostalgia.
I guess professional wrestling is a quasi-sporting setting . Yes, it is scripted - the outcome uncertainty or doses of suspense and surprise are pre-determined – so it is an “entertainment product”. That said, the sophisticated technical ability, athleticism and risks taken by the performers are traits shared in sports where outcomes are not predetermined. Maybe it is just impure (or acceptably rigged) sport. It is an open secret that the outcomes are rehearsed but most the wrestling within the bouts is impromptu . Perhaps darts, snooker and esports are just as impure – they (hopefully) have true outcome uncertainty - and are not rigged - but of course lack the athletic capacities needed for typical sports.
Maybe demand and the mass cultural appeal of the pro-wrestling lies in the ability to engineer the outcomes. Just like the soaps, the WWF stood the test of time. The products broadcast by the WWF/WWE are some of the longest running weekly episodic television shows in U.S. history. Scripted drama opens up far more opportunities to entertain.
One message from the documentary is that the heyday of the product was between the late 90’s and early 00’s. The data below shows estimated PPV buys from 1993 to 2013 (the spikes are WrestleMania) – the growth in and about this time-period is clear and there has been a downward trend since. This is interesting as corporate consolidation took place in March 2001 when the WWE acquired its major competitor (WCW). The sentiment was that the best days ended upon effectively becoming a monopoly - the incentives to innovate changed.
There's lots of economics that can be drawn from the documentary, particularly on competition and consumer demand...even if it is/is not a sport?
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