April 2, 1995! Are you ready for WrestleMania XI? Tonight we witness the showdown between Shawn Michaels and Diesel for the WWF Championship, and NFL great Lawrence Taylor steps into the squared circle with The Beast From The East, Bam Bam Bigelow! Let’s get to it!
Yeah, that’s right. While everybody else is claiming the end of the wrestling world as we know it, I’m going to point out why it may not be. While everybody is calling for the Apocalypse, it just may not be.
I must begin this with a confession. I like Jersey Shore. [pausing for the jokes about losing my man card] It is an entertaining show. Yeah, make all your jokes, shout your snide remarks and giggle endlessly at my expense. But I’m not alone. Jersey Shore’s rating this past week was 4.7. Jersey Shore was the highest-rated show on Cable. Yes, that is better than WWE’s both hours of Raw. We won’t be seeing that during the “Did You Know…” graphic this week. Right now, Jersey Shore is one of the hottest topics you will find on television. If it was more sought after, it would be winning on Adonis DNA and tiger blood.
And no figure on Jersey Shore is more iconic than Snooki. Towering over none at 4’9″, she is a bubbly, charismatic, polarizing figure. You wanna get a group of people going? Bring up the subject of Snooki, and ask people what they think of her. Regardless of what this says about our society, Snooki is one of the hottest commodities on television today.
Yes, the wrestling world has had plenty of celebrity appearances go bad: RoboCop, the cast of Jackass, Pacman Jones. But there have been some really successful ones: The War to Settle the Score, Lawrence Taylor-Bam Bam Bigelow, Mike Tyson & that encounter with Stone Cold (How many times did we see that on ESPN?). Wrestlemania was built around the appearance of Mr. T, who was one of the hottest commodities of his time.
So here is an opportunity to get an actual star from Jersey Shore (and not some joke who hasn’t lasted either season and is now doing TNA) and capitalize on her star power. This CAN work. They will most likely have a broader audience than usual, because there will be some people who will tune in to see Snooki. As much of an indictment that is on our culture, it’ll create some buzz. When the people tune in, the key is to get them a reason to watch again.
WWE, this part is for you. You might have people who have never tuned in before. You need to make sure you give an exciting product that makes people tune in again. Also, your biggest show of the year is a matter of weeks away. Make sure you find a way to pimp out Wrestlemania like it’s never been pimped before. Also, I know that you’ve always been a sucker for your “Sportscenter” moment. Make sure you parlay this into an effort to sell the biggest show of the year.
With this in the right hands, this just might work.
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This year I thought I’d point out some things you may/may not have known about the event known as Wrestlemania, since this year is the 26th one I figured I’d give you 26 things you may /may not know about Wrestlemania: (note some events may not have actually happened or have been exaggerated for entertainment puropses) (more…)