By reader request on the awesome Vince McMahon doesn’t care about Black People, by Daniel Douglas here we will explain why Vince McMahon missed a great, black young talent like Elijah Burke. The reason isn’t because Vince doesn’t care about black people, or that he’s lazy… the answer is Vince doesn’t care about his talent.
Over on 57talk.com, there is a great interview with Dusty Foley, a former WWF jobber. Foley suggests that after the late 80s, Vince McMahon learned a lesson. He learned that if his WWF was the attraction, not the wrestlers in it, then he never had to worry about talent again. He has and had other worries, but from then on, Vince made the majority of his talent, particularly underneath, utterly interchangeable. Now people aren’t wrestling fans, they’re WWE fans, and while they might have their favorites, those are all from the four of five that Vince has allowed to get over and become stars (we’ll examine why later). People don’t come to shows to see certain stars, they come to see the WWE spectacle. That might not make for the best product for the discerning fan, but it is good business.
In the late 80s, when Vince had successfully branded himself, he was paying big bucks to a lot of stars. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Rick Rude, Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, Honky Tonk Man, Tag Teams like the Hart Foundation and Demolition, Ted Dibiase, Dusty Rhodes, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper and probably more (but you get the idea) were main eventing sold out house shows. These guys were legit stars and because they were on top, would earn a great deal of money. Of course, Vince also had the top guys of various promotions working underneath on his shows, like Tito Santana, The Rockers, and Hacksaw Duggan, all of whom were the favorites of many and could definitely have made a great living in the territories. As such, they were all paid heft salaries, so while business was booming, so were costs. Of course, at that time, Vince was in take-over mode, and such practices were necessitated to drive the opposition out of business. The same is clearly true in the Attitude Era, where Vince again embraced making a full card of stars. That’s all well and good, but what about the era in between and after.
Those eras were not characterized by a great deal of talent throughout the card, but a focus on talent and marketing of the top of the card. When WWE (then WWF) was in full control, like they are now, they didn’t need to worry about getting everyone to their shows. They had and have a core fanbase of wrestling fans that will support them. What the WWE needs from these fans is, first, for them to tune in to see television shows at enough of a clip to keep business good. This is easy with the branding of the show, as you can see by the fact that ratings don’t go up or down a huge deal based on who is on the show. Attending house shows works under much the same principle. Now, at these shows, or on the web, the WWE wants fans to pay for merchandise. Now, a fan who goes to a show, wants to buy a shirt and anyone searching for a wrestling shirt online is pretty clearly going to buy one. These are a captive audience, so they don’t need a huge variety of options. The WWE keeps a certain, small number of stars, because these are walking pieces of add revenue. If they had more guys as stars, they’d get not much less revenue, since they already sell out most of their arenas to people who are buying whatever the merchandise is from the star of the day. These stars are also the only ones who really need the focus on television, since they’re the ones you’ll be buying merchandise of, they’re your favorite, and they’re the one you’ll be potentially buying a Pay Per View to see. For a mark, it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen Cena vs. Orton 200 times, all that matters is Orton is a bastard you want to see killed and Cena, whose gear you own in support of, is just the man to do it.
Making new stars puts several kinks in the machine. First and foremost, it means paying them all more. The WWE’s top guys are the only ones making huge money, so more top guys means more expenditure. Sure, they generate some of that back, but not in add revenue- people who want wrestling shirts are already getting them and not in show attendance or ratings- those only go up marginally, not offsetting the cost in promotion of and paying of these new top guys.
Because of this, the WWE doesn’t need to force itself to make new stars or have a compelling midcard. A compelling midcard might let too many stars, who demand to be paid, walk away or cost the WWE profit, then all of that push is lost money. Of course, the occasional John Cena or CM Punk arises, where they get a gimmick that gets so over they become new stars and are elevated along with those already there, but those are protected. And there are those Vince likes for one reason or another, like Ted Dibiase, who are groomed to be stars as a current group readies to depart (nearing the retirement of Undertaker, Batista and Shawn Michaels), but with a crop of very similar wrestlers, Vince can wait for the cream of the crop to separate itself. In the meantime, anyone who falls out of line, no matter how talented they might be, whether Elijah Burke, Mr. Kennedy, Kenny Doane, or Lance Cade, can be gotten rid of. So long as they weren’t stars yet, the marks don’t really care, and Vince hires multitudes of wrestlers of a certain mold, so they aren’t really missed. These wrestlers in the mid-card don’t have to be good or know how to talk or anything of the sort. They’re replicable cogs until they get over enough to be in the upper mid-card because they don’t have to be anyone’s favorite, all they have to do is appeal to certain segments of the audience. Elijah Burke isn’t important because, potential star or not, his demographic is covered. Once creative, Dusty Rhodes at that point on ECW I believe, lost interest in him, he became just an unused cog in the machine. Did he have potential? Sure, but so do a lot of other guys that could be pushed just the same. Meanwhile, the black urban demographic is covered by Cryme Tyme or MVP, Carribean Islanders are covered by Kofi, Hispanics by Rey, and so on. Freaks cheer CM Punk or Jeff Hardy, while jocks get behind a Jack Swagger. So long as every demographic is covered on the main two shows, the guys in the spots don’t matter.
So, maybe Elijah Burke showed he didn’t have the head to be a big star because Vince McMahon hated the Kreflo Dollar ripoff gimmick he came up with. Maybe he failed a wellness test, mouthed off to the wrong person, or, just maybe, Dusty Rhodes got distracted, meant to come up with an angle for Burke and forgot. In the end, it didn’t matter to the WWE which of these it was, only that he wasn’t over and a star yet and his demographic was covered. For not having him, the WWE isn’t selling any less merchandise to black youths, let alone any other demographic. They have the same stars and use the mid-card in the same manner as they would with him. They didn’t make him big enough to matter without the WWE machine. It’s about profit, not race. Elijah Burke didn’t stand out as marketable enough to be a star in Vince McMahon’s eyes and wasn’t worth caring about. So, Elijah Burke was gone. And the WWE machine churned on.
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This is truly asinine. There is absolutely no validity to anything you say here. Check out The Cool Kids’ Table Redux podcast at prowrestlingponderings.com this upcoming Tuesday to hear this ridiculous essay get dismantled.
Bring it on.
seconded, bring it on.
Aaron, i’ve dug you’re writing for a long time. You seem to have a knowledgeable, level headed view of the world of professional wrestling that few could ever hope to achieve (and I’ve been reading a lot of people for longer than I care to admit) and I agree with this assessment of Vinnie Mac’s take on his midcard talent.
Why is it so hard to believe that the ceo of a publicly held company would only care about only one color, the color green? Seriously, people need to pull their heads out of their conspiracy loving asses and accept the fact that maintaining the status quo and keeping share holders happy are the only things that Vince cares about. It isn’t the wrestlers (they’re interchangeable), and it isn’t the fans (they recycle every 7 years or so) its all about the bottom line and making money. Sure he hates being in the business and wants to be a multi media mogul but at the end of the day, he is the most successful wrestling promoter of all time.
Bring all the PC bs and “vince hates black people” and what you’ll find at the end of it all is the same thing you knew all along. Vince McMahon does not see any color but green. If you can make him money, you will be used. If you can’t, then you won’t. Occams razor in full effect. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one.
“This is truly asinine. There is absolutely no validity to anything you say here. Check out The Cool Kids’ Table Redux podcast at prowrestlingponderings.com this upcoming Tuesday to hear this ridiculous essay get dismantled.”
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lofl. Nice shill job. What is asinine about the above? It’s an opinion piece. I’ll just tune into that OMG Awesome Cool Kids podcast. Uh, no.
This seems quite logical (although, this has only really been true in recent years … after both Brock and Lashley blew up in their faces, since then they have avoided strapping rockets onto guys to get them over, although they seemed to have tried with Kozlov).
Vince does seem to only concentrate on getting one new guy into the main vent at any given time.
In terms of Vince “hating” black people. It isn’t necessarily a case of either Vince being racist OR Vince “only seeing green”. As you mention, Vince is looking to cover the demographics. It comes down to Vince being cynical.
So how do you explain Jeff Hardy. He was already selling huge amounts of merchandise in the midcard and Vince even had a excuse not to push him, with the wellness violations (you could even argue that Hardy didn’t deserve to be pushed because of his behaviour). Yet he was pushed to the top and would have been offered a huge amount of money to resign because he had proved a capable top star over the previous months.
That’s just it. Once someone starts selling at that level, they force Vince’s hand into the main event where they get the time to sell even more. The only 2 ways to make Vince care are sell so much merch he has to notice or for one reason or another, become a guy he or another top guy wants to groom because a space is openning up. Beyond that, everyones interchangable and cut from the same mold.
Case in point: Rey Mysterio. Given Rey’s career up to that point, and knowing what we know about Vince and WWE Champions prior to Rey-Rey, I seriously doubt that, when Vince signed Rey, he ever had designs of making him WWE Champion.
However, Rey moves so much merchandise, and is such an insanely popular draw with a specific demographic, that he ended up reaching a level that was probably not intended for him at the beginning. Well, the Eddie Guerrero tribute concept certainly played a big role, but you didn’t see them rocketing Chavo into World Title contention.
Know why Vince isn’t really that racist?
Bobby Lashley went over everyone and their grandparents for a year, even beating up Vince McMahon, Shane, Umaga, and being part of one of the biggest Wrestlemania storylines that year. Think there wasn’t some big white musclebound goof that he could have done the same thing for? Be glad that Chris Masters wasn’t pushed as a face in Lashley’s spot. Guy looks like the Aryan Superman. This is just like the people years ago who pointed out that Jaqueline got hit with a strap (leading up to a strap match) on Martin Luther King Day, thus suggesting that Vince was trying to subtly whip a black woman on MLK’s birthday. If you look for conspiracy, you’ll find it, people.
I think Aaron hits the nail on the head with a steel chair.
To assume motive or intent in Vince’s direction without taking into consideration the basic needs of his business is flawed at its core.
Whether or not Vince likes little people, women or minorities, he’s shown time-and-time again that he will subsume those blemishes of character to sell merch, PPVs, tickets or increase his show’s ratings.
Sure, the WWE’s made missteps. But I doubt they’ve done things with the deliberate intent of damaging their bottom line.
And I don’t think that any of these arguments take into account the influence of the creative team or other contributors. In essence, a quasi-racist tag-team or storyline may have been something that just passed under Vince’s nose at a given time with no more than a nod.
Sure, it’s said that Vince is very into managing lots of moving parts within his business. But the idea that he formulates every angle or that his acquiescence in some form constitutes any sort of general attitude towards a group of people doesn’t hold water.
Case in point. Vince hates tag-teams. That’s documented. But he gave us the Hart Foundation and the British Bulldogs — and others — when business demanded it. Sure he’s pretty much let the tag division die on the vine on a regular basis.
But if interest in the tag division kicked up, I bet he’d fly that banner all the way to the bank.
I think the problem is the sheeple fans of the WWE just accept anything that’s thrown at them. So it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the fans are offended by a gimmick like Cryme Tyme, they should boo. Instead they cheer. They cheer whatever Vince wants them to cheer. So they get more of it. Who’s fault is that?
To a degree, any sort of negative stereotype of the general WWE fan held by McMahon or others is deserved. If the fans weren’t drooling at the mouth for Umaga squash matches, we might get a Samoa Joe.
When I go see WWE in a couple of months (and yes I do like to attend the live shows when I can), I will buy a CM Punk shirt, boo Batista and boo DX.
It’s the least I can do.
The only time “Great” and “Elijah Burke” should be used in the same sentence is if that sentence was “Elijah Burke’s ability to be horrible was great.”
What a well thought out, logical arguement Charlie. Thank you for your contribution to what wasn’t the point anyway.
Oh, so Ace and Charlie are allowed to go at it, but not me and Bones? No fair!
:-D
Haha, we aren’t going at it. I just want an actual arguement about wrestling that we can debate. Generic disagreement is useless to me. The “why” is what’s important.
I wasn’t “generically” disagree with Bones. He said I have no clue what I’m talking about, butd I think you’d agree I sometimes make decent, relevant, “educated” (from a fan’s perspective) analyses and comments.
*Should have read, “I WOULDN’T”, not “I wasn’t”…
I agree you do Vin, but the arguement was quickly becoming just insults and to begin with was based on a logical fallacy (that the person making the arguement being discredited makes the arguement discredited).
I’m not attacking Charlie and what he knows or doesn’t, just pointing out that he has no actual arguement that’s supported.
“When I go see WWE in a couple of months (and yes I do like to attend the live shows when I can), I will buy a CM Punk shirt, boo Batista and boo DX.
It’s the least I can do.”
The only thing better than this article…was this comment. Bravo, scott m. Bravo.
Next item of business: Aaron Glazer vs. Daniel Douglas. This needs to happen ON CAMERA!
Glazer I’ve long enjoyed your writing on here and I think this is one of your best columns to date. Awesome work dude.
This was much better than the “WWE Hates Black People” article. I agree, WWE has become transcendent. Vince controls the whole pro wrestling chess board. If talent wants to be popular in the mainstream, they have to go through Vince and his machine. It’s similar to any other sport, but Vince and his Machine controls the playing time.
What I don’t understand is why there isn’t a pro wrestler’s union/guild to help guide the use of employees by businesses. Actors and athletes have unions, why don’t wrestlers?
“What a well thought out, logical arguement Charlie. Thank you for your contribution to what wasn’t the point anyway.”
Come on – it was at least funny.
Wrestlers don’t have unions because they are selfish. In the territories there was enough for for everyone and if someone wasn’t paying, you just didn’t work for them. Now, if guys form a union, the top guys won’t join because they have nothing to gain and the rest of the wrestlers can honestly be more or less replaced wholesale due to Vince’s monopoly.
Thank you very much, I was the one who asked you to address this topic and it was a very interesting read. I agree with you on much of what you said. Sales dictate. (period, most of the time (midgets?))
I feel Burke and the Miz are basically interchangable, I liked Burke more as his charisma and potiential direction seemed more fresh to me. His whole religious cocky slant appealed to me, but he never generated the sales and buzz during his time in the E, thus, he was very expendible.
My fear is that TNA’s “Creative team” will kill his career dead. My hope is that he somehow does Christian Cage well and makes it back to the WWE.
Also when you said the E has a financial incentive to keep talent down untill they (The WWE) are ready for them to rise up the card it all just clicked. ie. Need a new Goldberg enter Brock, might loose brock lets bring in Batista and Lashley. (Batista was following Devon Dudley around untill they were ready for him to make them real money.) Batista is injury prown start pushing Lashley. Lashley flounders they still have a returning Batista and a multitude of other muscle heads. I think this example fits your model nicely.
A Very informative and perceptive piece Mr. Glazer.
To continue to add to the example, Had the WWE released Deacon Batista before they needed him (put him in Evolution) maybe choosing Tyson Tompko or Mark Jindrak instead then Batista would have gone to TNA and had his push squashed by Jeff Jarret! Ha HA HA
Glad you enjoyed it and saw the point. Excellent examples.
http://www.prowrestlingponderings.com/articles/?p=298