Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

owed to the energy, or “heat,” that a charismatic wrestler such as Lou
Thesz, Buddy Rogers, or Walter “Killer” Kowalski could generate from live
audiences. Mostly, however, it was due to the new medium of television.
From a production standpoint, wrestling was perfect for television.
After all, everything could be filmed by one camera, and the action was
limited to a small, well-lit area. Furthermore, the act was popular: In
Japan, people stood by the thousands in the street to watch their hero Rikidozan
beat Americans, while in California and Illinois Americans congregated
in bars to watch Americans do the same thing to wrestlers called The
Great Tôgô and Mr. Moto. Nevertheless, these stereotyped portrayals of
ethnic groups offended the United States’ burgeoning civil rights movement,
and as a result U.S. network television refused to syndicate wrestling.
As a result promotions remained regional rather than national.
Perhaps the most notorious of the new television wrestlers was Gorgeous
George (George Wagner), a dandy whose costumes, pomaded hair,
and abrasive style the fans loved to hate. Television, with its close-ups, also
increased the audience’s desire for blood. (Literally—wrestlers such as
Dangerous Danny McShane would nick themselves with a tiny piece of razor
blade, and the fans in Texas, Tennessee, and the South would go wild.)
And, finally, it encouraged acrobatic tricks such as Antonio Rocca’s cartwheels.
Many wrestlers thought the blading and cartwheels awful, but the
crowds grew, so what the wrestlers thought didn’t matter.
The end of the Golden Age was due, as usual, to changing promotional
methods. In 1963 there was a split in the National Wrestling Association,
and out of the breakup emerged the World Wide Wrestling Federation
(WWWF) led by Vince McMahon Sr. Structurally these two groups were
similar, and business continued as usual. Then, in 1983, McMahon relinquished
control of the organization, now known as the World Wrestling
Federation (WWF), to his son, Vince Jr. About the same time, cable television
networks started looking to fill niche markets. And, being young and
ambitious, Vince McMahon Jr. moved to fill them with WWF wrestling.
One of the strategies McMahon Jr. used was to raid other territories
for talent. This made for a strong WWF but quickly depleted other groups.
He also told the New York media that wrestling was moribund, and that
he and the WWF were going to revitalize it. The reporters bought the line,
and so promoted his story of “the amazing revival of wrestling.”
Next, McMahon created Hulkmania. This revolved about soap opera
plots surrounding a wrestler called Hulk Hogan, many of which featured
celebrities such as pop singer Cyndi Lauper and TV action star Mr. T.
Many old-time fans hated the WWF methods, and vowed never to
watch wrestling again. But, like alcoholics or drug addicts, few stuck to
their promises of withdrawal. And, due almost solely to the media blitz, in
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