What did Vince McMahon, Jr's WWF/WWE actually innovate?

[Xero]

I was thinking, Vince's greatest achievements have mostly come from other peoples' ideas. Attitude was the ECW era, for example. I was wondering what Vince did to actually innovate the industry, besides bringing other peoples' good ideas to the US main stream?

The main one I can think of is the concept of WrestleMania, with the way it's promoted and all the celebrities and whatnot. That, I think, was Vince's greatest innovation.

Of course, he's also innovated the way TV is done and the way production is done overall.

So yeah, what are your thoughts?

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Well, he was the one who wanted to go national and said to hell with the NWA. And I guess the whole concept of sports entertainment is his too.

[The Show Off]

The main one I can think of is the concept of WrestleMania, with the way it's promoted and all the celebrities and whatnot. That, I think, was Vince's greatest innovation.

Of course, he's also innovated the way TV is done and the way production is done overall.

Those innovations are far bigger than innovation the Attitude Era or anything like that. I mean I loved the attitude era, but innovating television and pay-per-view for wrestling is far bigger as without national television and pay-per-view we would never have seen the Attitude Era... Well I would because I live in WWE's old "territory" but most of you wouldn't.

Hi's biggest legacy is making WWE a conglomoration of all the best wrestling promotions in the US. Now, is that an "innovation"? I'm not sure but it is certianly the most important thing he ever did.

But as far as story line innovations, he hasn't really done anything, he's just altered a bunch of things.

[Wolfpack423]

Vince McMahon was able to change the format of wrestling and bring it into the mainstream with television production, combining the territories to become a bigger organization known as the World Wrestling Federation. He helped the concept of PPV with Wrestlemania being a global success. He has been a very successful man and I know many criticize him, but Vince is a smart business man. He has done a lot to help with the production value and overall quality of what is presented to the fan. Yes, he did have help with some concepts for the Attitude Era, but if you think about it most promoters borrow ideas from other promoters, but put different spins on it. I think though there are similarities between the Attitude era and ECW, they still are extremely (no pun intended) different.

[XL]

I know many criticize him, but Vince is a smart business man.
Is he though?

I mean, yeah, he's proved to be a smart wrestling promoter, but everything else he has attempted didn't pan put. WBF? XFL? Didn't he also have the opportunity to lead the way on the MMA scene but passed it up!?

I'm not saying he isn't a smart business man, just playing Devil's advocate.

[Gerard]

Vince was smart inside of wrestling but thats about it. Its fairly obvious he's been desperate over the last lot of years to make steps outside wrestling but theyve had little or no success. WWE films is a good example of this, low budget movies that usually struggle to make back their budget.

And who can forget

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gerald.marley/random/xfl.bmp

[Rammsteinmad]

Is that pic real? Did that actually happen? Coz that would be the funniest thing ever if it did.

Unless people were hurt, then it'd just be mildly funny.

[Gerard]

Apparently it did actualy happen

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/10/MN158623.DTL

Think vinnie mac shoulda taken it as an omen.

[DarKCentaur]

I was one of the two people that liked the XFL :$

[Stickman]

Hulk Hogan.

[Lock Jaw]

I was one of the two people that liked the XFL :$

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E6pV7c4OqJQ/RurO2DHDAaI/AAAAAAAAAB4/YcjRHXzE6MA/s320/XFL.png

[XCaliber]

I was one of the two people that liked the XFL :$

No trust me you weren't that few in fact I don't particularly even like football yet I really enjoyed the XFL's rules and format it's a shame it was shut down.

[FourFifty]

Well, he made production values raise up expediently for any company in a modern era.
He took a regional thing and made it a nation wide phenomena.
He summoned The Kracken to crush anyone that annoyed him.
Hulkamania still has an impact on pop culture and society.
He was able to prove that a company can be funded by a hand full of people.

[FourFifty]

I was one of the two people that liked the XFL :$

I'm not a fan of these kind of jokes. I loved the XFL, and there has to be at least a dozen other people who feel the same way.

[Emperor Smeat]

I have a pack of XFL football cards but league never lasted that long for more cards or sets to be made.

[Not Booked]

He invented PPV:wave:

[Lock Jaw]

Pretty sure he didn't.

[Juan]

He invented PPV:wave:

Yeah, no.

[Tazz Dan]

He invented PPV:wave:


The Zenith (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith) Phonevision system became the first pay-per-view system tested in the United States of America. Developed in 1949, it used telephone lines to take and receive orders as well as to de-scramble a broadcast signal. Phonevision field-tests ran for 90 days in Chicago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago). In 1950, Skiatron tested its Subscriber-Vision system on WOR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOR-TV) in New York City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City). The system used IBM punch cards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_card) to de-scramble a signal broadcast during the broadcast station's "off-time". Both systems showed promise, but were denied permits by the FCC <SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-0>[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view#cite_note-0)</SUP>
One of the earliest pay-per-view systems on cable, the Optical Systems Channel 100 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_100), first saw service in 1972 in San Diego (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego) through Mission Cable<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-1>[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view#cite_note-1)</SUP> (acquired by Cox Communications (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cox_Communications)) and TheaterVisioN, which ran out of Sarasota, Florida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarasota,_Florida). These early systems quickly went out of business, as the cable industry adopted satellite technology and as flat-rate systems like Home Box Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Box_Office) became popular.
Pay-per-view first became popular when the NBA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association)'s Portland Trail Blazers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Trail_Blazers) began using the system after winning the championship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBA_Championship) in the 1977 season.<SUP class=reference id=cite_ref-2>[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay-per-view#cite_note-2)</SUP> It operated through a few pay-TV services such as Z Channel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_Channel), SelecTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SelecTV_USA), and ON-TV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ON-TV) in select markets throughout the 1980s.
The first major pay-per-view event<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> occurred on September 16, 1981, when Sugar Ray Leonard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Ray_Leonard) fought (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Ray_Leonard_vs._Thomas_Hearns) Thomas "Hitman" Hearns for the Welterweight Championship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Welterweight_Champion). Viacom Cablevision in Nashville, Tennessee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee), the first system to offer the event, sold over fifty percent of its subscribers for the fight.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> Leonard visited Nashville to promote the fight, the event proved such a success that Viacom themed its annual report (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_report) for that year around it.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> Viacom's Marketing Director was Pat Thompson who put together the fight and subsequently put together additional PPV fights, wrestling matches, and even a Broadway play.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP>
After leaving Viacom, Thompson became head of Sports View (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sports_View&action=edit&redlink=1) and produced the first pay-per-view football game on October 16, 1983: Tennessee versus Alabama from Birmingham, Alabama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham,_Alabama).<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> Sports View played a role in building pay-per-view networks<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> and became the early pioneer in developing TigerVision for LSU, TideVision for Alabama, and UT Vol Seat for Tennessee. Sports View also produced the Ohio State-Michigan Football game on PPV in November 1983.
In 1985, the first U.S. cable channels devoted to pay-per-view, Viewer's Choice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Demand), Cable Video Store (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_Video_Store), and Request TV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_TV) began operation within days of each other.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> Viewer's Choice serviced both home satellite-dish and cable customers, while Request TV, though broadcasting to cable viewers, would not become available to dish-owners until the 1990s.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from July 2009" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP>
The term "pay-per-view" did not come into general use until the 1990s<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> when companies like iN DEMAND (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IN_DEMAND), HBO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Box_Office), and Showtime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showtime) started using the system to show movies and some of their productions. In Demand would show movies, concerts, and other events, with prices ranging from $ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar)3.99 to $49.99, while HBO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HBO) and Showtime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showtime), with their legs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swap_(finance)) TVKO (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TVKO&action=edit&redlink=1) and SET Pay Per View (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SET_Pay_Per_View&action=edit&redlink=1), would offer championship boxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing), with prices ranging from $14.99 to $54.99.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP>
ESPN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN) has shown college (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College) football (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football) and basketball (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball) games on pay-per-view.<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> The boxing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing) undercard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undercard) Latin Fury (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Latin_Fury&action=edit&redlink=1), shown on June 28 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_28), 2003 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003), became ESPN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN)'s first boxing pay-per-view card (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card) and also the first pay-per-view boxing card held in Puerto Rico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico).<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact" title="This claim needs references to reliable sources from January 2008" style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> Pay-per-view has provided a revenue stream (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_stream) for professional wrestling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling) companies like World Wrestling Entertainment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wrestling_Entertainment) (WWE), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Nonstop_Action_Wrestling) (TNA), Ring of Honor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Honor) (ROH) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asistencia_Asesor%C3%ADa_y_Administraci%C3%B3n).
In the United States pay-per-view broadcasters transmit without advertisements, unlike almost all other broadcasters.

[Lock Jaw]

I'm pretty sure he didn't even do the first wrestling-related PPV. Think that was maybe Starcade. Too lazy to look it up.

[Juan]

Yeah, you're right Lock Jaw. 1983

[abec]

He innovated Golddust.

[Theo Dious]

It's being sorely overlooked that one of Vince's biggest innovations was shifting the professional wrestling demographic from a scattered and regionalized crop of markets in the south and east to a nationwide (and soon after worldwide) product geared to bring in entire families. Some of Vince's biggest naysayers were the ones who told him he was going to drive away his core audience of beer-guzzling marks; to which Vince replied that families coming in to buy refreshments and souvenirs constituted far more profit potential than scattered drunk hillbillies and hicks buying beer.

[Anybody Thrilla]

I hope this thread isn't trying to say that VKM didn't do much for wrestling.

[Theo Dious]

I hope this thread isn't trying to say that VKM didn't do much for wrestling.

There is a significant portion of wrestling fandom that detests Vince and whose biggest wet dreams involve marginalizing his contribution to wrestling and painting him as nothing but a usurper with a big wallet. Never mind the fact that nothing that these fans claim to love about wrestling would ever have been possible without him.

[Sixx]

Like him or not, he and Hulk Hogan (same goes for him) pretty much made wrestling what it is today.

[kareru]

Like him or not, he and Hulk Hogan (same goes for him) pretty much made wrestling what it is today.

crap?

[Sixx]

Yes, making it big and widely recognized is crap, genius.

It's different in other countries than US, cause wherever people don't even know shit about wrestling, they sure know who Hogan is, and let's be honest, McMahon made him.

[Seth82]

His biggest achievement is marketing pro wrestling to the masses

For you younger folks pro wrestling was a territory based system so say you lived in Florida that means the promotion you watched was Championship Wrestling from Florida

other promoters were not supposed to infringe on your home base promotion and book cards in Florida prior to the WWF Expansion

and so unless you bought an apter mag you didn't know about all the other promotions and wrestlers

-I like the old territory days alot and Vince essentially killed that old system but he did a great job of making a guy like Hogan a household name

[Wolfpack423]

Is he though?

I mean, yeah, he's proved to be a smart wrestling promoter, but everything else he has attempted didn't pan put. WBF? XFL? Didn't he also have the opportunity to lead the way on the MMA scene but passed it up!?

I'm not saying he isn't a smart business man, just playing Devil's advocate.

I see where you're coming from with regards to the WBF and the XFL. I am not sure about the MMA scene though. I think in regards to the WWE he has been a smart business man. Those were side projects that eventually did not succeed, but overall, I would consider him a smart business man.