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By NICK TYLWALK
Special to SLAM! Sports
A weekly
SLAM! Wrestling
Editorial Column
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WWF should just relax
Down the Ramp
By NICK TYLWALK --
For SLAM! Wrestling
What a difference a week makes. The WWF might not
have been the biggest fan of wrestling Web sites, but
at least it was practicing its best manners in the
weeks leading up to WrestleMania. Information direct
from WWF officials could be found on this very site on
a regular basis. And the federation opened its arms
to Slam! Wrestling writers at Axxess, issuing as many
press passes as the site had people to send. Even I,
a journalist only in the loosest sense of the term,
had one waiting had I been able to make it to Toronto.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the WWF
branded us "public enemy number one". Somehow we, the
members of the internet wrestling community, went from
friends (or friendly acquaintances at least) to foes
in the span of a few days.
I won't rehash what's been
said both here and on other sites over the past few
days because so many people have already weighed in on
the federation's new/old unfriendly Internet policy.
I also won't speculate on what might have caused them
to issue the statement, though I have a hunch it was
more than just the reporting about Steve Austin
missing television this week.
To me, the more interesting facet of this situation -
especially after reading the thoughts of the staff and
readers of Slam! Wrestling - is the WWF's notion that
the normal rules of journalism don't or shouldn't
apply in the world of wrestling. Since the biggest
beef in the WWF.com statement seems to be the use of
anonymous sources, this is the only conclusion at
which I can arrive. After all, I can't think of any
form of legitimate journalism that doesn't use
anonymous sources to help gather information. Yet the
WWF seems to think wrestling sites should report only
the official company line.
I've seen this kind of thinking firsthand during my
college days. As a sportswriter for The Chronicle at
Duke University, I watched my colleagues and editors
run into the same attitude from coaches and members of
the sports information department. They thought the
paper should take on the role of head cheerleader,
printing nothing but positive stories and avoiding
anything unpleasant.
Understandably, we felt the
readers deserved more than just regurgitation of Duke
press relases. If fans had an urgent need to get the
uncut Duke point of view, they had a place where they
could get it - Duke's official sports website.
Many of the same factors apply here. If wrestling
fans want the "gospel according to the WWF", they can
read it at WWF.com or in one of the company's
magazines. Slam! Wrestling and a number of other
legitimate sites exist to give the readers more,
occasionally with a different point of view. The big
difference is that The Chronicle needed Duke a lot
more than the other way around, so when clashes
occurred you already knew which side was going to
give.
I'm not so sure that's the case with the WWF versus
the Internet. It's true that all the sites could shut
down tomorrow and the WWF would still be successful.
I'll even concede that there are more wrestling fans
who never read the sites than those that do, though I
suspect the gap is shrinking. What can't be denied is
that the online fans comprise a passionate,
intelligent vocal group that could hurt the federation
financially if they all got upset enough to stop
watching.
That's not going to happen here, but it is interesting
to note that for all the credit that Vince McMahon
gets for knowing what people want, there are plenty of
times when he gets it wrong. The argument for the
popularity of wrestling sites is so simple it's scary:
if people weren't interested in them, they wouldn't
exist. Fans want news that doesn't come through a
Titan filter. And yes, some of them just want to read
some unsubstantiated gossip and rumor. It's the price
you pay for being so successful, and grouping all
wrestling sites togther and labeling them all bad
isn't going to change that.
So here's some unsolicited advice for Mr. McMahon and
company. Relax. Take the wrestling sites for what
they are and have confidence that your fans are smart
enough to distinguish fact from fiction, hard news
from wild speculation. I have that confidence in the
Slam! Wrestling readership, which is why I'm not
losing any sleep over this whole deal.
Previous Columns
March 15 ... WrestleMania, slamdunk or air ball?
March 1 ... WWF return a test for Hall
Feb. 22 ... WWF return a test for Hall
Feb. 15 ... Nick who?
