![]() The industry found itself performing a balancing act between desiring to be perceived as legitimate sport and desiring to entertain with engaging and creative storylines. However, as the industry evolved, society began questioning the genuineness of match outcomes, feuds between wrestlers, and the like. Throughout much of the 20th century, professional wrestling was thought of as a legitimate sport contest, that being a contest in which the outcome is not predetermined. First, over a decade and a half ago, the WWE’s McMahon liberated wrestling from the constrictions that came with being labeled a “legitimate” sport. Wrestling’s popularity has blossomed for two primary reasons. Further, the WWE continually outperforms a number of professional sporting events, in key demographics: the play-offs of Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup play-offs, Monday Night Football (BW SportsWire, 1999). For example, in the 12-17 age group, 143% more males (and 73% of males and females combined) watched the WWE’s Monday night Raw than the 1999 NBA finals. Other, more mainstream sports are losing coveted young viewers to the WWE. The shows have drawn combined weekly Nielsen ratings of 6-12 over the last two years (tv., n.d.). ![]() WWE’s flagship television show, Raw, on TNN, is consistently the top-rated regularly scheduled cable television program, and the company’s other core show, SmackDown, on UPN, is consistently one of the highest ranked sports programs (as categorized by Nielsen) on network television. ![]() While live event attendance has fallen a bit in the past two years, the WWE still drew 2 million attendees in 2002 (, n.d. Attendance at WWE events rose from 1.1 million people in 1997 to 2.5 million for the year 2000 (, n.d.). World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is the industry leader in virtually every statistic (e.g., television ratings, live event attendance, licensing revenue). ![]() It is broadcast in 12 languages to over 130 countries, is viewed by 34 million people in the United States, and generates industry revenues above $1 billion annually. In the last decade professional wrestling (to describe which World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon has coined the term “sport-entertainment”) has skyrocketed in popularity. How Viewing Professional Wrestling May Affect Children The results of the survey, findings of prior literature, and research on marketing ethics together raise questions about the appropriateness of professional wrestling as sport-entertainment for children. Elementary and middle school teachers ( n = 370) were surveyed and asked to indicate (a) the popularity of professional wrestling among their students, (b) any preconceived notions they held about students who enjoy viewing professional wrestling, (c) their beliefs about spectator harm caused by professional wrestling, and (d) the nature and extent of their students’ imitation of verbal and other behavior from professional wrestling, as they had personally observed that imitation. This study investigated the effects on children of viewing professional wrestling. ![]()
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