Time has speed up in wrestling
I heard a podcast comparing the John Cena era and the Hulk Hogan era. They were comparing John Cena as a top character v. Hulk Hogan as a top character. I know that John Cena has had the WWE title for 1058 days and Hulk Hogan had it for 2185 days, but the truth of the matter is that John Cena's title reign was longer than Hulk Hogan.
Hulk Hogan ushered in the Pay Per View era. When he held the title the WWF had four Pay Per Views a year and Hogan rarely had matches on free television. If you wanted to see Hogan wrestler you have to buy a Pay Per View, a ticket to a house show, or a video tape. The whole business model for the WWF was to keep Hogan scarce. You had to pay to see him wrestle and maybe they put the match on free TV later.
To be at the top of the card during the Monopoly Era, Cena has worked at least two hours of TV every week and main event 12 Pay Per Views a year. Not only is that a lot more times that John Cena wrestled in from of the whole "WWE Universe," but it is a lot more plot that had to be worked through.
When Hulk Hogan was working house shows all the time, they were going from city to city telling the same story over and over again. The plot line did not need to advance until Hogan came back to that city. In the Monopoly Era the story moves at a much quicker pace.
I just think there is no point comparing how long title reigns were. The business has changed so much, it is like comparing how long a show was on Broadway to how long a show was on television. The basic way the viewer interacts with the story has changed.
I am happy to see CM Punk has had one of the longest uninterrupted title reigns in a long time. I feel that the WWE would do better to keep titles on champs for longer. I just feel it has nothing to do with how long people held titles in other decades. These almost 200 days of CM Punk is longer than years in the 80s.
I am not sure fans think about the way that this increased speed effects the story telling. This is one of the ways that wrestling cannot look to the past for the ways stories are told. You need to think about this when you think about the stories being told. We can all see how this makes wrestling different now, but I am not sure most people think about it.
Hulk Hogan ushered in the Pay Per View era. When he held the title the WWF had four Pay Per Views a year and Hogan rarely had matches on free television. If you wanted to see Hogan wrestler you have to buy a Pay Per View, a ticket to a house show, or a video tape. The whole business model for the WWF was to keep Hogan scarce. You had to pay to see him wrestle and maybe they put the match on free TV later.
To be at the top of the card during the Monopoly Era, Cena has worked at least two hours of TV every week and main event 12 Pay Per Views a year. Not only is that a lot more times that John Cena wrestled in from of the whole "WWE Universe," but it is a lot more plot that had to be worked through.
When Hulk Hogan was working house shows all the time, they were going from city to city telling the same story over and over again. The plot line did not need to advance until Hogan came back to that city. In the Monopoly Era the story moves at a much quicker pace.
I just think there is no point comparing how long title reigns were. The business has changed so much, it is like comparing how long a show was on Broadway to how long a show was on television. The basic way the viewer interacts with the story has changed.
I am happy to see CM Punk has had one of the longest uninterrupted title reigns in a long time. I feel that the WWE would do better to keep titles on champs for longer. I just feel it has nothing to do with how long people held titles in other decades. These almost 200 days of CM Punk is longer than years in the 80s.
I am not sure fans think about the way that this increased speed effects the story telling. This is one of the ways that wrestling cannot look to the past for the ways stories are told. You need to think about this when you think about the stories being told. We can all see how this makes wrestling different now, but I am not sure most people think about it.
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