The Really Weird Secret WWE Is ACTUALLY About
WWE is not a parody of pro wrestling. It is actually a parody of...
WWE, in a more normal world, is meant to be a competent pro wrestling company that promotes prestigious championships that its contracted performers pursue and fight for in classic or memorable matches that draw money. Those performers become marketable stars - assets - as a result.
WWE does not operate in a normal world. The WWF used to operate in a normal world, when Jack Tunney presided over it in kayfabe. The television formula was not unlike that utilised by AEW Dynamite today.
No matches were put together on an impromptu basis. The Federation was an organisation that functioned to promote pro wrestling, even if it was always called sports entertainment. The characters were cartoonish, for sure, but the pursuit of sporting glory and the grudge conflicts that arose from the competitive edge drove the narrative. It was a heightened version of a pseudo-sports broadcast that, through the authoritative tones of Gorilla Monsoon, Gene Okerlund, and Howard Finkel, carried a certain, wonderful gravitas.
The WWF maintained this tone, even when it "starred" voodoo priests, vikings and vulgar obese men. Because it featured such lamentable characters - and, far more importantly, because they never effectively replaced Hulk Hogan as a drawing attraction - the WWF declined badly in popularity as the 1990s took shape.
The Mr. McMahon character was the cause of and, for about two years, the solution to WWE's creative problems.
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