1. Weapons are What Consumers Will Eventually Demand
In the mid-1990's, North American professional wrestling was in a recession. Attendance, ratings, and buy rates were all down. Most wrestling historians who pondered the why's to this decline drew essentially the same conclusion: fans who started watching during the Rock and Wrestling Era, myself included, kinda grew up. We didn't want to stop watching professional wrestling. But we weren't children anymore. We stopped saying our prayers and taking our vitamins, but the WWF (and to a lesser albeit equally laughable extent, WCW) kept churning out cartoony gimmick after cartoony gimmick. That's not the best way to appeal to your core viewing group of teens and college aged males. Then ECW, the WWF/E's Attitude Era, and the nWo storyline came along. Professional wrestling had a new life with older fans tuning in for nostalgia kicks, edgier material, and better in-ring action. Like it or not, the little bit of the old ultra-violence was part of that appeal. Attendance, ratings, and buy rate records were being shattered. Now it's 2013. Business is on the low end of the cycle and many older fans are ragging on the WWE for its emphasis on TV-PG content, essentially saying (via their remotes and pocket books) that they aren't children anymore. Eric Bischoff is running a Southern-based wrestling promotion chock full of WWE castoffs whilst Hulk Hogan dominates main event storylines. There's even a 3rd, "Notch-Above-The-Others-But-Until-You-Land-A-National-Televison-Deal-You'll-Just-Be-A-Glorified-Indy-Fed-And-You-Know-This," promotion who emphasizes in-ring action and violence over sports entertainment. All indicators seem to be pointing towards an economic boom regarding professional wrestling's near future. The current generation of fans are growing up, if my human development lessons are to be trusted. The desire for more mature content will be in high demand. The WWE can either be ahead of the curve by setting excellent in-ring standards regarding the use of weaponry, or it can be left squabbling for the scraps off Longshank's table. Did I miss something? Not convinced? Comment below. Snark encouraged but not required.