In 1993, the WWF presented 'WWF Mania'. For around the first year of the show's 3-year stay, Mania hinged on the idea that presenter Todd Pettengill would take calls and read out letters from wrestling fans. Afterwards, the show quickly became yet another low-level syndicated broadcast. In 1996, the company made the decision to bring back the interactive format. Thus, 'LiveWire' was born. Pettengill was still in place as the main host, at least until he left the promotion and Michael Cole took over the reigns. From there, LiveWire became more of a recap package, summarising everything that was happening in the company, exploring storylines and that sort of thing. In 2001, LiveWire was discontinued, but not before a lot of fans voiced their opinions on the show. Memorably, Paul Heyman even phoned in to discuss the ongoing 'ECW invasion' of Monday Night Raw in 1997. Going under the name, 'Bruce' and being billed from Connecticut, Heyman spoke directly to Vince McMahon and spat out bile about the WWF product.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
