50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
32. Other Promoters Thought WWF Success Was “A Fad”
"Casual interest from regular TV viewers made a mockery of anyone claiming that McMahon's outfit did nothing for wrestling as a whole". That sentence from a few entries ago summed up industry attitudes towards what the WWF achieved throughout the 1980s. Almost tragically, a lot of the groups Vince ruthlessly cut down didn't even think that'd be possible in the first place.
Mid-South's Joel Watts once said that McMahon was "making [wrestlers] out to be freaks, or something". It's baffling that people within the same medium were content to ignore circus-like tendencies of the industry as a whole for decades before Vince Jr monopolised. It was hardly like funky gimmicks were exclusive to the World Wrestling Federation. To pretend otherwise through hatred or jealousy was foolish.
Watts continued by claiming the WWF's boom was "a fad that will pass away". He was 100% wrong about that. WWE only got stronger, then dipped in the mid-90s before rising to the top again later that same decade. It's been the market leader by a mile ever since, so it's fascinating to think those working in wrestling viewed fed domination as a temporary wound they'd recover from like nothing had happened.
Writing off the WWF's success in the 80s as "a fad" is quite something, but that's how some saw it. Perhaps they were only trying to convince themselves most of all. Whatever helps you sleep at night, eh? Mid-South and many other competitors were wiped off the map before the 80s had even wrapped up.