WWE: 5 Ways Sports Entertainment Has Influenced Sports & TV

5. Athletes' Background And Upbringing

In the early days of sports television, not much of an athlete's background was known beyond his hometown and where he went to college. Now, the amount of information available about athletes is near infinite. People can find out everything about an athlete from where he went to high school, to what car he drives in the blink of an eye. While the paparazzi culture isn't completely the result of professional wrestling, professional wrestling was the first to capitalize on it. Commentators would expound on a wrestler's clean cut image, either highlighting his college experience or his All-American ways in the case of fan favorites and the despicable exploits of the hated wrestlers. Regardless of the amount of truth in the stories being told, the information being given helped bond the viewing public with the stars or turn the same viewers against someone. Part of the appeal of Dusty Rhodes was his everyman story of being the son of a plumber. The novelty of the second generation star was first exploited to its fullest potential in wrestling as well, in some cases putting father and son in direct competition with each other. Something that is by nature not seen as much in other sports but is exploited to the fullest when it happens such as with the Manning Family in the National Football League and the Griffeys in Major League Baseball.