WWE, UPN Under Attack for Offensive Match
World Wrestling Entertainment and UPN have heard from several concerned viewers following last Thursday's "WWE Smackdown," which depicted a terrorist-like attack involving a group of Arab-Americans and a wrestling opponent. The episode aired the same day as the subway and bus bombings in London. That wasn't enough of a warning for some viewers, who took offense at the depiction of Arab-American wrestlers Daivari and Muhammad Hassan -- who was shown in the episode praying while five men wearing ski masks rushed the ring and choked the "good guy," longtime WWE wrestler the Undertaker.
Variety, July 11, 2005 |
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Inside Move: 'Smackdown' Takes It on the Chin
By: Pete Kendall, July 12, 2005 |
| In October 2002, The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast noted that World Wrestling Entertainment (the former WWF) was such a "delicate manifestation" of the long-term uptrend that it did not wait for the peak in the rest of the market to turn down. It ran to an all-time peak the moment it went public in late 1999 and it's been "working [its] way lower ever since. The forecast was based on an understanding of the hero-making dynamics of a bull market."'The operative principle of social mood is that every bull market has its champions," explained The Elliott Wave Theorist in 1998. "These heroes are of their times, and their images become vulnerable when the wind changes." |
| The Undertaker is a "good guy?" The course professional wrestling has traversed since the all-time highs, certainly confirms that it is a bull market activity. Despite the countertrend rally since October 2002, the WWE is having trouble holding itself together. WWE's stock price rallied off the lows of October 2002, but as its stock chart illustrates, it's a long way from its lofty height at the beginning of 2000. |
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Additional References
EWFF, February 2000
 The February 7 [2000] Newsweek cover story asks why professional wrestling is "No. 1 in Cable, Videos, Toys & Books." The Elliott Wave Theorist answered this question fifteen years ago, back in 1985, explaining that pro wrestling, "with its well-defined representatives of good and evil," is popular in bull markets. Definitive morals and heroes accompany a bull market; blurred morals and mixed heroes accompany a bear market. Indeed, the history of the World Wrestling Federation, as described by Newsweek, parallels that of the bull market. The modern era began in 1982 (the year of the low in inflation-adjusted stock prices), when Vince McMahon took control of the company and started its expansion. "In the mid-1980s, it grew more popular than ever. For a 1987 show at the Pontiac Silverdome, the company sold 93,000 tickets. Then trouble struck." It lasted a little past the stock market's correction in 1990. Since 1996, "wrestle mania" and stock mania have actually be indistiguishable in some ways as "wrestle mania" has exploded to become the dominant form of cable television entertainment and a publicly traded stock with a market capitalization of $1 billion. On February 5, WWF president McMahon appeared on CNBC and announcing a new plan to expand into professional football said, "I don't think we can fail." "Performers can make $5 million, plus stock options," Newsweek reported. In one insightful, behind-the-scenes note, Newsweek quoted a veteran wrestler boasting about his investment performance. Another wrestler, who plays the lovable Mankind and the redneck psychopath Cactus Jack, said "When a new guy comes in, I try to give him financial tips." He has also written a book, which is No. 3 on The New York Times nonfiction list. His nemesis, the Rock, has a book, too, and it hit No. 1 on January 30. As Paul Montgomery (Universal Economics, Newport News, VA) has noted, the standing of these books indicates "that public interest in pro wrestling could not get any greater than it is right now." That sentiment precisely reflects the stock market's level of popularity as well. |
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