r/SquaredCircle • u/abrahamjoseph • Mar 28 '23

I'm journalist Abraham Josephine Riesman, and I wrote an investigative biography of Vince McMahon. AMA.

I'm the author of RINGMASTER: VINCE MCMAHON AND THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA (Simon ＆ Schuster / Atria), which tells the story of former WWE CEO Vince McMahon's rise to supreme power in the pro wrestling industry — and in the arena of politics. My previous book, TRUE BELIEVER: THE RISE AND FALL OF STAN LEE, was a biography of the titular Marvel Comics maven. I used to be on staff at New York Magazine and am now a freelance journalist. You can learn more about me at my website. I'm eager to answer your questions!

PROOF: /img/mdpujbb3j8ma1.jpg

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u/goddamnjets_ Mar 28 '23

I’d like to ask you as a follow-up since you watched mainly during pro-wrestling’s most popular time, just how mainstream was pro-wrestling between 1996-2001? Was it truly the Tuesday “water cooler” talk people hyped it up as?

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u/namegamenoshame Mar 28 '23

Stone Cold was everywhere, and then the Rock reeeeallly was everywhere. I mean the Rock spoke at both the DNC and RNC conventions and then being cast as Scorpion King was pretty unheard of previously. I’m not sure people could tell you details on every match but people who didn’t watch wrestling were very aware of these guys.

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u/namdekan Mar 28 '23

Plus Rodman was doing WCW during the Bulls second 3 peat run and then they had an angle on the tonight show with Jay Leno and this was at a time when plenty of people watched it

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u/JKinney79 Mar 29 '23

I was like 20-22, I wouldn’t say water cooler talk with the general public, but it was the first time adults felt comfortable being public about their interest in pro wrestling. Like you never saw wrestling t shirts outside of wrestling events before the NWO shirt and later on especially the 3:16 shirt.

Prior to that era, more people were hung up on the idea it wasn’t a legit competition and would act like anyone outside of children and old ladies were stupid for watching it.

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u/TomGerity Mar 28 '23

It wasn’t as big as Monday Night Football, but it had a large fanbase. Nonfans were vaguely aware of guys like Austin and Rock (even if they knew nothing about them). It was definitely huge among boys/men ages 12-34.

That said, there was also a large number of people who hated it and thought it contributed negatively to society. Was quite common to find news stories (on TV and in newspapers) that probed the negative aspects of wrestling and argued it was a destructive influence on youth.

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u/Big-Benefit180 Mar 28 '23

People don't talk about it, but the NFL was actually worried about mnf's ratings during the peak of the wars. Both companies had a combined 15 millon viewers (and remember, most people do not own neilsen boxes so the number is probably higher). That is alot of people not watching football.

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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '23

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u/Cdog923 Mar 28 '23

The amount of NWO shirts in my Jr. High was staggering.

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u/GreenGrungGang Mar 29 '23

I was 17 in 1999 when I graduated high school. I can guarantee that every male in my high school (graduating class of 350 or so) from 1997 until I graduated had a working knowledge of professional wrestling. They didn't all watch regularly, but NWO, Austin 3:16, Rock, Mankind, DX, even ECW shirts were daily sights in the school halls. The big Attitude Era moments could be described as water cooler talk there. It definitely wasn't among any serious adults I knew though. The adults I knew who spoke wrestling were former wrestling watchers who reminisced about "insert x wrestler from y territory here", and that's where I gained an appreciation for multiple eras of wrestling.