This Paper Looks at Marketing Issues in the World Wrestling Entertainment

Stone Cold. The Undertaker. Grandmaster Sexay. The Rock. Y2J. Do these sound more like the names that you would find in a children's cartoon strip, rather than the copyrighted property that is the foundation of a multimillion dollar global corporation, whose product attract over 7 million viewers every week? As crazy as that concept is, you have to look no further than Stamford, Connecticut and the glass encased building on Interstate 95 that houses the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (WWFE) headquarters. It is within these walls that the ideas are formulated, the storylines created and the plot is developed , resulting in the finished product that is produced for the millions of fans who tune in Monday and Thursday nights for the latest installments of the never-ending, larger than life made sagas involving their favorite personalities. But what exactly is the product that the WWF produces? Many argue that is made for TV violence or provocative trash, while others contend that it is the male version of a soap opera. …