In This Corner: A Wrestling Upstart

may 1, 2003  10:35 am
In This Corner: A Wrestling Upstart
Nashville-based NWA/TNA, an upstart wrestling organization, is taking on the giant of the pro wrestling world, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Robert L. Doerschuk looks at this mythic business struggle that's playing out with all the spectacle of the wrestling ring -- complete with "faces" -- the good guys -- and "heels" -- the bad 'uns. "Growing numbers of viewers are burning out on WWE's weekly programming, in which [the] stars are run through skits involving necrophilia, murder, racism, blasphemy and other ponderously provocative angles," he writes. "This weariness, measured by WWE's plummeting ratings, may give NWA/TNA its best chance to bring the giant down."