Despite spending nearly $100 million of her own money, Linda McMahon failed for the second time in her bid for the U.S. Senate. McMahon lost to Democrat Chris Murphy. In addition to her loss helping to secure the U.S. Senate for the Democrats, millions of Americans outside of Connecticut followed this election for a completely different reason.
WWE
As a Louisiana resident and wrestling fan, I watched Linda McMahon’s campaign carefully because of how it impacted the WWE. Many insiders believe that the WWE has softened its product, marketed itself to kids, and supported numerous worthy causes in an effort to enhance Linda McMahon’s U.S. Senate bid.
Although I still follow the WWE and pro wrestling in general, I spend Monday and Friday nights dreaming of the glory days of the Attitude Era. Many fans consider the late 1990s to be the golden era of modern pro wrestling. While ECW offered hardcore wrestling and WCW had the NWO, the WWE had Steve Austin and Vince McMahon in the Attitude Era.
The thinking among many wrestling fans was that once Linda McMahon stopped trying to run for the U.S. Senate, the WWE would return to its edgier product. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. While Linda McMahon may have been concerned with Connecticut voters, Vince McMahon is more concerned with WWE sponsors and merchandise sales.
If the next WWE Raw showed CM Punk extending his middle finger to the crowd, a barbed wire match between Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton, and actual footage of what really happened between John Cena and AJ Lee, the ratings would definitely go up. But Vince McMahon would have to start finding dozens of new sponsors.
And as much as I deplore the current bland WWE product, it’s hard to argue with the promotion’s support of Be A Star, Make-A-Wish, and Susan G. Komen.
Linda McMahon looks foolish for spending all that money on what most people knew was a lost cause. Now it is time for Linda and Vince to refocus their attention on winning back the WWE Attitude Era fans. Unfortunately, this may be more difficult than being elected to the U.S. Senate.
Patrick Michael lives in New Orleans and has always been a big fan of pro wrestling. Patrick’s favorite wrestling promotion was Mid-South Wrestling back in the 1980s. Patrick’s favorite wrestling angle of all-time was the NWO and his favorite wrestler was Roddy Piper. Follow Patrick Michael on Twitter atpatmichael84.
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