09-10-2002, 12:05 AM
This articel is from today's New York Post. And the WWE wonders why know one is watching their crap.
SmackDown this week.....
The popular wrestling series will feature the first-ever televised gay wedding between two male wrestlers.
World champion tag-team partners, Billy and Chuck, will tie the knot, say World Wrestling Entertainment officials, who confess the wedding is more over-the-top than from the heart.
"It's a same-sex wedding or - as the gay and lesbian community would call it - a commitment ceremony on our season premier edition of 'Smackdown,' " confirmed Stephanie McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment's creative television director.
"The issue is certainly topical," McMahon said, citing the New York Times' recent decision to list same-sex wedding announcements and a slew of similarly themed TV programs, including a new reality series on cable's Bravo channel called "Gay Weddings."
Billy and Chuck have been different from a slew of other pro-wrestlers of the past, ranging from "Gorgeous" George Wagner in the 1940s and "Adorable" Adrian Adonis in the 1970s who played with gender roles by donning wigs and dresses - and usually lost to more popular wrestlers.
Billy and Chuck, on the other hand, were world champions for at least five months this past year and dress in more simple hot pants and white robes. Fans have been left guessing if their relationship is more than merely professional.
Gay-rights groups, which protested against at least three gay-seeming wrestlers during the 1990s, appear to like Billy and Chuck.
Scott Seomin, a spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, told a reporter they are an improvement on their predecessors.
"What we like to do in our genre is bring in issues that are out there in society that are topical and bring them into our story-lines," said McMahon, the daughter of World Wrestling chiefs Vince and Linda McMahon.
Like much of everything else on WW, the Billy and Chuck story is made up though - neither wrestler (Chuck Palumbo and Monty Sopp) is gay in real life.
But McMahon says that shouldn't have a negative effect on the storyline, since there are many heterosexual actors who play gay characters on TV.
"We're entertainment," she said. "When watch 'Six Feet Under' on HBO and one of the gay characters [played by Michael C. Hall] says in an interview 'I'm not really gay,' it doesn't effect your enjoyment of the show when you're watching as long as the actors themselves are doing a good enough job."
"This wedding is designed to be entertaining and garner viewers and do what we do best," she said.
Wrestling could use some more viewers for sure.
In the last year, the once high-flying lost a law suit to the World Wildlife Fund and had to change its name from WWF to WWE and its logo to just plain WW.
And along the way, the company - which produces several shows including UPN's "Smackdown" and cable's "Raw" on TNN - watched the bottom drop out of its ratings. This year alone, its net income is down 79 percent over this quarter last year, and its ratings are off by as much as 20 percent.
SmackDown this week.....
The popular wrestling series will feature the first-ever televised gay wedding between two male wrestlers.
World champion tag-team partners, Billy and Chuck, will tie the knot, say World Wrestling Entertainment officials, who confess the wedding is more over-the-top than from the heart.
"It's a same-sex wedding or - as the gay and lesbian community would call it - a commitment ceremony on our season premier edition of 'Smackdown,' " confirmed Stephanie McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment's creative television director.
"The issue is certainly topical," McMahon said, citing the New York Times' recent decision to list same-sex wedding announcements and a slew of similarly themed TV programs, including a new reality series on cable's Bravo channel called "Gay Weddings."
Billy and Chuck have been different from a slew of other pro-wrestlers of the past, ranging from "Gorgeous" George Wagner in the 1940s and "Adorable" Adrian Adonis in the 1970s who played with gender roles by donning wigs and dresses - and usually lost to more popular wrestlers.
Billy and Chuck, on the other hand, were world champions for at least five months this past year and dress in more simple hot pants and white robes. Fans have been left guessing if their relationship is more than merely professional.
Gay-rights groups, which protested against at least three gay-seeming wrestlers during the 1990s, appear to like Billy and Chuck.
Scott Seomin, a spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, told a reporter they are an improvement on their predecessors.
"What we like to do in our genre is bring in issues that are out there in society that are topical and bring them into our story-lines," said McMahon, the daughter of World Wrestling chiefs Vince and Linda McMahon.
Like much of everything else on WW, the Billy and Chuck story is made up though - neither wrestler (Chuck Palumbo and Monty Sopp) is gay in real life.
But McMahon says that shouldn't have a negative effect on the storyline, since there are many heterosexual actors who play gay characters on TV.
"We're entertainment," she said. "When watch 'Six Feet Under' on HBO and one of the gay characters [played by Michael C. Hall] says in an interview 'I'm not really gay,' it doesn't effect your enjoyment of the show when you're watching as long as the actors themselves are doing a good enough job."
"This wedding is designed to be entertaining and garner viewers and do what we do best," she said.
Wrestling could use some more viewers for sure.
In the last year, the once high-flying lost a law suit to the World Wildlife Fund and had to change its name from WWF to WWE and its logo to just plain WW.
And along the way, the company - which produces several shows including UPN's "Smackdown" and cable's "Raw" on TNN - watched the bottom drop out of its ratings. This year alone, its net income is down 79 percent over this quarter last year, and its ratings are off by as much as 20 percent.
uicide: