One thing about professional wrestling has proven true in American society, and
probably in other countries as well, is that the popularity of the sport goes through cycles
of intense fanaticism and low periods of disinterest.  This has been proven in over a
century of research on pro wrestling.  Historians can actually look back and examine
when wrestling was peaking in terms of popularity across the board, and when it was on
the decline.  In some parts of the country, however, there may be more consistent trends
of popularity or even lack of interest for more sustained periods of time than the national
average.

To give you a general idea of what I'm talking about, let's examine the following periods:

1.  In the 1929-'36 time-period, professional wrestling was highly successful.
2.  After 1936 and into the 1940s, there was a major decline.
3.  With the television boom in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, wrestling was
 again huge.
4.  Around 1954-55, wrestling's popularity began to sink again.
5.  Keen promoters managed to regenerate wrestling in some places in the late 1950s
 and into the early 1960s.

In modern times, wrestling fans can look at pro wrestling around 1993 and see the sport
spiraling downward, but there was a resurrection in 1996 to around 1999 when wrestling
was as big as it had ever been.  More of the mainstream public were being drawn into the
wrestling sphere during that time, and during "boom" periods, that routinely has occurred.
With Americans bringing televisions into their homes in the early 1950s, more and more
new wrestling fans were drawn into the spectacle, and, thus, poured money into seeing
live shows.

We can look back to 1891 and see trends as early as then.  William Muldoon explained
that the reason wrestling was "dying out is owning to the lack of the right kind of
wrestlers," according to the Los Angeles Times (9/10/1891).  Interesting, wrestling had
recently been big "just before the revival of boxing." The correlation in history between
the popularity of boxing and the disinterest in wrestling should be something that is
studied.  Have the two sports ever been popular on a major scale at the same time?  Is
there any evidence through history that shows that when the popularity of wrestling gets
big, boxing attendance diminishes?

The Los Angeles Times article from 1891 notes that a "dozen wonderful wrestlers" had
passed away, and many of these well known grapplers drew large audiences throughout
the country.


The revival by 1896 was credited to superstars like veteran Farmer Burns and Dan
McLeod.




Wrestling began to lean away from gimmicks a little bit more in the early-to-mid 1950s
with the influx of legitimate, amateur wrestling talent turning pro.  Known as the wrestling
"straight" performer, these wrestlers were often mild when it came to color and
personality, but tops when it came to ability.  Lou Thesz, for instance, was the
heavyweight champion for the National Wrestling Alliance from 1949 to 1956 and reigned
without taunting audiences and sauntering to the ring like most heels.  Thesz was a
clean-cut wrestler, who knew how to play toward the emotions of audiences, more often
than not playing the "good guy," but testing the rules when facing a more popular local
opponent.  In some matches, Thesz's usual popularity was dwarfed by his challenger,
and on those occasions, it was important for him to step up his "bad guy" persona.  Thus,
he was known as a "tweener," and was able to bounce back and forth depending on his
night's role.

But all in all, Thesz was the straight man compared to the Gorgeous Georges of the ring.  
He carried no outstanding gimmick and his credibility preceded him wherever he went.  
Others to follow the same path, especially from the amateur ranks, were Verne Gagne,
Mike DiBiase, Leo Nomellini, Ray Gunkel, Dick Hutton, and Don Beitelman.  It was much
more important to sell these guys for their extraordinary wrestling prowess than for some
lame gimmick.  The concept helped bring some legitimacy back to pro wrestling, as
amazing as that sounds.  Any newfound respect for pro wrestling was better than allowing
the sport to continue its downward trend because associating it with freaks and
outlandish characters was not a positive aspect.  It certainly wasn't going to allow
wrestling to grow.












This is a work in progress


Research by Tim Hornbaker
The Evolution of Professional Wrestling's Popularity