Mat slam for Pax’s
‘Real Pro Wrestling’
No prancing dames. No goofy outfits. No wonder.
By Toni Fitzgerald
Leave it to the people at Pax, the wholesome family network, to take the fun out of wrestling.
With the continued popularity of the WWE on UPN and Spike and the increasing media interest in wrestling during the past two Olympic Summer Games, it seemed like a great time for the launch of “Real Pro Wrestling, “a new wrestling league that promised half-nelsons in lieu of half-naked women. In other words, real wrestling of the sort we saw in high school, or Greco-Roman, versus the fake monkeyshines we see on television.
But it’s the half-naked women who draw most of the fans to pro wrestling. Without them, Pax’s four-week-old “Real Pro Wrestling “on Sunday afternoons has flattened after a promising start.
The much-hyped debut of the league on March 27 at 4 p.m. attracted an impressive 0.2 household rating, drawing an average of 320,000 total viewers.
But the next week that dipped to a 0.1 average and 140,000. The past two episodes have also hovered at a 0.1, averaging 171,000 total viewers on April 10 and a slightly better 204,000 April 17.
It’s the massive tune-out after episode one, though, that’s more telling. The 0.1 average is exactly what the now-defunct WUSA, the women’s soccer league, pulled two years ago on Pax before its demise. By comparison, UPN’s WWE averaged a 3.3 household rating last week, 0.1 off of its 3.4 season average.
In primetime, Pax averages a 0.4 rating and about 620,000 total viewers.
“Real Pro Wrestling “pits teams with different weight classes of wrestlers against each other in Greco-Roman competition. But without more viewer interest, “Real Pro Wrestling “may fade away like similar secondary fringe sports leagues of the past, such as the XFL or team tennis.
The league’s promoters did the best they could. They recruited Olympic wrestling gold medalist Rulon Gardner as a commentator, he being the poster boy for the 2000 Sydney Olympics after he upset heavily favored Russian Alexandre Kareline.
The league smartly advertised its TV debut at high school state wrestling tournaments across the country, trying to build a following among the sport’s most rabid purist fans.
But ultimately viewers may be too fond of wrestling as entertainment rather than sport. Very few WWE fans could probably tell you what constitutes a takedown in Greco-Roman wrestling, beyond hitting your opponent on the back with a chair.
If “Real Pro Wrestling, “which also reruns regionally on FSN on weekdays, does survive for a second season, Pax should consider playing up the randier aspects of the league, such as the shirtless competitors. Then perhaps it could at least gain a following among women.
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