GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Every Monday night, the television networks shudder as millions of their viewers click away from their prime-time programming -- to watch wrestling. Cable's Monday night wrestling shows get the credit -- or the blame -- for drops in ratings for this year's NCAA men's college basketball championship and that fixture of television sports: "Monday Night Football." The World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling also make millions of dollars every year from pay-per-view events, such as this past weekend's WWF "SummerSlam," which featured former wrestler-turned-governor Jesse Ventura. Wrestling is so big, in fact, that the WWF hopes to raise more than $172 million in a public stock offering later this year.
Who's Watching Wrestling?
Still, despite the hoopla, wrestling remains a preoccupation with
only a minority of the American public. A new Gallup poll conducted
August 16-18 shows that only 18% of Americans consider themselves
to be fans of professional wrestling. This compares to Gallup's
estimates that about 59% of Americans are professional baseball
fans, and that 41% are professional basketball fans.
Not surprisingly, wrestling fans tend to be young males with high school educations who earn less than $30,000 annually -- and their political ideology tends to lean Democratic. Very few college graduates claim to be professional wrestling fans, and the fan percentage among those over age 30 is also quite low. One interesting note: despite the predominance of white wrestlers on wrestling shows, the percentage of black fans is greater than the percentage of white fans by a two-to-one margin (33% of blacks count themselves as professional wrestling fans, compared to 16% of whites). There are few regional differences, except that the East has fewer wrestling fans than other regions of the country do.
Is Professional Wrestling a Sport?
That question has plagued professional wrestling for years, and
even wrestling promoters now label their events "athletic
entertainment" as an acknowledgement that the results of wrestling
matches are usually predetermined. The poll results show most
people understand the difference: 81% of Americans say professional
wrestling is not a sport, compared to 17% who say it is. However,
the difference drops among those who call themselves wrestling
fans, as 56% say it is not a sport -- much lower than among the
general population -- compared to 44% who claim it is.
There is little illusion among Americans, however, that wrestling matches are actually unbiased competitions. More than eight out of ten Americans believe the outcomes of most wrestling matches are fixed. Interestingly, a 1951 Gallup poll which asked the same question found that only 17% believed most matches were fixed; 42% of Americans believed only a few matches were fixed, while 24% believed none of them were.
Who Is the Fan Favorite?
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin takes top honors in the ring -- and in
the Gallup poll. Twenty-four percent of Americans picked Austin as
their favorite wrestler, twice as many as the nearest challenger,
Hulk Hogan (12%). Austin is also the only wrestler to show more
support among women than among men, with 32% of women picking him
as their favorite wrestler compared to 19% of men. Other fan
favorites after Austin and Hogan include Bill Goldberg (10%), Sting
(7%), and "The Rock" (6%).
Americans Split on Ventura Participation in
"SummerSlam"
The new Gallup poll found that 47% of Americans consider it
appropriate for Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura to have taken part
in the "SummerSlam" event this past weekend, while 43% believe his
participation was inappropriate. Among wrestling fans, however, 73%
say it is appropriate for him to be a guest "referee."
Survey Methods
The results below are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,028 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted August 16-18, 1999. For results based on this sample, one
can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus
3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.
Now thinking about World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and other professional wrestling that you may see on TV, are you a fan of professional wrestling, or not?
| Yes, a fan | 12% |
| SOMEWHAT OF A FAN (vol.) | 6 |
| No, not a fan | 82 |
| No opinion | * |
| 100% |
Who is your favorite pro wrestler?
BASED ON -- 151 -- PRO-WRESTLING FANS; ± 7 PCT PTS
| Steve Austin | 24% |
| Hulk Hogan | 12 |
| Bill Goldberg | 10 |
| Sting | 7 |
| The Rock | 6 |
| Undertaker | 2 |
| Sable | 2 |
| Jesse Ventura | 2 |
| Ric Flair | 2 |
| Kevin Nash | 1 |
| Other | 6 |
| None/No favorite | 15 |
| No opinion | 11 |
| 100% |
Do you consider pro wrestling to be a sport, or not?
| Yes, a sport | 17% |
| No, not a sport | 81 |
| No opinion | 2 |
| 100% |
As you may know, Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, a former professional wrestler, will be the referee in a pro wrestling event this summer on pay-per-view cable. Do you think it is appropriate or inappropriate for Ventura to participate in that event?
| Appropriate | 47% |
| Inappropriate | 43 |
| No opinion | 10 |
| 100% |
Would you say that most, a few, or not any professional wrestling matches are fixed?
| Aug 26-31, 1951 | Aug 16-18, 1999 | |
|---|---|---|
| Most | 17% | 82% |
| A few | 42 | 9 |
| Not any | 24 | 2 |
| No opinion | 17 | 7 |
| 100% | 100% |
