WWE/TNA Obsessed with Jersey Shore; What's the World Coming To?

As wrestling fans, there are generally two things that bother most of us.

1. Older veterans continuously getting involved with matches when they can barely walk—let alone wrestle.

2. Welcoming reality TV stars into the ring to promote themselves.

The first issue is something that is never going to go away.  Older veteran wrestlers who were once huge stars for the company will always be welcomed back to boost appeal among the older fans.  This issue I've come to grips with to a certain extent because I know that it is what's good for business.  Additionally, I am also a fan of the older stars, so seeing them once in a while isn't a huge deal to me.

The latter issue, however, is one that never had to be started in the first place.  Reality TV may be the closest thing to professional wrestling as there is.  Pro wrestling is scripted (not fake, scripted) while reality TV is portrayed as real and everybody believes it to be so. One prime example for how pathetic reality TV has become is that of the uber-popular show on MTV, Jersey Shore.

In an article posted on wrestlinginc.com, it's being reported that TNA has started negotiations to bring in Ronnie from Jersey Shore.  If he were to sign some sort of appearance contract, that would be the third member of the show to appear on the TNA brand. 

Of course, not to be outdone by the lesser product in TNA when they went to the Shore and brought with them Jwoww and Angelina, WWE brought in the show's biggest star, Snooki, to be part of their biggest event of the year when she teamed up with Trish Stratus and John Morrison to take on LayCool and Dolph Ziggler.  On the grandest stage of them all, instead of getting to see actual wrestling done by Morrison and Ziggler in a match that should've meant something, we got to see Snooki in all her glory by performing a cartwheel (pretty sure Kelly Kelly stole that from her by the way) and a cow-dive on top of Michelle McCool to win the match for her team.

Now, I'm all for promoting the brand any way possible, and, yes, Jersey Shore certainly does have a huge following, but by using this type of show, TNA is digging into the bottom of the barrel for promotion tools and WWE, by trying to one up their "rival" company, are promoting a show that goes against everything their PG rating stands for.

Partying all day and night and sleeping around are the basic premises of the show, and for that reason, it is most definitely not a PG rated show.  Most of the audience for the WWE probably doesn't know who these people are, let alone watch the show.  WWE's fanbase is generated around a younger generation, so having Snooki, who is known for who she is rather than what she's actually done with her life, isn't the best way to go about promotion.

TNA is more or less using the show to promote themselves rather than allowing Jersey Shore cast members to promote their show.  With as low of a budget as TNA has to work with, generally speaking, TNA needs to expand their audience in any way possible.

But why do they keep picking Jersey Shore as their go to show for embracing a larger audience.  It would seem reasonable if they kept it at the first two but, with them going with another one, what's stopping them from being the hosts of the Jersey Shore reunion show every year.  At this rate, TNA will be so taken over by Jersey Shore fans that you'll be lost on which show you are watching. 

Has the world of professional wrestling gotten so stale for some fans that they need to see idiotic reality TV stars on their programs? I personally don't think so, but it appears the world of pro wrestling could be in a downward spiral for some more time.

TNA may not be on as high of a level as WWE, but they don't need to resort to combining their programming with fake-reality TV that makes the stars look like morons.  Enough is enough.