WWE MOVES VR PROFESSIONAL

This technology, while enticing in theory, is still in its infancy and has yet to really catch on in the mainstream. Sony recently released Playstation VR, Samsung produces Gear VR powered by Oculus, and Microsoft is hard at work on competing technology for the next Xbox gaming console. Think of virtual reality as the tip of the entertainment iceberg and Immersive Reality Entertainment as the hulking mass of potential residing just below the surface.

the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.That's a misnomer, because an Immersive Reality Entertainment experience (which I'll describe in more detail later) provides the user direct access to something that's actually happening in real-life, not something 'virtual' or digitally simulated. Today, this kind of entertainment is still referred to as VR or 'virtual reality' . One day sooner than people realize, pro-wrestling fans (among others) will have access to Immersive Reality Entertainment. VIRTUAL REALITY VS IMMERSIVE REALITY ENTERTAINMENT

WWE MOVES VR PROFESSIONAL

How will that ever change, and how will the evolution of that delivery system affect the way we experience not just professional wrestling, but life as we know it? The delivery systems of cable television have evolved tremendously in recent years, moving us away from chords and commercials to recording and streaming services like DVR, Hulu, Netflix, and Sling, and the screens themselves have gotten 'smarter', smaller, and curvier, but the experience of literally staring at a rectangular screen to absorb visual information remains the norm. We stand, we sit, or we lay down, and then we stare at a box from a distance. It's certainly a more complicated pro-wrestling system than RAW vs NITRO.īut this system is as much a reflection of modern American culture as The Attitude Era was a reflection of the late nineties. Yet for all that change, there's something about pro-wrestling (and television on the whole) that hasn't changed much at all: how we watch it. This self-sustaining information loop inevitably leads to the recycling of a few key talking points and reductionist concepts at the expense of a more nuanced reality, each side of a particular issue doubling down on their stance, attempting to lay claim to the pie-in-the-sky fantasy that their views represent 'The Majority!' kayfabe) that led to the popularization of sites like Breitbart & HuffPo.įacts, in such a culture, matter less than one's ability to ('work') strike exposed emotional nerves within particular communities such as discontent with the current pro-wrestling system and a desire to return to 'the good old days' when pro-wrestling was great. In fact, pro-wrestling media is a pioneer of the same system of biased misinformation masquerading as fact (i.e. We have our own versions of CNN, FOX News, The NY Times, and The Washington Post. The business isn't just 'exposed', it is relentlessly dissected with the same scrutiny, angst, and hot-takery that defines the real-world twenty-four-hour news cycle. These fans then regularly consume pro-wrestling media, often directly feeding it with their own opinions by way of podcasts and blogs ( like this one). Gone are the rigidly defined days of your average '18-35 year old male demo' showing up to RAW & Nitro in their tank tops to drink beer and scream obscenities into the camera. Today's wrestling is about gathering together with fellow 'smart' wrestling fans (whatever their age, gender-identity, race, or sexuality), and then evaluating themselves or their particular group against other individuals and other groups, all while existing under the larger umbrella of 'modern pro-wrestling fandom'. Pro-Wrestling, like the whole of entertainment, has fragmented into an increasingly specific subset of ever-evolving tastes. Wrestling isn't drawing ten million viewers every Monday, but how many scripted television shows are in this Era of Niche? There are no Monday Night Wars, but there is a vast and interconnected independent wrestling circuit that's more accessible than ever thanks to the internet. In WWE, promos and segments are highly controlled, heavily scripted bits of theater rather than loose, improvisational workshops. There is no 'top guy' in the industry, but 'brand identity' is stronger than ever. Pro-wrestling has changed dramatically in the past twenty years. Wrestlers are leaner, faster, and seemingly less tethered to gravity.

Wwe moves vr