Meatless Market

Wrestling flexes its muscle.

Step into the ring, America. Fueled by outrageousness, athleticism and a cast of colorful characters like Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker, professional wrestling is quickly pinning down a level of mainstream success that's every bit as impressive as it is surprising.

"Our shows get 15 rating points [a high rating] every week," says Jim Byrne of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). "We're also the number-one pay-per-view provider. If you look at the top 50 pay-per-view shows, we have half of them. We made $130 million in pay-per-view revenue last year."

If that's not a big enough show of force, however, consider the growing popularity of professional wrestling tie-in merchandise. "Our retail business makes half a billion dollars," says Byrne. "That includes T-shirts, mugs, hats and action figures. It's a huge presence."

So it is. Yet even as more interest is surely being sparked by the recent, jaw-dropping election of former wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura to the governorship of Minnesota, there still remains the question of whether professional wrestling is more entertainment than sport. "We refer to it as sports entertainment," concludes Byrne. "It takes the best of both worlds and brings them together in a way the audience finds extremely entertaining."

This article was originally published in the February 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Meatless Market.