I’ve always admired Vince McMahon as a promoter. The man transformed professional wrestling from a regional business into a global entertainment empire. But one thing is also true: whenever Vince tried to make lightning strike outside of wrestling, the results were usually disappointing.
The XFL’s original launch stumbled badly before eventually being revived years later under different ownership. His attempt to promote the Sugar Ray Leonard-Donny Lalonde fight didn’t exactly reshape boxing. But perhaps his biggest head-scratcher was the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF).
On paper, it probably sounded like a natural fit. Wrestling fans liked larger-than-life physiques. Why not take bodybuilding, add WWF-style production, colorful personalities, and bigger prize money, and create a pay-per-view attraction?
The problem was that bodybuilding and professional wrestling appeal to different audiences. Wrestling is driven by stories, characters, and athletic entertainment. Competitive bodybuilding consists of competitors posing and being judged on muscular development and symmetry. There’s only so much drama you can create around mandatory poses.
I actually watched one of the WBF pay-per-views. It confirmed what I suspected: bodybuilding simply isn’t a spectator sport that lends itself to a three-hour television event. The physiques were incredible, but the entertainment value wasn’t.
The timing couldn’t have been worse, either. The WBF debuted just as Vince McMahon and the WWF were coming under intense federal scrutiny over allegations involving anabolic steroids. Whether fair or unfair, launching a bodybuilding federation at the same time only invited more attention to an activity where steroid use had long been a major public issue. It was a public relations nightmare waiting to happen.
Even brilliant entrepreneurs miss. Vince McMahon had far more successes than failures, but the WBF proved that not every business can be transformed through better marketing and television production. Sometimes the product itself limits the audience.
The WBF wasn’t ahead of its time. It was a solution to a problem that never existed. Sometimes even the greatest promoters can’t convince people to watch something they simply don’t want to see.
