How Bobby Heenan “Market Corrected” The Pro Wrestling Industry

In 1992, “The Brain” smartly “sold his stock” in the WWF.

For those who are fans of professional wrestling, the 1992 Royal Rumble match is one of the single greatest showcases of the mainstream excellence of the industry and economic strength of its marketplace during the era between 1970–1990. However, upon reflection, the 1992 Royal Rumble is brilliant because it’s an excellent moment-as-teachable lesson about marketplaces in decline, and how renegade stockholders ultimately aid in the correction of markets and define America’s industrial progression. In studying the real life applications of the World Wrestling Federation’s professional wrestling storyline surrounding how Bobby “The Brain” Heenan came to be the “financial consultant” to Ric Flair in 1992, there’s tremendous lessons regarding how one can succeed at both the stock market and industry.

Between 1999 and 2001, the market for dotcom companies becoming publicly traded stocks on the New York Stock Exchange dropped 84%, with the industry of start-up…