WE’RE COMIN’ FOR Y-O-U!!!

Friday, March 12, 1999 | 9:48 a.m.

ABC's "All My Children" has Erica Kane.

The World Wrestling Federation has, simply, Kane.

The big screen had the Road Warrior, played by Mel Gibson. World Championship Wrestling has the Ultimate Warrior, played by James Hellwig.

Van Halen was once led by Diamond David Lee Roth. The WCW is led by Diamond Dallas Page. Former "Saturday Night Live" comic Chris Rock lives on the edge. So does WWF champion The Rock.

The NBA has Dennis Rodman. So does the WCW (at least occasionally). Michael Jackson introduced the crotch clutch. The WWF has made it an art form.

Far beyond the armbar submissions, double leg takedowns, fisherman suplexes and Samoan drops -- traditional professional wrestling maneuvers dating back to the '50s -- is an ever-expanding effort by pro wrestling to envelope a more flamboyant personality.

In the WWF, which storms into the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday on its "Road Rage Tour," the operative term is "pushing the envelope." And it's a given that Saturday's nine-match card at the Thomas & Mack will be raucous, rabid and rated R.

Regardless, the event is expected to draw between 12,000 and 13,000 bloodthirsty fans, typical of the pro wrestling arena productions that blow into town once or twice a year. Along with Saturday's card, the rival WCW appears in Las Vegas on April 5 to tape its own weekly television show at the MGM Grand Garden.

But professional wrestling is no longer merely an occasional diversion in Las Vegas. Lengthy commitment is in vogue. The World Wrestling Federation has purchased the former Debbie Reynolds hotel-casino and plans to turn the property on Convention Center Drive near Paradise Road into a 1,000-room, WWF-themed resort.

On the Strip, the WCW and sister organization new World order (or nWo) are in the process of gutting the Excalibur's Wild Bills Saloon and Steakhouse. In its place will be the WCW/nWo Nitro Grill Restaurant, a dizzying 17,000- square-foot, indoor-outdoor eatery that will feature smoke, laser lighting and several big screens showing appetizing WCW/nWo matches and highlights.

Each entity is bent on long-term success and has invested millions of dollars and hundreds of hours in their respective projects. Like their star performers, neither claims to know how to retreat.

Wince or smile, Las Vegans: Your city has become a professional wrestling battleground.

What we're in for

"I like performing in Las Vegas," The Rock, a former defensive end at the University of Miami, said. "The crowd there is close, really personal. They get right on top of you."

Then The Rock strayed into the WWF's trademark push-the-envelope attitude.

"Being on top of the Rock isn't a bad thing. At least that's what they tell me."

Heh heh.

That's just a sampling of a carefully choreographed image cultivated by the WWF, under the direction of owner and ringleader Vince McMahon. Much has changed in the WWF in the past two decades under the direction of the controversial-but-business-wise McMahon, who survived a steroid scandal nearly 10 years ago to keep his company afloat.

During its mid -'80s apex, the WWF relied on celebrity guest wrestlers and the campy "Rock 'n' Wrestling" tour to achieve high ratings and sell out stadiums (Mr. T sharing the ring with Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper and rockers Billy Squires and Cyndi Lauper was an especially heart-wrenching moment).

The shows were wild, to be sure, but far from profane.

But the new WWF spits out a product pulsating with the more outrageous characteristics of the Howard Stern-Jerry Springer talk show genre, monster truck competitions and a late-'70s Sex Pistols concert.

There's vulgarity and profanity, with wrestlers and fans alike giving each other the old one-finger salute. Fans delight in transvestites, drunks, pimps, vampires and the walking dead. They relish the fireworks, flashing lights, smoke and testosterone-exuding he-men guzzling beer plucked from a cooler.

As expected, there's also a high level of simulated violence -- including oiled-up muscle men performing mock crucifixions and batting around their female counterparts.

"We put out a racy product and push the envelope," The Rock said. "There's not much difference between us and the movies. No one's getting killed. No one's getting raped."

An in-depth Indiana University report reveals precisely what is going on during the enormously popular "WWF Raw/WWF War Zone" program aired on USA Network every Monday night at 9 p.m. -- prime time. What the kids in Hoosier country uncovered was a veritable cable carnival of nefarious behavior:

* 1,658 instances of characters grabbing or pointing to their own crotch. That's eight every half-hour (not including slow-motion instant replays).

* 157 instances of a wrestler or audience member making an obscene gesture and 434 cases where participants either said or displayed a sexually charged slogan.

* 128 episodes of simulated sexual activity (this, with no Madonna) and 47 references to satanic activity (this, with no Ozzy Osbourne).

* 609 instances of wrestlers or other sideline observers (managers, announcers, etc.) being struck by objects such as garbage cans or nightsticks (there was no comparison cited between WWF and Springer in the folding chair category).

All in good fun

But even as members of academia and parents might decry the amount of violence, profanity, sexual innuendo and otherwise illicit behavior played out on WWF, the organization makes no apologies.

"I don't want to sound insensitive," The Rock said, "but it's not a major concern. Our major concern is to put out a product the people want. Parents should police what kids are watching, not us."

Jay Andronaco, the WWF manager of media relations, is so accustomed to explaining the content of his organization's live and television shows he seems to be reading from prepared text.

"I don't think you see anything in our prime-time show you don't see anywhere else that time of night," Andronaco said. "For the WWF, we build compelling storylines with triple entendres and a lot of action. It's nighttime television and no worse than 'NYPD Blue.' "

The Rock said violence is part of the WWF's sports entertainment package. Besides, it's fake -- er, "predetermined" -- violence.

"I don't see anyone putting Brian DePalma on trial for making 'Scarface,' " he said. "Hey, I will call a spade a spade. We're racy entertainment. We try to capture every emotion all the time, and these things are predetermined. It is planned and nobody is saying that it's not."

But what about the kids? A typical WWF crowd is brimming with charged-up teen-age fans. Commercials for "WWF Raw" include M&Ms and Super Soakers, advertisements seemingly not directed at the "Scarface" crowd.

"From out standpoint, the audience for 'WWF Raw' is not kids," Andronaco said. "Seventy percent is 18 and over, and those are our official numbers."

Andronaco added that just 15 percent of the WWF viewing audience is younger than 14.

"Our product in comparison to other things on TV is not that bad," Rock said. "It's mind-boggling how we keep getting this grief."

Fighting it out

The WWF's ascension has created a spirited rivalry with Ted Turner-owned WCW. The WCW's "Monday Night Nitro" on TNT was a basic cable ratings champion for 83 straight weeks before being overtaken by the raunchier WWF in December.

WCW has some of the industry's biggest names, including former WWF cash cow Hollywood (formerly Hulk) Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage and Ric Flair. Champion Diamond Dallas Page is among the more popular younger wrestlers, and the organization is high on former Atlanta Falcon Bill Goldberg.

"We have 14 main-event quality wrestlers in the WCW," WCW Director of Marketing Michael Weber said. "We try to give people everything. We have black wrestlers, Asian wrestlers, big wrestlers, small wrestlers. We have good-looking wrestlers and ugly wrestlers.

"We have something for everyone."

Unless "everyone" covets the tawdriness of the WWF.

"We won't do profanity," Weber said. "We won't do simulated sex acts. The true, true fan does not want that and a very small percentage of our audience is into that."

Turner's network censors profanity and punishes any wrestlers who use bad language on the air.

The WWF counters with its slick champion in The Rock, who appeals to anyone who simply wants to be cool. It also boasts former belt-holder Stone Cold Steve Austin.

A beer-quaffing Texas stud who was featured in the January issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Austin is recognized as the hottest wrestler in the nation today. He made an appearance on a recent episode of "Nash Bridges," which only helped to expand his name recognition (but didn't exactly prompt Jack Nicholson to seek new employment).

But the most pertinent television shows for each organization are the never-repeated weekly studio programs.

The WCW's "Monday Night Nitro" airs earlier, at 8 p.m., but the two warring organizations compete head-to-head from 9 to 10 p.m. Both have prospered; in February, 21 of the top 25 programs on basic cable were either WWF or WCW shows and an estimated eight million viewers tune into professional wrestling every Monday night.

The demographic boosting the ratings is younger men. The WWF's most recent Monday night ratings for "WWF Raw/WWF War Zone" show that more men between the ages of 18 to 34 tuned into the WWF program than any other program -- including major networks' prime-time fare.

Good work, guys.

The Rock, for one, is thankful.

"We have a great fan base, very loyal. People tune in to see the storylines mostly," The Rock said. "We always have fresh story lines and fresh and creative talent to act out those story lines."

Toe-to-toe in Vegas

Although it appears there is enough room in the cable TV and live event universes to accommodate both factions, there is a squeeze going on in Las Vegas with the WWF hotel-casino and the WCW/nWo Nitro Grill.

The WWF project, still under construction with no announced start-up date, promises a 35-story tower, 50,000-square-foot casino, WWF-themed clubs and restaurants and a theater that might be home to the WWF television production facilities.

Las Vegas attorney Marc Risman, who helped negotiate the sale of Debbie Reynolds' hotel to the WWF, said pro wrestling's national appeal will breed success for the property.

"It already has a built-in market," Risman said. "There is an audience base separate from the traditional gaming clientele. If you're a wrestling fan and you ask your family if they'd rather spend vacation at a generic hotel or one that has your favorite form of entertainment, they'd rather stay at the place with the entertainment. It's natural."

Karl Rogers, president of Sitka Restaurant Group, which manages the Nitro Grill, says the WWF operation is a clear case of overkill.

"I'll take my 9-year-old kid to a place for a few hours of enjoyment," Rogers said. "Does that mean I'm spending three days at it? I don't think so. What we want here is to attract fans and give them a good meal for a good price and entertain them for a few hours. We have a perfect location on the Strip, and I've seen a lot of things close down (at the WWF hotel site) since I've lived here."

The Nitro Grill is set to open in early May.

Both properties boast plans to bring in big-name performers for regular promotional appearances. Neither will have live wrestling events, but will provide a heaping helping of wrestling paraphernalia and serve as a lingering example of one of society's more odd infatuations.

"There are a lot of reasons for its success," The Rock said. "There's really not much difference between us and the movies. At the end of the day, an actor gives his performance and goes home.

"After a performance, we do the same thing. We give the audience what it wants and then go home."

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