The best trash talking, pyrotechnics and high flying wrestling action will be in the heart of Cyclone country tonight as the World Wrestling Federation presents its flagship show, “Raw Is War,” live from the Hilton Coliseum. This crossbreed of athletics and soap opera drama begins at 6:30 p.m., and the “Raw Is War” broadcast goes live on TNN at 8 p.m.

More than 40 WWF Superstars are scheduled to be at the show including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Chyna, the Undertaker and WWF Champion Kurt Angle. The show’s story lines will help pave the way for the WWF’s Dec. 10 pay-per-view “Armageddon.”

The past three years have seen professional wrestling become a pop culture staple and a cable television ratings juggernaut. Scott Casber and Scott McLin, co-hosts of Saturday Night Slam on 107.1 KJOC, weighed in on the current state of professional wrestling.

McLin said the television presentation of wrestling and the interest of the casual fans are what pushed wrestling to its current heights of success.

“You were seeing the pyros ,and you were seeing all the things that you got at a pay-per-view,” he said. “You used to have to pay $29.99 or whatever they charged for us to watch a pay-per-view. Now all of a sudden you’re getting it for free on Monday night. You didn’t have to sit through two hours to get to a main event.”

Casber added that WWF owner Vince McMahon has also been instrumental in wrestling and, in particular, the WWF’s success.

“Vince McMahon is the P.T. Barnum of the modern age,” he said.

The qualities that make McMahon so much like Barnum are his constant drive to be the best and the lengths he goes to entertain the fans, Casber added.

Although wrestling has hit these new heights of popularity, its popularity may have peaked, Casber said.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “I think the story lines across the board could be better. I think they can stop relying so much on sleaze and start getting down to the heart of the matter and that’s talent as opposed to relying on who’s sleeping with who.”

Ratings numbers for wrestling are on a downward trend, even for the WWF, since its move from the USA Network to TNN, Casber said.

“They have left a home that they were on for 17 years,” he said. “So I think what you’re seeing right now, as far as low ratings, is a lot of people are not able to get [TNN], and it’s not as popular of a TV station in many markets across the country as USA was.”

McLin said the downward spiral for wrestling’s popularity is inevitable.

“Your audience changes. This is not the same audience watching pro wrestling today that watched it in 1985,” he said.

The fans who casually watch wrestling are the ones who push up the ratings and make it extremely popular, McLin said, and they would eventually be the ones who help wrestling’s resurgence.

“As a new, fresh fan base comes in, you’ll see another shot,” McLin explained.

Steve Hooper, referee for Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, Alberta Canada, said wrestling is riding a tremendous wave of success right now. However, he said it will likely start to decline in popularity.

“Wrestling’s a very cyclical business,” Hooper said. “We’ve gone through this huge high again. I think it’s going to go downhill again, and that’s a bonus to the independent circuit because whenever the big business goes down, the independents go up.”

Hooper described wrestling’s popularity as very faddish.

“A lot of the products — I don’t care who you are — gets stale,” he said. “How many ladder matches can you have? So the wrestling goes on a downward swing and all of a sudden the new talent pool will be brought in, some new ideas for matches, some new ideas for angles, and it will go back up again.”

The WWF is deep in talent though, Hooper said.

“The group the WWF locker room has right now is probably the tightest and I would say, the best talent pools they’ve ever had,” he said.

Casber and McLin’s show can be heard from 10 p.m. to midnight on the Jock. They also run a wrestling Web site, www.saturdaynightslam.com and have promoted an independent wrestling show in Des Moines.