The ‘Double A’ Report: Children
“Children: They are our future. Invest in them and our countries will prosper”
As the summer sun weasels through a slit between two unmet curtains and cascades a fine ray of light onto the bed sheets, Tom’s eyes twitch and flicker. The premise of another day entertains his weary head as the decidedly warm beam begins to heat his brow. Slowly a scent of cut grass envelops his nostrils as the aroma of fried bacon soon follows to awaken the sleepiest of souls. Monday mornings were reviled by Tom. He hated them. They were the bane of his existence you might say. But this one was different. Summer was in full swing and school was out. And what better way to start the week than to watch ‘WWF King of the Ring’ from the night before. Being 6 years old there was no way his parents would allow Tom to stay up past 9pm. However, Dad taped it of course. He could count on him. After all Tom was an avid WWF fan. He watched it every week to see what was going to happen to his ‘heroes’ like The Rock, The Undertaker, Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels. With a quick leap out of bed the slippers were soon on; the dressing gown was quickly donned; and the leather chair opposite the TV in the lounge had an occupier. Yet something was missing. There was no tape in the VCR. There was no message left by Dad to confirm the recording. In fact there was no tape. And there was no recording. There was to be no ‘King of the Ring’. With a tear in his eye Tom listened as Dad explained that wrestling was obviously too ‘grown up’ for Tom. How the naked girls were ‘too rude’ and the fights were ‘too bloody’. That was the end of the road for Tom. From that day forth wrestling was banned in the house. However, that night as a tearful Tom laid his head on the pillow and watched as the moonlight coloured his bed sheets as the morning sun once had, Monday night Raw unfolded. As the seconds ran into minutes he couldn’t help wondering what was happening. Though as the minutes ran in hours, it was only dreams that brought wrestling to Tom now.
Not a pretty story you might be thinking, and I would tend to agree. Yet the reasoning behind such a story illustrates many of the natural concerns and worries that any caring parent may have. When faced with the arduous task of deciding ‘what is the suitable age for viewing wrestling?’ and ‘what constitutes youth-orientated programming?’ I know many parents who have decided to ban wrestling from their TV sets.
‘Tom’ doesn’t exist. But Tom’s do exist. Many children around the world who spend hour after hour perusing the abundant array of TV channels and stations during their summer holidays will soon learn what excites them and entertains them. And wrestling is one of those commodities that children often ‘buy into’. I myself started to watch wrestling casually from the age of 5 and despite periods of dis-interest and disloyalty, I am still watching at the age of 21.
The glitz and glamour. The ‘good guy’ versus ‘bad guy’ plays. The gimmicks. The novelty matches. The hype and hysteria. It is all ‘eye-catching’ and essentially makes for one of the most ‘interesting’ entertainment shows on offer. So naturally hoards of children become interested. And many of these grow up and mature with the wrestling/wrestlers they once (and still) revered.
With this comes great responsibility on the side of the WWE. You might have to search for it but there is a ‘Parents’ section of the WWE website dedicated solely to the parents of WWE’s youth. At http://corporate.wwe.com/parents/ you can read the following blurb that illustrates the WWE’s stance on matters involving young viewers:
“We at WWE have families of our own, so we understand how important it is for parents to take an active role in their children’s free time. We encourage all parents to help their children select suitable entertainment, and to understand the differences between fantasy and real life.
Our programs are tailored for teens and young adults, who comprise nearly 50 percent of our audience. About 73 percent of our audience is 18 years of age or older. Some of our viewers are younger children. If parents make the decision to allow their children to watch our programming, we encourage those parents to watch with their children. We urge parents who allow younger children to watch our programming to explain that what our Superstars do on television should not be emulated or attempted in real life”
I like this statement and I like the pitch of it. Not only does this clear up any misunderstandings over the type of programming on offer, but the last two sentences are there to make the most profound impact on parents. Every type of entertainment seems to be littered with nudity, sexual references, violence and profanity, and the WWE does not shy away from this. I would imagine that it even revels in its own uniqueness (something that is so desirable in today’s television). What it does do also, is emphasise how wrestling can be enjoyed safely by children and that parents should take an interest in their child’s likes.
Come and go do the ‘weird and wacky’ characters of the wrestling world, but with them comes and remains the bitter angst and complete revulsion that certain people have towards their being. Now let me enlightened those of you have not watched wrestling for long and jog the memory of you long-term fans as I take you on a journey through the recently past years as some of the more risqué moments and memories are re-lived…
– Necrophilia World Order – In 2002 we were ‘treated’ to the ‘creative gem’ that was the ‘Katie Vick’ angle. This three week atrocity revolved around Kane and his supposed accidental killing of a former girlfriend. What made it worse though was HHH’s insistent provoking and probing (literally) until we were to witness Raw’s top heel pretend to commit necrophilia with a doll depicting Katie. Throw in an enema operation, a casket match and Kane’s abduction of HHH and you have what many consider the worse storyline of all time. What was Brian Gerwitz thinking?
– Gays and Lesbians get paraded on WWE shows – Billy Gunn and Chuck Palumbo (two fantastic personalities and performers) were saddled with the ‘Billy and Chuck’ gay tag team gimmick in 2002. In a publicity stunt that attracted a wealth of media attention, a false ‘commitment ceremony’ was held to celebrate their ‘love’ of one another in a way that apparently completely alienated the whole gay and lesbian community round the world. Then, as if what Smackdown did with Chuck and Billy was not vulgar enough, Raw decided to try and top it. So yes Eric Bischoff comes out and announces that ratings will saw when people cop a load of ‘HLA’, a couple of beautiful ‘lesbian’ women. With HLA standing for ‘Hot Lesbian Action’, little was left to the imagination and hence WWE’s email inbox was flooded with complaints from parents and lesbians alike. The backlash of the content was strong elsewhere also, especially from the TNN network as well as TSN (in Canada), who despite showing the gratuitous fondling and kissing, where at pains to broadcast the resultant beating they were provided with at the hands of Rosey and Jamal. Hypocrisy at its most obvious. The only way you could avoid? Turn off the TV!
– Anyone remember the sex that killed? – Yes? No? Well either way I am sorry to have to be reminding you of this one. To cut a very distressing story short I will tell you that this storyline forced avid fans of the WWE to watch an elderly Al Wilson (Torrie’s father) court, marry (in their underpants), and have a honeymoon with non other than our resident Smackdown diva: Dawn Marie. And to crown the whole affair we were provided with a backstage segment in which Al was ‘sexed to death’ by the minxy Dawn (much to the evident dismay of Torrie – and the whole viewing public I’m sure). The funeral was broadcast and it all lead to the outrageously dreamt-up match at Royal Rumble ’03 called the ‘Step-Daughter versus Step-Mother’ grudge match. Horrific is the only word to describe what unfolded in those agonising weeks as a wrestling fan.
There have been many awful decisions at the hands of the creative team, with the above acting as a very select and very recent reflection. If we were to go back through the wrestling annals and archives we could and would unearth further monstrosities. Probably the worst (and most talked about) gimmick of all time: The Gobbeldy Gooker can be remembered; Mae Young giving birth to a ‘hand’ thanks to Mark Henry will never be forgotten; Doink and Dink can be laughed at; Chaz/Mosh/Beaver Cleavage were a resident hilarity; and Lo-Down complete with turbans and their manager Tiger Ali Singh proceeded to push the religion/racist button for all at home to see.
So in 2005 have we come full circle? Where does todays’ wrestling landscape find us? What is the youth receiving? Well we have Muhammad Hassan and Shawn Daivairi – who despite their good wrestling abilities and on-mic prowess – are being rammed down our throats as ‘Arab-Americans’ in the post-9/11 era. Personally I find the gimmick very acceptable though. They are truthful and rather compelling in their approach. They get under our skins as a good heel is supposed to and if parallels are drawn with this and past religious or racist angles then we could count ourselves lucky.
Simon Dean pops up every now and then to divulge his derogatory feelings for all to hear. Now I know he is a good wrestler so why he has been lumped with this ‘fitness guru’ gimmick I have no idea, and what’s more is that there is little consequential heat coming from his actions. Rosey is fat, ok. Viscera is fat, ok. Apparently 50% of the US nation is obese. So is this a great way to push a heel WWE?…by patronising a demographic that may well represent a good number of fans? You decide.
At a time when ‘baby killers’, psychos, forced weddings, scantily clad divas, ‘stabbings’ and Eugene are a feature of our wrestling programmes we can see why there are ‘calls to arms’ from parent groups and IWC members alike. Funnily enough though the motives of these two groups are totally different. While parents want a ‘purified show’ that can be fulfilling and entertaining for their children, the IWC want a ‘purified show’ that provides the best storylines and the best matches possible at the time.
The WWE knows this, and consequently their job is made hard under all these pressures. Network television too has a responsibility to be vigilant for the sake of its viewers; and providing shows that deliver what they promise is important from their aspect.
As we move ever closer towards Wrestlemania 21 and the intrigue and interest in this spectacle grows and grows in the dieing days, it might be fitting and rather poignant to remember how much an influence these heroes and heroines have over the youth of today. With a young audience of millions expected to tune in, we can just hope that on this ‘night of champions’ we will witness a show that not only the WWE can be proud of but also the children and their parents can be proud of.
For the sake of all the Tom’s around the world, let’s hope that the story ends differently in future.
Enjoy Wrestlemania everyone, and I will see you on the other side I’m sure.
Many thanks to those of you who read and responded to my last column ‘Falling In Love’ it was much appreciated.
And so if anyone has any thoughts on youth-orientated wrestling broadcasts; dire storylines of yester-year; or Wrestlemania opinions then don’t hesitate to email me at DoubleAReport@yahoo.com. All will be replied to, so I look forward to hearing from you.
Until next time, take care
‘Double A’
