More than just dismissive of the expression ‘patience is a virtue’, the majority of wrestling fans that I have known over the years have shown one similar tendency and that is to expect the worse and be against something before they’ve even seen what it is they’re judging. It’s amazing how many times you read somewhere that “this is going to suck” or “why the hell are they doing this?” founded solely on the basic concept of something and ignoring the fact that some talented people are working behind the scenes and the numerous possible ways a storyline or angle can be played out. Even though the ECW PPV is still twenty-four hours away, many fans are suggesting that Vince has screwed it up already and has probably done it on purpose to make sure that ECW stays dead. An odd point considering that Vince has a lot of money invested in this PPV and we all know how Vince feels about money. I’ll come back to ECW in a minute, but first a few notable examples of my point.
How many of us can say that when they first read on the Internet that WWE was planning on doing a mentally challenged character, you thought it was a good idea. I certainly didn’t. I’m always willing to give any gimmick a chance for a probationary period but even I was struggling to be hopeful about this one. And then we met Eugene. My initial worry was how they were going to work him into the storylines. We’d already seen on Smackdown with the Zach Gowen angle that great lumps of realism could be quietly ignored or even harshly sacrificed for the sake of expediency. I was okay with the idea of Eugene being Bischoff’s nephew and that his wrestling ability and surprising strength would be explained as a form of autism but I was concerned that his feuds would have to be soft and dopey to prevent any offence to disabled groups. The first wise move they made was involving him with a lot of people. HHH, Orton, Batista, Flair, The Rock, Regal, Benoit, Stratus, Jericho and Hogan all took their turn deflecting attention away from Eugene’s ‘condition’ and focussed more on his perseverance and optimism. I was also pleased to see Eugene develop healthy negative emotions (bitterness, doubt, anger) as it is a common misconception that disabled people are the human equivalent of Barney the dinosaur. A care-worker friend of mine once told me that the only difference between an asshole and an asshole in a wheelchair is the wheelchair. Having been out for quite a while with a serious knee injury, Eugene is ready to make a return to our screens and I’ll be glad to see him. I think the WWE has proved they’ve got the character’s best interests at heart and they’re not going to rely on tired old generalisations just to be politically correct.
Mohammad Hassan is a different matter. When I heard of the anti-American Muslim character idea, I saw more possibilities than drawbacks. I remember seeing the first promo where Hassan came across as anything but the clichéd ranting fundamentalist and appeared calm, considered and respectful of American culture, albeit disappointed at the treatment of Muslims post 9/11. I thought this was a clever twist and it would be interesting to see people’s reaction to him. Over the subsequent weeks I thought his character leaned too much towards the extremist side and it became too easy to dismiss his rhetoric as anti-western bile by the time he made his debut on Raw. On screen, the WWE took great care in making sure viewers understood that Hassan’s opinions, whilst quietly valid within the Muslim community, were stemming from a disproportionate sense of injustice and mistrust in American society and shouldn’t be seen as indicative of Islamic sentiment. Whilst I don’t think this deflective measure has entirely worked, the main reason why Hassan and Daivari are more acceptable to the mainstream American audience is because they are believable performers and good value in the ring. I also think that Hassan’s personal grievances, in his eyes viewed as prejudice, are more subtly handled now and are the catalyst rather than the progenitor for his feuds and angles.
I’m also going to tentatively include the Edge/Lita/Matt/Kane situation. Whilst there are still a lot of people who resent the real life implications being used as an inference in the storyline (and justifiably so, if that’s how you feel), there are equal numbers who have chosen to go along with the angle and regard it as it is; a bit of tasteless, disposable writing. The overly-moralistic protestations of die-hard Matt Hardy fans requesting that fans boycott the WWE or turn their backs when Edge or Lita appear have either gone largely unheeded or occurred in such small numbers as not to be noticeable. Like it or not, it appears as though wrestling is bigger than Matt, Lita or Edge.
What about the draft lottery? How many of you complained that it would never work drawn out over the period of a month with only limited picks on either side? How many of you predicted that the draft would be a waste because no ‘big names’ were going to be drafted? It’s equally short-sighted that a lot of those same people are now proclaiming the draft a success after just two picks (one in some cases) based purely on the calibre of the wrestlers drafted. Why not just assess how something is going so far and be hopeful that the good trades continue? In fact, there are so many possible permutations to the roster reshuffle that it’s almost impossible to make a holistic conclusion on the subject until it’s finished, and even then it’s how they utilise the talent that determines whether the shows and storylines will improve or suffer as a result.
I’m not suggesting that everything Vince spews up is gold. If I was, as a fair and balanced columnist (who laughed?) I’d have to mention the less than successful Gobbledy Gooker, Saba Simba, the Brawl for all tournament, The Goon, Beaver Cleaver, The New Blackjacks, Cloudy, Muffy and Meat (amongst many others) to prove that his Midas touch isn’t a given. But his batting average is such that we should at least wait and see how bad something is before we condemn it. Obviously, this point does not affect constructive, sensible criticism, especially regarding the ECW PPV.
I’m glad to read that many fans are cautious about the proposed card for the upcoming ‘One night stand’ PPV. Whilst nothing is perfect and the line up for the show was bound to omit somebody’s favourite wrestler, I think it would have been impossible to produce such an event without it having WWE overtones (what with it being a WWE show) and to deny the fact would have led to a PPV that was more of a cheap imitation than a worthy celebration. Of course, that caution should be outweighed by excitement. It should be a fantastic event and at worst it will be a nostalgic night for old ECW fans, who either went to the ECW arena or bought VHS copies of the events shot on headache inducing shaky-cam. But, what we will see on Sunday is not ECW. Okay, a lot of ex-ECW stars will be there and most of the matches will have an ECW theme to them but it is most definitely a reunion and not a rebirth. In order for it to be a rebirth, it would need to be anti-establishment so it would have to be totally separate from WWE. That would mean low wages and bounced cheques, poor production values and a weak public profile. All of the things that killed ECW in the first place. I hope that something comes from the PPV but I’m not sure what. Personally, I’d prefer it if the ex-ECW wrestlers got more respect from the WWE creative team rather then restarting an ECW franchise which wouldn’t be a patch on the original.
Finally, to look at it in a more superficial way, if I was to list the ten people that I associate with ECW more than any others (Heyman, Cactus, Sandman, Dreamer, Tazz, RVD, Douglas, Sabu, Raven, Funk), that doesn’t mean that I’m going to denigrate the efforts of every other ECW performer just because they’re not in my top ten. To say that the card is wrong because Douglas or Raven won’t be there but Jericho and Mysterio will be and they’re more ‘WWE’ now, is bull in its lowest form and goes against all the principles of hard work and unity for which ECW stood. Australian author and television presenter Clive James once said, “no place feels more like home than the place where the homeless gather”. That’s ECW. Enjoy the PPV. I know I will.
Lee
