Nothing would make me happier if I woke up one morning laying down next to Layla Mr. Kennedy Dixie Carter, and had the following sweet nothing whispered into my ear: “TNA Impact just beat Monday Night Raw in the ratings this week”. Not even if my arms were draped around the naked bodies of Maryse and Layla. Not even if Triple H and John Cena both quit wrestling altogether. Not even if I, the fanboy of all fanboys of Mr. Kennedy, got to see him win a heavyweight championship. And why, you must be wondering, is that? Well, because I’d then know that a fire would be lit under Vince McMahon’s competitive, killer-instinct spirit… something we haven’t seen in a long time.
Of course I know that Vince is a workaholic behind-the-scenes; that’s been documented time and time again. But we all know he isn’t the same guy he was plum in the middle of the Monday Night Wars. To sum it up best, he’s in a box, and a small one at that. The WWE has suffered because of his unwillingness to embrace anything he isn’t fond of. Any idea that he doesn’t like gets shot down instantly, and the person who comes up with the idea sometimes gets ridiculed. Something that happened just a week ago illustrates that to a tee.
An unnamed person inside team creative suggested a John Cena heel turn – an idea that quite a few wrestling fans have hoped to see come to fruition. McMahon could have easily just dismissed the suggestion and moved on, but being the egotistical man he is, the bossman took it a step further and berated the poor sap who came up with the idea. Vince went on to say how short-sighted the guy was for (and I’m paraphrasing here) not seeing that Cena merchandise continues to make boatloads of money for the WWE. Really though, it’s Vince who is short-sighted for not seeing the ramifications of his actions. By bitching out that individual, he further cemented, if not then created, the mindset of “If I don’t please Vince, I’m going to get chewed out”. And people with mindsets like that have a nickname… they’re called ‘yes men’. Last I checked, those kinds of people aren’t good for any organization in the real world, let alone a wrestling company. See: Bush Jr’s administration for proof.
Certainly though, Vince is capable of achieving great things. We all watched him slowly build up the WWE from the humble nothing it used to be and turn it into his vision – now a piece of Americana. The sheer amount of work it must have taken the man to absorb and/or run over all those separate wrestling territories across the country is unfathomable. And that’s just the 80’s. During the 90’s, Vince’s battles he waged on the WCW resulted in, by most accounts, the ‘Golden Age of Wrestling’… aka the Attitude Era. Looking back at those two eras, it’s clear what the driving forces were behind his success. His master plan sustained him well through the 80’s, and the WCW clearly drove him as a competitor in the 90’s.
So what is it that gets him going now in the 00’s? Well, that’s the thing… nothing. No longer does our chairman need to look in the rear view mirror to see if failure is tailgating him. To be honest, I can’t blame him – he’s accomplished everything he has set out to do. Nobody is telling him he can’t “make it” anymore, and certainly there are no more Eric Bishoffs around to push his buttons.
To get away from sports-entertainment for a moment, take a look at some legends we’ve seen rise and fall in our heyday. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, was quite possibly the most driven athlete ever in the late 80’s and early 90’s. First it was the Celtics and Larry Bird who motivated MJ so much that he dropped some of the single greatest individual performances in basketball history on them. After that, the Pistons were the ones who bullied MJ around and forced him to take it to the next level. Then it was the Lakers, led by Magic Johnson (who, by the way, had Larry Bird pushing him for his entire career), and then of course the rest of the league’s top players. Once MJ stood on top of the mountain and saw that he had slain all the dragons in the league, what did he do? He became bored, and retired. BORED! The same guy who was once consumed with winning championships became bored!
Still not catching my drift? Let’s take the rap icon Eminem as an example from the entertainment industry. When Marshall Mathers first came up he wasn’t necessarily fighting a tangible rival who could push him, but instead he was fighting poverty – a staple in his life at that point. He was ravenous to a certain degree in writing his lyrics, and he struggled for every last dime he earned as he worked his way up to the top. The man went on to become so great that he inserted himself into the discussion of the greatest rappers of all time… and with ease too. But following that last extended break he took after earning millions from his life’s work, that fiestyness he once had in him was displaced by complacency. Everything he ever wanted he had. Everything he set out to do he did. His legend was already cemented, and the hunger wasn’t there. And now when comparing his work pre-hiatus to post, one could easily see just how much a worthy adversary could mean to even the greatest of the greats. A poor man, facing terrible things from the day he was born, drove Eminem to create albums that became an entire generation’s voice. But the same man, only this time extremely rich but complacent, produced a very average album this time around.
Vince, like I said before, has very much changed from the man he once was to who he is today, just as Jordan and Eminem changed. No longer is his motivation tied into survival. Rather, it’s probably closer to ‘let’s get every penny we can’. That’s fine though… every person has a right to earn. The thing is, Vince continues to market the WWE as a fan-friendly company, which just isn’t as true as it used to be.
Fans still groan at the “freaks” Vince trots out like Santina, The Boogeyman, Hornswaggle, and Goldust. The “Million Dollar Giveaway” segments tarnished the company so much that I came —–> (this) <—– close to quitting the WWE altogether. And the times where Vince goes out there and makes a fool of himself, yet clearly has 100x more fun than anybody in the arena (like the Stan Kroenke segment this last Raw) are far too prevalent. But Vince, clearly off in his strange own sugarcoated, padded-wall world, continues to force these things down our throats as if we can’t get enough of it. We get it Vince, you like freakshows and you think you’re the cock of the walk… that doesn’t mean we do.
Thanks to Vince’s lack of fear of failure, the product the WWE puts out is just average. Unless a change in landscape comes about – and by that change I mean if a competitor comes out of the woodwork and gives Vince a run for his money, we’re in for more of those same wasteful segments. Here’s to hoping one of those”yes men” who advise him starts a mutiny.
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