Greetings to all… It’s David Davis with my weekly blog: Death of Wrestling. For all of those who read this regularly, you will know that this is not a blog about bashing wrestling; it’s a blog of a frustrated fan, who loves the business and wishes that each week it could be a little better.
What’s really good, people? My thought this week is on a form of storytelling so ancient it’s what the bible is based on: the age old story of GOOD vs. EVIL. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about God vs. the Devil, Luke vs. Darth, or even X Factor vs. The Voice – what do you mean they’re both evil?
Unsurprisingly, it’s what professional wrestling prides itself on – the battle of The Face vs. The Heel: Hulk Hogan vs. Zeus, Brett vs. Jerry, or Sting vs. The NWO to name only a few. As a kid growing up watching wrestling, it was the one thing that you could always rely on: the baddies will get their comeuppance in one way or another…
As I watched Smackdown this week, although enjoyable, something didn’t sit right and then it dawned on me: three of the major matches – Big Show vs. Tensai, Ziggler vs. Punk and Team Hell No vs. ADR & Otunga – were all Heel vs. Heel matches. So who was I supposed to cheer for..?
In all honesty, I cheered for Big Show, Ziggler, Punk, and Team Hell No, but that’s because they’re the people that I’m feeling right now, and not because they are the people I’m supposed to cheer for – I guess team Hell No is debatable.
In this day and age of the WWE PG Era, isn’t wrestling supposed to be focused on the kids? And don’t kids want to cheer for the goodies? Isn’t that why John Cena and Rey Mysterio – two of the highest merchandisers amongst the kids – have never turned heel?
Who exactly in those aforementioned matches did the WWE expect the kids to cheer for? No matter the answer to that question, it raises a bigger question: does the WWE care about storytelling anymore?
I’m not sure that a Heel vs. Heel match will lead to the DOW, but the WWE selling itself as more than a wrestling company, and then not thinking the non-wrestling side of things through properly might. And if the kids switch off because they don’t know who to cheer for, then that is just another nail in the coffin…
Life of Wrestling: this week I’m going to give my nod to a Raw free John Cena, and it’s not because I dislike Cena; it’s because JC not being on Raw hopefully proves to the people in Stamford that other people can carry the show. If Cena wasn’t rammed down our throats, maybe he wouldn’t be surrounded by so much negativity, and this week’s 3 hour Raw proved that he doesn’t have to be.
That’s all folks… As always, post your comments, thoughts and opinions below! Or message me on twitter and let me know what you think the ‘Death of Wrestling’ is and I might just blog about it!!! Peace and I’m out…