Black Widow
11-26-2008, 02:15 PM
WRESTLING fans around the world are split over the Jeff Hardy angle at WWE Survivor Series – where they were led to believe he had been found unconscious in a hotel room. Some were angered at the allusion to real life tragedies in a grappling storyline, while others thought it made for a much more exciting PPV event. Radio DJ, TV host and long-time wrestling fan JOEL ROSS is firmly in the first category. Below he writes exclusively for SunSport:
By JOEL ROSS
In 20 years of watching WWE programming nothing has ever offended me.
I’ve treated storylines in the past that have consisted of racism, terrorist acts, necrophilia and date rape as just that – a storyline on a TV show.
But all that changed when Jeff Hardy “was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell” on Sunday.
If you are a huge fan like me, you would have taken the deaths of your favourite wrestlers really badly.
I’ll never forget watching JR tell a worldwide audience that “Owen Hart has died” or that “Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room”.
But a week after the three year anniversary of the death of Eddie Guerrero, who was also found dead in a hotel room, the WWE thought it would be a good idea to run with this Jeff Hardy storyline.
The live reports from fans, who were in attendance, presumed that Jeff had overdosed.
JR and Tazz were very serious and the angle was done in a very similar tone to the very real Owen Hart death.
It was also announced that news channels ABC, CNN and TMZ were reporting on the story, although this turned out not to be true.
So thank god for an awful segment with Matt Hardy and Todd Grisham and the run-in from Jeff later on, where anybody watching could have worked out this was all part of some weird angle.
The WWE creative team have gone on record by saying that reality-based storylines are the way to go.
Take the amazing Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho angle that was done so well.
Even though this was “fake”, it was executed to perfection and the audience was taken in by it.
But there is a fine line between “reality” and “genuinely real”.
Jeff Hardy has been suspended and fired by both WWE and TNA in the past over his drink and drug related “demons”.
The same demons killed Eddie, Brian, Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth, Rick Rude – the list goes on.
So it’s no wonder that, like many, I am deeply uncomfortable with one of my favourite wrestlers being part of this angle.
Especially as one day it may turn out to be true.
The Sun
By JOEL ROSS
In 20 years of watching WWE programming nothing has ever offended me.
I’ve treated storylines in the past that have consisted of racism, terrorist acts, necrophilia and date rape as just that – a storyline on a TV show.
But all that changed when Jeff Hardy “was found unconscious in a hotel stairwell” on Sunday.
If you are a huge fan like me, you would have taken the deaths of your favourite wrestlers really badly.
I’ll never forget watching JR tell a worldwide audience that “Owen Hart has died” or that “Brian Pillman was found dead in his hotel room”.
But a week after the three year anniversary of the death of Eddie Guerrero, who was also found dead in a hotel room, the WWE thought it would be a good idea to run with this Jeff Hardy storyline.
The live reports from fans, who were in attendance, presumed that Jeff had overdosed.
JR and Tazz were very serious and the angle was done in a very similar tone to the very real Owen Hart death.
It was also announced that news channels ABC, CNN and TMZ were reporting on the story, although this turned out not to be true.
So thank god for an awful segment with Matt Hardy and Todd Grisham and the run-in from Jeff later on, where anybody watching could have worked out this was all part of some weird angle.
The WWE creative team have gone on record by saying that reality-based storylines are the way to go.
Take the amazing Shawn Michaels/Chris Jericho angle that was done so well.
Even though this was “fake”, it was executed to perfection and the audience was taken in by it.
But there is a fine line between “reality” and “genuinely real”.
Jeff Hardy has been suspended and fired by both WWE and TNA in the past over his drink and drug related “demons”.
The same demons killed Eddie, Brian, Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig, Miss Elizabeth, Rick Rude – the list goes on.
So it’s no wonder that, like many, I am deeply uncomfortable with one of my favourite wrestlers being part of this angle.
Especially as one day it may turn out to be true.
The Sun