Black Widow
11-28-2008, 05:07 PM
WWE arrogantly displayed their inability to understand public perception with the ill-conceived 'Jeff Hardy has been hospitalised' storyline going to into the Survivor Series PPV this past Sunday.
I'm not here to judge whether the plot twist was in good taste or bad taste.
And to be blunt it would be rather hypocritical of me to point fingers about whether a storyline crossed any lines or boundaries.
Pro wrestling, or sports entertainment, is at its best when the emotions spill over and people stop thinking about ‘real v fake’ — and start caring about the next twist, turn and progression in the storyline.
The story of Hardy getting jumped in his hotel lead to Edge's return, which lead to Hardy accidentally knocking out Triple H with the chair, which in turn lead to HHH losing the WWE Title because of Hardy's actions in attempting to get revenge on his alleged assailant.
We got ourselves some interesting plot twists here!
Even better, Edge v HHH v Hardy is a Triple Threat match for the WWE title in which any man can emerge as champion. That's intriguing.
Lots of different scenarios can play out in this one. People are genuinely interested. Nothing wrong with that.
So, what was so wrong about the storyline?
Was it that WWE has blurred the line on its own in-house website, which is where news like Eddie Guerrero's death or the Chris Benoit family tragedy has been first broken?
Was it the eerie feeling some people had on the morning of a big show, hearing about a top star being found unconscious in a hotel, invoking memories of Eddie and even Brian Pillman?
We're back to the issue of 'taste'.
For some people, the manner in which WWE presented this storyline twist was just revolting.
The callous view taken by WWE chairman Vince McMahon and those around him, not even taking into account how brazenly insensitive this storyline may be viewed, is yet another in a long line of demonstrations by McMahon that getting people talking is paramount.
He feels that no rules apply because 'it's only entertainment' and people should embrace the soap opera-like enticements to stay tuned.
I think it was just bad business.
WWE made the conscious choice to present a scenario that called for speculation as to why the reportedly twice-suspended Hardy was found unconscious in his hotel.
Not once did WWE report the entire day 'Hardy was jumped by an unknown assailant' — that 'new information' was revealed only during the PPV broadcast.
To make matters worse, WWE acted like regional promoters in the 1970's, appearing to be almost giddy at the fact several mainstream news agencies picked up the story as legitimate.
"They're buying it as a shoot!" Whoopie!
This type of behaviour just leaves such a bad taste in the mouths of people who already look down on pro wrestling/sports entertainment.
I remember one time McMahon was so angry at me that his face turned neon purple because he was lamenting about the fact WWE draws so many people to their television shows, and yet the advertising rates for WWE programming are a percentage of what other shows, who don't have a comparable audience, can charge.
I made the statement that to mainstream advertisers, WWE fits in the category of 'low brow' and that to them, we'll always be served our Thanksgiving turkey out the back door.
Vince was furious with the statement.
"We're just like movies and every other form of entertainment," he bellowed. "What makes us less in anyone's eyes?"
The answer to Vince's question is: "The way the Jeff Hardy storyline was presented and carried out."
The omission of details of why Hardy was hospitalised, the obvious conclusion the fans reading the story could come to, and the fact WWE thought it was appropriate to leverage its good will to not immediately inform the inquiring media "this is just a storyline, like every other form of entertainment (ahem)" played into the hands of those who believe this is low brow, bottom feeding entertainment.
I don't personally view pro wrestling or WWE that way.
But this past Sunday, McMahon and his staff sure gave those critical of the industry all the ammunition they needed.
The worst part about it is the storyline would have been just as successful with just some safeguards in place to ensure WWE comes across as 'mainstream'.
Instead, World Wrestling Entertainment looked just like the billion dollar evolution of the old carnival rasslin' circuit.
The Sun
I'm not here to judge whether the plot twist was in good taste or bad taste.
And to be blunt it would be rather hypocritical of me to point fingers about whether a storyline crossed any lines or boundaries.
Pro wrestling, or sports entertainment, is at its best when the emotions spill over and people stop thinking about ‘real v fake’ — and start caring about the next twist, turn and progression in the storyline.
The story of Hardy getting jumped in his hotel lead to Edge's return, which lead to Hardy accidentally knocking out Triple H with the chair, which in turn lead to HHH losing the WWE Title because of Hardy's actions in attempting to get revenge on his alleged assailant.
We got ourselves some interesting plot twists here!
Even better, Edge v HHH v Hardy is a Triple Threat match for the WWE title in which any man can emerge as champion. That's intriguing.
Lots of different scenarios can play out in this one. People are genuinely interested. Nothing wrong with that.
So, what was so wrong about the storyline?
Was it that WWE has blurred the line on its own in-house website, which is where news like Eddie Guerrero's death or the Chris Benoit family tragedy has been first broken?
Was it the eerie feeling some people had on the morning of a big show, hearing about a top star being found unconscious in a hotel, invoking memories of Eddie and even Brian Pillman?
We're back to the issue of 'taste'.
For some people, the manner in which WWE presented this storyline twist was just revolting.
The callous view taken by WWE chairman Vince McMahon and those around him, not even taking into account how brazenly insensitive this storyline may be viewed, is yet another in a long line of demonstrations by McMahon that getting people talking is paramount.
He feels that no rules apply because 'it's only entertainment' and people should embrace the soap opera-like enticements to stay tuned.
I think it was just bad business.
WWE made the conscious choice to present a scenario that called for speculation as to why the reportedly twice-suspended Hardy was found unconscious in his hotel.
Not once did WWE report the entire day 'Hardy was jumped by an unknown assailant' — that 'new information' was revealed only during the PPV broadcast.
To make matters worse, WWE acted like regional promoters in the 1970's, appearing to be almost giddy at the fact several mainstream news agencies picked up the story as legitimate.
"They're buying it as a shoot!" Whoopie!
This type of behaviour just leaves such a bad taste in the mouths of people who already look down on pro wrestling/sports entertainment.
I remember one time McMahon was so angry at me that his face turned neon purple because he was lamenting about the fact WWE draws so many people to their television shows, and yet the advertising rates for WWE programming are a percentage of what other shows, who don't have a comparable audience, can charge.
I made the statement that to mainstream advertisers, WWE fits in the category of 'low brow' and that to them, we'll always be served our Thanksgiving turkey out the back door.
Vince was furious with the statement.
"We're just like movies and every other form of entertainment," he bellowed. "What makes us less in anyone's eyes?"
The answer to Vince's question is: "The way the Jeff Hardy storyline was presented and carried out."
The omission of details of why Hardy was hospitalised, the obvious conclusion the fans reading the story could come to, and the fact WWE thought it was appropriate to leverage its good will to not immediately inform the inquiring media "this is just a storyline, like every other form of entertainment (ahem)" played into the hands of those who believe this is low brow, bottom feeding entertainment.
I don't personally view pro wrestling or WWE that way.
But this past Sunday, McMahon and his staff sure gave those critical of the industry all the ammunition they needed.
The worst part about it is the storyline would have been just as successful with just some safeguards in place to ensure WWE comes across as 'mainstream'.
Instead, World Wrestling Entertainment looked just like the billion dollar evolution of the old carnival rasslin' circuit.
The Sun