Today I am ashamed to call myself a WWE fan.
Vince McMahon is dead. Or presumed dead. On the latest episode of Monday Night Raw this past Monday, The show ended with Vince McMahon getting into his limo and leaving the building. Unfortunately for Vince it was his last limo ride. The Limo blew up. Yes that's right. He opened the door and got in closed the door behind him and BOOM.
I go to my past for some perspective. I watched the live PPV where pro wrestler Owen Hart fell from the rafters of the arena and into the ring to his death. I saw the grief as Eddie Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room and then honored by the WWE the next night. I have lived and been a fan during REAL moments. Now I understand the concept of suspending disbelief. You have to in order to be a WWE fan in the first place. It is a choreographed athletic opera of sorts. I, however, find this latest attempt by Vince to garner attention for his business on the edge of extremely stupid. This is the same man behind the XFL (Xtreme Football League) and the WBF( World Bodybuilding Federation). Taste not withstanding. I am not offended by his actions. He has every right to do as he wishes. To me it is just another in a long line of mistakes he has made in the past 5 years to drive the company out of it's golden ages. Perhaps he is still selling out buildings and selling merchandise. I myself made a purchase from his website not long ago. Those T-shirts rule. It does not mean his product is the same. Granted he does not have control over his talent moving on for better or for worse. But Vince's will always be the final word in the WWE. All ideas go through him and he says yes or no. I ask this question.
Who was in this meeting where Vince said Okay to this? His death? This is not Dallas and we don't care who shot J.R. NO ONE cared who blew Vince up. We only laugh and point and say wow. Isn't this a shame? This isn't the reincarnation of an Andy Kaufman bit. I find it hard to believe that anyone would believe that Vince McMahon is actually dead. Watch the videos posted on the site. Read the articles posted on the site. All on WWE.com by the way. Not CNN.com. The only people who care about this death are Vince and the people who followed him down this road. It's not like he is the Undertaker for Pete's sake. He is not a character following a storyline that fits within the way he was portrayed in the past. He is portrayed as a real person on the show. Maybe an over the top egotistical owner, but still a real human being. Now he is dead. Why? To get ratings. To get attention. To get people like me to write about it.
I had become a fringe WWE fan a while ago. It stopped being about the talent and the wrestlers a while ago. They had over saturated the market with programming and never pulled back when the market seems to not need as much of it all in a one week span. My favorite wrestlers were leaving the show. Fringe assholes were being allowed to do as they pleased and I had to watch as some of the reasons I watched to begin with had gone out the window. Slap the right label on a piece of shit and it's still a piece of shit folks. This may put me out of the pro wrestling fan category for good.
It always has to be about Vince. Granted he is a capable performer. Been the man behind several great ideas and entertaining shows. I ask though why he had to go out like this? With such a BANG? He could have faded into obscurity and made it about the wrestlers once again. Instead his entire company is carrying on this whole story and it is being carried on the shoulders of one man. Vince McMahon. I hate that he is making me walk away from the WWE. They will not feel the loss of one fan. I watched to see such wrestlers as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Lance Storm, Bret Hart, Brock Lesnar and on and on. I did not watch to see an attention whore of an owner dominate the TV screen and make me sit through such crap as Vince getting his ass kissed or Vince pulling fake hands out of a man's ass in a parody segment. I love pro wrestling. I had wished I had became a pro wrestler for the longest. I will always love wrestling. I can't stand dramatic over acting and a bad TV show. The reason I subscribe to WWE on demand through my cable system is so I can watch the good old days. When it was just about the wrestlers. Not about Vince. Godspeed Mr. McMahon. Please don't come back anytime soon. I don't care if you are alive or dead. It won't effect my life. cause this will be the last time I write about you in any fashion.
Money is Power. Rabble Rock!
6 comments:
That was EXTREMELY well written. Bravo, Rich, bravo.
I was an old WWF fan, back in the days I was in love with Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (I had plans to be Dr. Beefcake when I grew up.) In the days of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ravishing Rick Rude, The Million Dollar Man, The Ultimate Warrior, the Macho Man, the British Bulldogs. Back when wrestling was good. Back when it wasn't about sex and bra and panty matches and puppies and people having babies that turned out to be hands or something. Back when it was about WRESTLING. Back when it wasn't stupid and about one-upping other wrestling shows and pushing the envelope for what could be said and done and shown on TV. Back when it wasn't about Vince McMahon being a genetic jackhammer and showing the size of his grapefruits. He is absolutely an egotistical bastard and in my opinion he completely ruined wrestling. Too bad the explosion wasn't real. Maybe now with him "gone" wrestling can go back to being about the wrestlers and their rivalries and actual wrestling, not all of the crazy stuff it turned into.
I don't watch WWE anaymore because of Mr.Vince.. he's an ass.. and a big one at that.. he has no morals and I heard he was heavily involved with the Mob... Whether or that is the case.. he is better off dead... Now maybe they can get back to the golden age of wrestling... I use to watch because an old boyfriend/friend/dink was into it big time.. I watched all the greats.. Andre The Giant and Beefcake and Jake The Snake Roberts and Hulk Hogan and so on.. those were the good old days...That is when it was really in it's prime and long before Mr.Vince got his greedy little fingers into the biz....
Hey BTW.. great post.. I forgot to add that... and Miss Elizabeth.. Oh the drama....
Good post Rich! I loved the good old days. Watching with Manuel and having what we called wresting parties and the typical wrestling food. We would go to Arco and I would stand on the chair watching Hulk Hogan. I loved Macho Man and Andre. I was never a fan of Vince and even less now. To me back then it was real and I loved it. It was fun to see the excitement in my son and his friends. I saw a commercial not too long ago and Vince was in it and I was disgusted at what wrestling has become. Too bad - I won't miss him but I do miss the good old days.
Babybull - All those times you listed, Vince still had his fingers all over the business. He was owner during the time then too, he just had a different direction. And most importantly, he stayed off camera for the most part.
Good post Rich. He has destroyed wrestling the last couple of years with the direction he has taken...
I kind of like the really stupid, over the top acting as well as the never ending emoting. The matches have been lagging, the rivalries have not really changed in months, and the writing has been horrible. Maybe the "Who torched Vince" plot line is a necessary evil in this case.
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