Shining a Spotlight 04.16.09: Religion and Wrestling

Posted by Michael Weyer on 04.16.2009

Following Easter, a look back at how religion and wrestling mix and how they don't.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter weekend. It was good for me as it gave me the unexpected inspiration for this week's column. It's a touchy subject, I realize but one I wanted to get into anyway. It's basically focusing on the way religion and wrestling mix together.

I know going in that some folks may be touchy as religion is one of the most sensitive subjects imaginable. It's been the cause of more suffering and wars than anything else in our history and to this day still causes chaos around the globe. I'm not going to open the can of worms about whose faith matters more because that's the key to the problem. It's true the Constitution provides freedom of religion. However, I'm sure the Founding Fathers never intended for that to be a free pass for any wild behavior including attacking others.

Of course, you can't judge an entire religion by the actions of extremists or fanatics which every single faith has some of. I'm Catholic but I don't hold to the idea that all homosexuals are deviants or that a good way to protest abortion is to bomb clinics. I have faith in the Church but do recognize the suffering it has created, inadvertedly or not, throughout history. There's always been that argument that religion itself is fine, just the way it's organized and run is the problem. I believe Brian K Vaughn put it best in his excellent comic book Y The Last Man: "The problem with religion wasn't that the people in charge were men. It was that they were human."

My point is that I hold to the idea that as long as you're not hurting people, a person should be able to believe in whatever they wish to believe in. I know, some will call it naive but I try to hold to it. One way or another, religion is a major part of life so it's inevitable wrestling will try to work it in now and then. The results however have been…mixed to say the least.

I don't know why it is, really. Maybe it's because of how tricky religion can be, that even wrestling promoters have some wariness about touching such a sensitive subject. Of course, WWE has done it quite a lot and we all know how bad it gets. Sure, you get the odd one that works now and then but for the most part, it just comes off pretty bad.

One of the earliest examples was Brother Love. Back in 1988, Jim Baker and Jimmy Swaggert were making news when their televangelist empires came crashing down over accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct. Always eager to cash in on something that was getting publicity, Vince had Tom Pritchard come out as Brother Love. In heavily made up red face, white suit with red shirt and tie, Pritchard would do interviews from a red podium with religious music in the background. He was infamous for his line, spoken in a thick Southern accent "I luuuuuuuuuuuuv yeeeeew!" His interviews were often the site of heels often attacking faces with Love urging them on.

Yes, it was obnoxious as hell but the thing was that Pritchard was able to make it work. His over the top style mixed well with the character as he parlayed what should have been a short-term run into one that lasted nearly three years. He would often find himself getting the hard shots from faces, like Jake Roberts DDTing him on his own stage. It was Love who first managed the Undertaker in the WWF before handing him off to Paul Bearer. He finally came to an end when the Ultimate Warrior destroyed him on TV before Wrestlemania VII. Love may have been a caricature but it was one that worked, which is more than you can say for the religious things that would follow him.

At the same time Brother Love was coming out, the Memphis area was beginning their own evangelist themed character. Brother Ernest Angel was also coming out about the time of the Swagger/Roberts scandals, also a character who proclaimed himself as a man of love. He'd ask for donations from people on his way to the ring, even claiming that if viewers put their hands to the TV sets, they'd feel his power and would carry a massive book to the ring which he‘d use to hit people with. It was a good act but unfortunately, it was in the wrong place as this was the Bible Belt and folks there didn't exactly take to a character that was mocking the beliefs of many of them. So Angel had to come on TV to explain he wasn't really any sort of pastor and faded from the scene quickly.

There were the odd guys now and then in the ‘90's like Friar Ferguson in WWF and the independents from time to time. I know some don't consider voodoo a religion but it is practiced although Papa Shango sadly played to the popular misconceptions of it as spooky supernatural stuff. Of course, arguably the most infamous religious themed moment in wrestling history occurred in 1996 in (where else?) ECW. After beating down the Sandman, Raven and his flunkies would drag him to a makeshift cross and tie him down to it. They then pulled him up and propped him by the ring outside with a crown of barbed wire on his head. The reaction was unexpected to say the least as for once, the usually rowdy ECW crowd was dead silent. Kurt Angle, backstage and thinking of joining ECW, angrily left, threatening lawsuits if he was linked to the event in any way on TV and Paul Heyman made Raven go out and break character to apologize for it to the crowd. Some guys, like Sandman and Joey Styles, have said the crowd overreacted and Raven shouldn't have apologized but when the ECW fanatics think something is in bad taste, you know you've crossed a line.

Perhaps it was because of that reaction that promoters shied away from religious stuff so much. It didn't stop WWE of course, from doing more themed moments. I remember in 1998 when Dustin Rhodes publicly burned his Golddust persona and declared himself trying to fight for decency. This was actually a shot at the various protest groups massing against WWE's "Attitude" era as Dustin would be made to look like a goofball doing speeches about decency and the good word and all that. Eventually, he'd run afoul of Val Venis, who seduced Dustin's ex-wife, pushing him to go back to Golddust.

At the same time, the Undertaker was remaking himself as a twisted dark religious figure, coming in robes and hood with his Ministry of Darkness. That led to stuff like him attempting to "sacrifice" Steve Austin and later strap him to a huge dark symbol, which had shades of the crucifixiation angle although WWF used the logic it wasn't a real religious icon so it didn't count, which is some nice hair-splitting. Undertaker would try it again with Stephanie McMahon (then still the innocent) as he tried a "dark wedding" to her but would be stopped by Austin and the Ministry would fade as UT would take time off before reinventing himself as the motorcycle bad-ass.

One of the goofier religious ideas came when the Dudley Boyz were split up in the first draft in 2002 and D-Von was made into a reverend. He'd come down with black shirt and collar, passing out collection plates and preaching. It didn't really work due to two reasons. First, the Dudleyz really weren't that good as singles guys. Second, D-Von wasn't the real mic guy in WWF so it didn't click over. Today, the best known bit of the angle is that it brought Dave Batista his big break as "Deacon Dave," D-Von's sidekick. WWF still tried in 2005 with Mordecai, giving him video promos about being a mysterious cult leader. He had a good appearance with long white hair and robes, kneeling on his way to the ring with a long white staff. It was a good look but unfortunately, his in-ring skills didn't measure up and the character was soon dropped within months.

As you can imagine, the real-life religious aspects of people often come into play for wrestling. The Von Erichs had a major push in Christian circles of Texas, World Class' shows on Christian networks and Fritz Von Erich would use that to push the image of the family as good Christian boys. Of course, the reality was far different and one can make a good case that Fritz's refusal to hurt the family image with bad news may have contributed greatly to the destruction of said family.

Of course the most famous example of real-life religion impacting wrestling was in 1996. When Jake Roberts returned to the WWF, he was up front about his past problems with drink and addiction and would claim to have turned his life to God. He would do quotes from the Bible before matches and such to boost himself. This would inspire Steve Austin, after beating Roberts in the King of the Ring, to create "Austin 3:16" to launch himself into the top tiers. Thus while Jake would soon be pushed out with his personal demons coming back, his religious beliefs would end up creating one of the biggest stars in history and pushing WWF to the top.

Shawn Michaels is an interesting case to talk about. He's been up front about how he'd pretty much hit rock bottom with his addictions in 2000 and then turned to God to rebuild himself. He continues to credit his faith for his return and career since and it's hard to argue when you see him still turning in awesome matches like a man ten years younger and without a steel pole in his back. Sure, Shawn can still be cocky, arrogant and do some low-down stuff but just because you're religious doesn't make you a saint.

This leads to a look at the infamous "God" angle of 2006. On the face of it, the idea was pretty insulting: Vince and Shane challenging Shawn to a tag match with God as Shawn's partner. The actual build-up had a funny bit where Vince and Shawn go into a church, Vince acting as if he'd never been in one before, taking a mouthful of holy water to do a HHH spit and acting like he was bigger than anyone else. The match itself had "God" shown via a spotlight with Vince yelling "turn around right now" and the spotlight would back off. Yeah, it was hard to watch but do appreciate how on the 2008 Michaels DVD, Shawn acknowledges it was over the top while Vince just notes that "God has to have a sense of humor."

Maybe that's why wrestling tries to back away from religion in angles and such so often, because people take it so to heart. It's also because it's very easy to offend without meaning to. As I said, I'm Catholic but not an ultra-strict one but I've met a few of them in my time, folks who think a simple curse is a mortal sin and if you miss one Sunday mass, you're condemned to Hell. I know other faiths have those types as well, folks who take it all so much to heart and can fly off the handle at the slightest sign of what they see as disrespect. It's true Vince doesn't really care too much about what others think on what he does but even he has to worry a bit on bad publicity now and then. The ECW moment showed that there are things a fan base won't stand for and that's not to mention how some wrestlers may feel uncomfortable doing some things.

A lot of guys in wrestling don't hide their faith but they don't make a big show about it. Wrestling has always been a tightly-knit community and like any community, they have their beliefs and gatherings and are comfortable with it. Sure, you'll see guys in the independent scene with some religious-themed characters, mostly evangelist types, still played for easy laughs. But you don't see guys as rabbis and unfortunately, stuff with Islam plays too much into Middle Eastern stereotype characters. True, most wrestlers would do most anything for a paycheck, just as actors are willing to play most anything but some may still balk a bit at openly mocking religion due to both their own faiths and worry about fallout.

The fact is, religion, whatever one you practice, is part of life and inevitably wrestling will focus on it. We can hope they can present it with some modicum of dignity but unfortunately the track record above doesn't speak well to that idea. Sadly, wrestling has always gone for the easy laughs and caricatures and religion has been affected by that as well. For those who take too much offense, I'd point out that nearly every faith on Earth has been home to far, far worse than some goofy wrestling act so it's a bit silly to get up in arms over it. Your faith is your faith and wrestling is fun and should the two meet, the results may not be pretty. But in an odd way, wrestling is one of those things that seem to connect us all, like movies and TV and music, something we can all get behind and enjoy. And if the idea of something that can help us bond as humans on some level doesn't give you faith, what does?


Also around 411:

Chin talks about being at Mania

The Bard also shares Mania thoughts

The Shimmy also talks of being back from Mania

Off the Record questions whether Austin is the best

Against the Grain looks back at finding Flair

If I Could Be Serious does a great debate on wrestling items

Five-Star Conversations talks about the draft

Piledriver Report also talks draft and the results of his championship tournament

Another draft analysis from Thoughts From the Top Rope

Brooklyn Brawlin does a nice Backlash retrospective

Don't forget Column of Honor, Triple Threat, 3 R's, Fact or Fiction and all the rest.


For this week, the spotlight is off.