Shining a Spotlight 6.21.07: A Matter of Taste

Posted by Michael Weyer on 06.21.2007

With the "death" of Vince McMahon angering fans, a look at angles more tasteless, the reasons Vince does this and why fans shouldn't turn on WWE just yet.

First, a sad farewell to Sherri Martel, one of the first women to break the mold for female managers and a great wrestler to boot. It's truly shocking as she still looked fabulous and I hadn't heard she was into drugs or anything. A great entertainer and fine woman, she will be missed.


As for Slammiversary, it's sad to see TNA still sticking to this idea of pushing ex-WWE talent over their own base at the main event. Oh, well, here's hoping they get the belt to Joe soon.


Well, there's really only one topic of discussion on the IWC this week. That's the "death" of Vince McMahon on RAW. Rarely has an angle created such instant and far-ranging controversy as this one has. Pretty much every other column and article on the IWC has talked about it…many of them negative.

It's not surprising. First, there was the "death" itself, which is always a hard sell for wrestling. Then there was all the memorial stuff which many have slammed huge as being disrespectful and spitting on the memories of Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero among others. Others have decried this as a sign WWE has hit rock bottom with storylines and that the payoff can't be good enough to make this work.

The most common refrain is that this entire angle just lacks good taste, that it's poor from top to bottom and is, in fact, the worst thing wrestling has ever done. I'll admit, I was a bit thrown by it too but unlike some, I try to put things in perspective. And in the world of professional wrestling, taste is often abused in various ways, some of which make this look a bit tame.

Now keep in mind that, like beauty, taste is in the eye of the beholder. For every person who says something is horrible and insulting, someone else will find it not bad at all. It reminds me of the uproar when Rescue Me did that episode last year with Denis Leary's character doing what could be construed as rape on his ex-wife. For every column I read blasting it as tactless and horrible, another said it was a great dramatic moment. So in wrestling, where tastes vary so much anyway, it's no surprise that what some people think is a good idea may not match with others.

Now, we all know WWF/E has a long history of pushing the envelope with angles. The Russo era was filled with such things, like the Road Warrior Hawk "fall" from the Titan Tron or Mark Henry serviced by a prostitute. When the Nation appeared ready to rape Chyna in 1998, it set a very uncomfortable tone for wrestling storylines. It seemed Russo was more into seeing how far he could go on TV than really booking the action…a trait he would unfortunately take over to WCW.

When it came to storylines and angles, WCW would rarely really go into anything truly tasteless as it had always been more "real" than WWF was. That all changed when the company started to better emulate WWF's cartoonish antics with stuff like the Chamber of Horrors at Halloween Havoc '91 where the object was to strap a guy into an electric chair and hit the switch. In 1995, when Paul Wright first appeared as the Giant, WCW actually tried to sell that he was the son of Andre the Giant who had died only two years earlier. Their feud climaxed at Halloween Havoc '95 when they had a Monster Truck match on the roof of the Cobb Hall, after which Hulk threw the Giant off the roof. The announcers were all quiet and somber, wondering about his condition only to have the Giant come walking down with no explanation as to how he survived. Seriously, WCW never even tried to explain what happened, although rumor was they wanted him to come out with a fish in his tights to indicate he'd fallen in the river below.

There would be a few touches of such idiocy now and then like when the Outsiders videotaped running the Steiners' car off the road, thrilled at causing a class-A felony. But it was with Russo that the tastelessness started to flow on in. One angle that pops into mind was when he had Ric Flair look like he was having a heart attack after a match. Russo even went so far as to make Flair's family and friends think he really did have a heart attack to sell it better. He even brought a coffin to the ring the next week to tell everyone that Flair had died of a brain aneurysm. Russo would also conceive a pregnancy storyline with Stacy Kiebler and we should all count ourselves lucky that the company went out of business before Russo could reveal he was the father of her child.

But when it comes to pure tastelessness, it's hard to top World Class. When David Von Erich died in 1984, his father Fritz charged nearly 5000 fans to attend his public memorial service. Say what you will about Vince but he hasn't actually turned the funeral of a worker, let alone his own son, into a gate. World Class also blurred the lines in 1986 when Gino Hernandez died. Hernandez and former partner Chris Adams had begun a feud with Hernandez spraying oil into Adams' face, apparently blinding him. World Class went all out with Adams coming out with bandages and doctors talking about how his eyesight might never return. It was the perfect setup to a feud but then Hernandez suddenly died of an apparent drug overdose. Bill Mercer actually went on TV to say "we have seen two tragedies this week: The blinding of Chris Adams and the death of Gino Hernandez." Linking a simple angle to a real-life tragedy was pushing it. As for Adam's "blindness," after taking a neckbreaker from Rick Rude, his eyesight was restored. Yeah, never knew eye damage due to oil could be fixed by a blow to the neck and shoulders, did you?

I remember the howls that went up when Vince did a show only a few days after 9/11 but Sam Muchnick, a guy who was a pretty decent promoter all around, did a show the night JFK was killed and the entire country was in shock and mourning on a grand scale. Of course, I'm aware Vince has done a lot of stuff in the last few years that has really pushed things. The Billy and Chuck wedding comes to mind, as does the entire HLA fiasco. Of course, ECW really went there first with Tommy Dreamer kissing two women on TV, which nearly cost ECW their TV contracts. And there was the whole thing of Raven turning Sandman's ex-wife and son against him which could be seen as a bit distasteful. And of course, there was the Sandman crucifixition incident which even Heyman realized immediately crossed the line and demanding Raven apologize for it.

Still, WWE has done a lot in the last few years that crosses boundaries too. The Katie Vick incident comes to mind instantly, especially as I was just re-watching the McMahon DVD where most everyone talks about how horrible it was but Vince still thinks it's funny. Indeed, for those wondering why Vince does what he does, the DVD is a great insight into his mind and methods. First, for those wondering how no one can talk Vince out of this stuff, one of the DVD extras has a discussion over how you can go in ready to argue with Vince over how bad an idea of his is only to leave convinced your idea sucked and Vince's is ten times better. Contrary to belief, Vince doesn't surround himself with yes-men; he just has that special charisma to sway people to his side. There are bits where his family will unite to stop him such as the "incest pregnancy" story and wanting to put Stephanie and HHH's wedding on PPV, showing even they have a hard time dealing with Vince's mindset.

One can argue that when ECW and WCW went under, Vince's mindset changed drastically. He himself has said that he honestly misses the competition as it kept him sharp and on his toes and the storylines of the late ‘90's show that. Without that drive, he started to make the wrong moves, thinking he had to shock people in order to keep ratings alive. So we got Billy and Chuck and battles with one-legged men and his own daughter. That's partly the fact that promoters have a very hard time letting go of what worked before. Just look at WCW continuing to push the NWO down everyone's throats for years. The fans were nuts for Vince being in the spotlight with his feud with Austin in '98 so to Vince, a man who openly acknowledges his stubbornness, it just made sense that they'd want him in the spotlight more.

I honestly do respect Vince McMahon and would even go so far as to call him a genius. But I do recognize that the man's ego is pretty huge. Then again, considering how wrestling is full of egos, it makes sense that the guy in charge would have the biggest one. What one has to keep in mind with Vince is that he's a millionaire and millionaires simply do not think the way you or I do. It's not in them. Money is power and power corrupts so a person with so much money and power, a person who's used to success, just operates on a different mind-set than the rest of the people of the world. It's not just Vince; Donald Trump, Paris Hilton, Martha Stewart, Michael Eisner, Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, the list goes on. These are people used to getting their own way and not able to understand how some people won't like what they're doing. It's been that way since the Pharaohs of Egypt and it will continue for quite a while. They just can't come down from their place on high and realize how the "common folk" will react to stuff that, to them, is sheer genius. They can't help themselves, it's just the way their minds work.

Another aspect of this mentality is that they will use their power to settle grudges that may come off as somewhat petty. The most recent example is Jillian Hall. You wonder why all of a sudden, they're pushing Jillian to do singing in the ring like a wannabe pop star? Apparently, Hulk Hogan and Vince had yet another of their falling-outs, which was why a planned Hogan/Khali match at Wrestlemania didn't happen. So, Vince, for reasons that make sense to himself, has decided to fire back at Hogan by insulting his daughter with Jillian's act. Does it make sense to use air time to make fun of a young woman who has nothing to do with this tiff? Not to you or I but it does to Vince. Of course, TNA also thinks it makes perfect sense to have VKM do impersonations of DX to set up a match that will never happen so such petty things aren't just Vince.

I'm sure to Vince this must have sounded like a good idea. Someone whacks the chairman and it turns into a big whodunit while a power struggle breaks out for control of the company. If anything, it reminds me of an early episode of Fantasy Island where a businesswoman sees how her sudden death changes things and, attending her "funeral" in disguise, realizes how hypocritical and conniving all her supposed friends were. So, a possible explanation is that Vince himself did this just to get a sense of who's truly loyal to him and see how his company would fare without him. Plus, as someone else pointed out, maybe this was a shout-out to the "non-finale" of The Sopranos ending things with a big bang. Coinciding this with the draft was an inspired choice as it makes the already shuffling rosters even more jarring with the loss of the big boss.

It's important that WWE has made it clear that Vince McMahon is not believed dead but "Mr. McMahon" is. Now, the lines between the real Vince and his character have always been pretty blurred. I recall many interviews with WWE workers where they honestly admit they're not sure where one ends and the other begins. Of course, as William Regal once put it, "If he played Vince McMahon himself, we'd probably be off the air." But it is important that WWE is saying it's the character who's believed dead, not the real guy. Some say this is against the WWE's supposed "no death" rules but it's obvious to all that Mr. McMahon will be back somehow so that's moot.

What's gotten people so upset is the "memorials" to McMahon on the various shows. I admit, I was jarred at first myself when they did a 10-bell salute and had people giving emotional testimonials to him. I knew it was going to cause an uproar and I was dead right as most of the IWC have declared it to be a disgrace on the memories of Eddie and Owen among others. However, I can understand the mentality that went into creating them. It plays into the ego and they do want to sell it so doing this would make sense. Also, keep in mind that those doing the testimonials are the ones who would be sucking up to Vince anyway and stroke his ego more. But people are quite upset as it makes those given to Owen and Eddie seem less than real.

I think Meehan really touched on that feeling by pointing out how, when you get down to it, it's not that much different than workers faking injuries to excuse time off. Sure, Vince may have gone overboard with that but the basic idea is the same. Contrary to what people may think, Vince does have a heart. I mean, he paid for Bam Bam Bigelow's funeral despite the fact the man hadn't worked for WWE in a decade. He truly felt sorry for the deaths of Owen and Eddie, men he'd given good chances to over the years. But in the context of this storyline, the memorials and the somber tone of announcers works. It certainly works better than an infamous incident at a 2000 WCW pay-per-view emanating from the same arena that Owen died at when Vampiro battled Sting. A goofy lighting mixup allowed a stuntman dressed as Sting to catch on fire and plummet from the rafters and the announcers went all somber just as when Owen died. Fans blasted it as the disrespectful mistake it was, earning WCW more hatred.

I think it's a little early to really judge this just yet. We still don't know the payoff but I think that unlike some past "mysteries," this one has an end game in mind. It's not like the Austin hit and run which was made up fast to get Austin off TV and had a bad ending. They're already shown the care they have taken with the explosion itself which was right out of a Hollywood film. And if Vince is going to take a few months off TV, there definitely has to be a big surprise planned for it.

Let's not forget that so often, there is a method to Vince's apparent madness. Remember how everyone moaned and groaned over the "Rosie vs Donald match" months back? That seemed a stupid waste too but it proved valuable by helping to create the Trump/McMahon ‘Mania showdown that led to more media attention and thus buy rates for the show. Despite what other problems he has, Vince is not a fool and does have a good understanding of the business. More importantly, this is an angle that puts himself at dead center and thus you know he's going to do his best to make it work.

There are so many people upset by all this and I doubt my words are going to sway some of them. But I do hope others are a bit open-minded and willing to let these have a chance to develop before they rail on it as the worst thing WWE has ever done. That especially goes for those who declare they're dumping WWE and never watching again. To those people, I repeat the very good line of Irv Muchnick's from his book Wrestling Babylon: "Vince McMahon is not done with us nor are we with him. We ignore him at our peril." The reason Vince has a virtual monopoly on the business is because he exceeded all expectations and bounced back from seemingly horrible situations. So ignoring this storyline because it goes against your tastes is your prerogative. But you may be missing some interesting fun that could lead to more intrigue for WWE in the summer. So maybe some of this does come off as distasteful. But ignore the taste and you could miss the great meal yet to come.



Also around 411mania, it's hard to pick a column not dealing with the Vince angle. But…

Just S'Pose has a new take on Larry Zybsko.

Can They Be Champ talks the Vengence main event.

Evolution Schematic takes an interesting look at Wendi Richter.

Ripple Effect continues to talk the new ECW.

Why I Love Wrestling discusses how great an escape it is.

The Fink discusses the Draft lottery.

Don't forget Column of Honor, Ask 411, Fact or Fiction, High Road/Low Road, 3 R's, Triple Threat and the rest.


Next week, I take a look back at the 20th anniversary of one of the coolest matches ever: War Games/The Match Beyond. For now, the spotlight is off.