AS I SEE IT 5/8: Joey Styles and "ECW"
On Monday, May 8, 2006 at 6:42 AM EST
AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
FINALLY...a real dramatic moment on RAW. No, God didn't bring down the walls of an arena on you know who.The Joey Styles "resignation" skit on last Monday night's RAW showed a fire in WWE programming that hasn't been there in ages.
We've had TV filled with cheerleaders (and not even the kind that are watchable for most males), guys eating worms, other guys pretending they're mentally challenged, Vince playing God, then pretending he's wrestling God, "Mister McMahon's" sexual obsessions with various Divas, and so on and so on and so on...
Even though the rant appeared on WWE program and thus had McMahon's blessing, the rant and "resignation" was refreshing because it brought out the many things that a sizable segment of WWE fans have felt for some time now...that all too much of the product is neither sports nor entertaining.
The rant was caused in storyline by Spirit Squad who were appointed Co-General Managers for the night deciding they hated Joey Styles's announcing, then telling him he'd have to wear a cheerleaders outfit next week while commentating.
This was followed by Jerry Lawler ragging him about it at the commentator's booth, and telling him to have "spirit"; telling Styles "if this was ECW he'd have spirit". Styles replied "If this was ECW, I wouldn't be working with a hack like you." Styles then stormed off, going to a commercial break.
After the break, Lawler tried to apologize to Styles, but Styles shot him down and went into his rant; pointing out that:
1) Jim Ross had been humiliated and "fired" from the announcer's job, followed by WWE calling Styles to offer him the job (after UFC's Mike Goldberg turned it down...although this fact wasn't mentioned), not the other way around.
2) Styles, as other WWE announcers, is not allowed to say the phrases "pro wrestling", but has to refer to the product as "sports entertainment" and call wrestlers "superstars".
3) From the beginning, Styles has been overproduced (a fact not mentioned), and told he needs to be a "storyteller", not a wrestling announcer; pointing out he'd been pulled last minute from Wrestlemania for that reason. He then said he was pulled from Backlash...rolling his eyes to indicate that he didn't think much of that PPV.
4) Styles concluded by saying he was "...sick of male cheerleaders.... sick of boogers and bathroom humor and semen. I am sick of our chairman who likes to talk about his own semen. He mocks God! He mocks God and makes out with the divas all to feed his insatiable ego! I am sick of sports entertainment .... I never needed this job and I don't want this job anymore. I quit!"
For those who don't know, this was done to allow Jim Ross to return to RAW and to allow Joey Styles to go over to the ECW-themed show that will begin within the next two months. As of right now, the ECW-themed show will be taped prior to RAW or Smackdown and as of right now will be an internet-only show, replacing Velocity. There is a possibility of the 2:00 am USA Network repeat of RAW being turned into the ECW-themed show.
Sorry to those who think I'm harping on calling this show "ECW-themed". Yes, I know Vince McMahon owns the rights to the name "ECW" and can legally run something called ECW.
But it isn't the ECW we all knew and loved (well, sometimes) in Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere. It isn't the renegade promotion that changed the wrestling business in a major way. It's a set of shows promoted by WWE, booked by Paul Heyman... but with Vince McMahon looking over his shoulder.... that is using the ECW name.
It'll be a hybrid of former ECW talent mixed with WWE developmental talent. As far as I'm concerned, it's a WWE show. That's either bad or good, depending on your feelings about WWE. But whatever it is, it isn't ECW.
If Sandman, Francine, Sabu and others can make a few bucks from Vince, whether the promotion is called WWE, ECW, or Joe's Barnyard Wrestling...more power to them. They deserve whatever money they can make. Since McMahon is making money off of them via WWE 24/7, let him give a little of it back to them.
Do I think ECW is some sort of Holy Grail? No. I saw the underside of ECW as well as the tremendous product. I also knew, as was revealed by former PWBTS owner Fritz Capp, about McMahon subsidizing ECW; a fact which Capp and the site were attacked by ECW fans for as "liars who hated ECW" (sound familiar?) until the ECW bankruptcy proceedings later proved Capp right.
But a Vince McMahon owned and operated ECW isn't the ECW you knew. I know many people are hungry for the "return of ECW". But it won't happen because it can't. The ECW we knew died in 2001.
Enjoy this WWE "ECW project" if you can...just know it for what it is, that's all.
To your letters:
From Sean Hurley:
"... First, I have mixed feelings about the God angle; the segments are entertaining, but at the same time, I know I'd rather be watching wrestling.
But like all bad angles, (Katie Vick/HHH, Mark Henry/Mae Young) this will come and go and probably be recognized as a ridiculous storyline. But, even if you are a Christian, it is nothing to get worked up about. Someone who has watched WWE programming more than once kind of knows what they're in for these days, so any outrageous storyline should just be taken with a grain of salt. Do I think this God angle should have been dropped, and more time given to actual talent, yes. But I'm not offended in any way by this storyline, and actually find it quite humorous; keeping in mind that I'm also watching the mental decline of Vince McMahon."
So why can't we watch more "just wrestling"? See below for my thoughts on religion.
From Kurtis Mcleod of Australia:
"Hi Bob,
Just as a reader's opinion, I think maybe you're taking this God Angle too much far to heart. You've got to realize a lot of readers come to your column to read about wrestling (I've been an avid reader for over a year now), and for the last 3 months I've read nothing but column after column about your woes with WWE's skits with Tim White and the God Angle. I'd think it’s fine to rant about it for one column, but this?! I'm sure that there are plenty of columnists who are devout Christians as you, and I'm sure they'd love to blow their top and rant every column they write, but they don't, they know what's good for their column.
You've also got to take into consideration that not every one of your readers are Christian. There are plenty of atheists and agnostics reading your column (or atleast, were) that truly would like to see you go back to criticizing wrestling not one man and an angle he wrote for himself. It's just a suggestion; it's just for all of us that enjoy reading about wrestling. Hopefully that's not too ignorant of a request."
*Sigh.*
Let's try this again. I'm not a devout Christian in the sense that I think you mean. While raised Roman Catholic, I'm just a person who has worked with people of many religious traditions that thinks religion has no place in these storylines.
But it's even worse when such an angle is so poorly done. Let's talk about this from strictly a wrestling fan's standpoint for a second. Any good angle has to have a payoff, can we all agree? Assuming you can, then where was the payoff last Sunday night?
The idea in Wrestling Booking 101 should have been to end the show with fans getting their payoff with McMahon and son getting their asses kicked by HBK, and given McMahon's usual way of doing things...some sort of spectacular special effects deal to boot. Instead, we get the McMahons going over yet again because of the Spirit Squad, and a special effect consisting of a spotlight worthy of a high school production of "Our Town" (supposedly symbolizing "God").
So as both a person who is respectful of those who are believing people of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or whatever...or none at all; I think this storyline borders on disrespectful. In a world where religion is being used by some as an excuse to kill innocent people, it borders on dangerous. Read on later for what WWE itself did in Italy in response to objections over the storyline.
As a wrestling fan, it's boring as hell, seems to be going absolutely nowhere and I wish it would end.
From "Randy":
"It seems to me that VKM has shot himself in the foot again. Bob. I've been a wrestling, I say wrestling fan since the '50s, and this Spirit Squad just reaches into the absurd in what VKM likes to call entertainment.
I don't need to see Vince slobbering all over some bimbo's tits, I keep tuning in hoping to see some wrestling. Tonight’s RAW really sucked and it's only redeeming quality was Joey Styles quitting. I know all this stuff is made up and scripted, but not everyone watching this so called Entertainment is a young airhead that this crap is aimed at.
I'm old enough to remember when one of the Ws in WWF/E stood for WRESTLING. I'm relegated to digging out old ECW tapes to watch real wrestling. TNA is okay but how much Jarrett can one take? Now Vince is going to try to revive ECW? The only way that could happen would be if they left Paul Heyman in charge of things and didn't meddle at all."
That's not happening. See above.
From Leo Perez, who leaves little doubt where he stands:
" It’s a @#$%ing show! It's fake! It's storyline!
No kidding. Really?
...How is Vince vs. God any different than Al Pacino playing the devil and screaming profanities as God and entering a church????
One: Al Pacino is a great actor. Please don't confuse him with Vince McMahon. Vince McMahon (in character or not) probably wouldn't even confuse Pacino with himself.
Two: one can reasonably expect given the theme of the Pacino movie in question, and see what you've described. Not so when you turn on the TV and watch a pro wrestling show. Passion plays, yes. Not so doing skits about God being your opponent in a match. You shouldn't expect people being disrespectful to the symbols of a religion, either.
...How is Vince vs. God any different than a movie or a play??? its not, its a storyline....its ENTERTAINMENT!...
I'm glad you find it entertaining. I don't...and the fact that many have kept writing to me about it indicates I'm not alone.
..."It shouldn’t affect the way HBK is a Christian because his job is to entertain.....he can be a good Christian and still drop the f-bomb now and then and he can surely do his job of entertaining people. WWE is no different than other media outlets they can produce whatever they want...as for the God angle being offensive....get over it people, seriously.
A bunch of illegals changed the words to our national anthem....focus on that cause that’s real.
To quote former Philadelphia wrestling promoter Joel Goodhart: "This angle is neither sports, nor it is entertaining". Quite a few Christians, and non-Christians have suggested that.
If you want controversial angles done well, how about the Trish Stratus-Mickie James angle? We have lesbianism, spurned love, obsession, head games, and oh, yeah... wrestling. It's controversial to some, no doubt, but it's an interesting storyline with twists and turns...and actually has people wanting to see what's happening.
The comments by Jim Ross and even Jerry Lawler last Sunday night were hardly subtle in what they thought of the HBK/"God"/Vince storyline. It was plenty obvious that Ross didn't like it one bit. Even Lawler was having a hard time playing along.
So it isn't just one over-opinionated columnist. It's plenty of people from many different countries writing to me about it. It's people like Lawler and Ross that are uncomfortable about it.
Also... how did the May 1 demonstrations become part of this discussion?
If you don't think some people find it offensive, read below.
Pointing out WHY such an angle doesn't make sense is a note from frequent Italian PWBTS contributor Manuel Bergugnat:
"Hi Bob, just wanted to tell you that the McMahon segment in the church from RAW a few weeks ago was edited out of the RAW broadcast in Italy last week. The Italian announcer said the it was a decision made by WWE itself, due to the fact the Italy is heavily Roman Catholic, and WWE in always on the target by our PTC (which is calles MO.I.GE, MOvimento Italiano GEnitori - Italian Parents Movement), and since Italy is now THE market for the wrestling industry."
Note carefully what it said: WWE removed the segment themselves. So much for the number of people being concerned just being nothing more than an obsession by a handful of people writing to me.
Until next time...
If you have comments/questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com