Greetings.
I was amused and amazed with the colossal screw up at this past weekend’s Academy Awards show in which “La La Land” was awarded the Oscar as best picture and then, after the producers, directors and whomever else had taken their bows, celebrated their victory and rendered their long winded speeches, it was suddenly announced that there had been some apparent mistake and the award actually should have gone to “Moonlight” instead.
Amidst all kinds of chaotic confusion, The Oscars, which had already been given to the La La Land group, were awkwardly re-possessed and re-presented awkwardly to the Moonlight folks – who, rightfully, appeared to be more pissed off at the way it had been handled rather than elated that they’d won.
Subsequent to that, the presenters – Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the host – Jimmy Kimmel and whomever else were all pointing fingers at each other and covering their butts while the live audience and millions more watching on television were shaking their heads in disbelief, wondering how the Academy could screw it up as badly as they had.
In many ways, the whole illicit abortion reminded me of one of those ill-conceived swerve finishes we’ve seen all too often in the WWE – such as somebody cashing in a Money in the Bank contract after two other warriors had just engaged in a marathon struggle; or, like the infamous “Montreal Screw Job” – after which, the announcers appear to be clueless, while referees and assorted other flunkies were blamed for the travesty.
If nothing else, it was nice, for a change, to see somebody else other than pro wrestling being ridiculed and criticized for having dropped the ball on the biggest stage.
Speaking of dropping the ball though, that certainly appears to be what our esteemed friends in WWE head office are doing with the hard to fathom way they’ve been treating RAW manager, Mick Foley, as of late.
Last week, for no explicable reason, Braun Strowman confronted poor old Mick on RAW, verbally and physically abusing him and stripping him of his dignity. Initially, I figured that it might be to perhaps set up some angle for Mick to make a comeback and perhaps challenge Strowman to a match, but that wasn’t the case, as Roman Reigns came out, instead, and had some kind of sluggish altercation with Strowman – all of which left Mick looking like some kind of pathetic, has been being put out to pasture.
It’s been widely speculated that Mick’s either been given notice or is finishing up with the WWE. If such is the case, the least the WWE brass could have and should have done was to have allowed Mick – who’s given his heart and soul to the company and has been a loyal, balls to the wall trooper, who’s put his body on the line too many times to even count for the WWE, to exit on his terms, with his head held high and dignity intact.
This brings to mind a similar debacle last year – when Charlotte Flair unceremoniously, and pointlessly, I might add, humiliated her legendary father, Ric, on RAW, reducing him to tears, before ordering him to leave the ring, minus his self-respect and dignity, as well.
To be honest, I can’t fathom Vince or Hunter – who have gone to war with Mick so many times in the past and know what he’s given to the company, time and time again, being the ones who have orchestrated this type of ill-conceived nonsense.
If they are – shame on them, if it’s some misbegotten miscreant from the creative department, they should have interceded and gone in another direction. This type of crap sure as hell isn’t “what’s best for business.”
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap, but will look forward to catching up with you all next time for more views and news on the wrestling scene. Until then…
Bruce Hart
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