Greetings and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everybody, including our ubiquitous Irish cohorts – the clan McMahon. Back in the day, when I first started doing the booking (matchmaking) in my dad’s Stampede Wrestling promotion, one of the first things my dad and other veterans like Harley Race, Dan Kroffat and Lou Thesz, used to tell me was that whatever storyline I chose to orchestrate, the ends always needed to ultimately justify the means. In other words, there should be some discernible purpose for whatever angle or storyline you’re endeavouring to enact doing and if that’s not clear or justified, then you shouldn’t be doing – plain and simple.
Having said that, I’ve been watching with intrigue and consternation this convoluted storyline on RAW lately in which Stephanie Mac has been going out of her way to brow beat and demean supposed RAW manager Mick Foley – constantly second guessing him and giving him idiotic ultimatums that make him look like a flaccid puppet. This past week on RAW, it reached a climax when she ordered him, for no explicable reason, to fire somebody from the RAW roster by the end of the show, (as if she couldn’t do it herself), and that if he failed to comply, then she would have to fire him.
After giving it some thought, Mick informed Steph that he had decided to fire her. That, of course, led to her throwing the obligatory over the top, spoiled little rich bitch tantrum. After which, her hubby – the Game (Hunter) came to the ring and the two of them launched into this scathing verbal putdown of poor old Mick – denouncing him as a pathetic, untalented, broken down, old charity case, with no redeeming qualities, who they’d taken pity on. They then informed him, in no uncertain terms, that he was fired and ordered him to get the hell out of their ring.
As Mick was leaving the ring, having been humiliated and stripped of his dignity in front of millions of his fans, Hunter endeavoured to add injury to insult, so to speak, by ambushing him from behind and further abusing him. Mick, however, to the delight of the fans, turned the tables on Triple H and started making a bit of a comeback however Steph, in a manner unbecoming of a lady and one of the chief executives of the company, proceeded to give him a flagrant nut shot, after which they put the boots to poor, hapless Mick.
Subsequent to that, Seth Rollins –who’s been out of action due to a serious knee injury, hobbled out to the ring on crutches to come to Mick’s aid, but he, too, was ambushed by Hunter, who then malevolently beat him with his own crutches- apparently intent on crippling or disabling him. Seth – who did a hell of a sell job, was eventually left lying in the ring, writhing in pain, while Hunter and Steph – sneered at the crowd derisively.
In watching it, I found myself wondering what the hell the purpose of the whole senseless charade was. I’m sure that whomever in the WWE creative department that came up with it figured it was brilliant, cutting edge master stroke, that would serve to garner mega heat and set the table perfectly for the Wrestlemania showdown between Seth and Hunter, but I beg to differ.
To my way of thinking, this was nothing but counter- productive, cheap heat, which disgusted the fans and didn’t do much to whet anybody`s appetite for Wrestlemania or anything else. Instead, about all it served to accomplish was to make the WWE, in general, look like a bunch of evil, morally bankrupt charlatans and bullies. Putting it into perspective, I sure as hell couldn’t envision promoters, like my dad, Verne Gagne or Fritz von Erich and their kids engaging in illicit misconduct like that and still endeavoring to be taken seriously as promoters.
After the smoke, or should I say “stench” had cleared from the dubious debacle, I found myself asking obligatory questions, such “where the hell were the supposed counter balances to the so-called Evil Empire, such as Vinnie Mac, or heir apparent – Shano Mac, or even Smack Down boss – Daniel Bryan – all of whom were inexplicably conspicuous by their absence when all of these atrocities were being perpetrated.” The fact that none of them were around or even offered any perspective afterward on the whole thing doesn’t say much for their supposed legitimacy or propriety – correct me, if I’m wrong.
As well, I found myself wondering where were Seth’s supposed Shield brothers, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, when he needed them. Should they not have been hitting the ring and making the big, hot comeback – or, better yet, being the ones who came to Foley’s aid in the first place, rather than the crippled up Rollins, who was in no shape to be saving anyone.
Perhaps, because of my old school roots in the wrestling business, I may be applying too much logic to this whole ill-conceived fiasco, but to my way of thinking, if they were bent on shooting some kind of angle which entailed Seth and Hunter fighting at Wrestlemania, surely they could have come up with a more logical, well considered game plan than this. About all they served to accomplish, in my humble opinion, was to make wrestling – specifically the WWE, look like the illegitimate, contrived farce that its critics have been denouncing it as, for years.
As I said before, the ends need to justify the means and as far as I`m concerned that certainly wasn`t the case with this whole ill-conceived abortion. I’d like to reiterate that I derive no intrinsic satisfaction in criticizing the powers that be in the WWE or taking them to task for perpetrating horseshit storylines such as this.
Truth be known, as someone who has spent most of his life in the wrestling business and who remains a fan – first and foremost, I would far rather be extolling the WWE’s virtues as we head into the home stretch before Wrestlemania, rather than shaking my head in consternation at how they continue to shoot themselves in the foot and invite derision and ridicule with ill- considered crap like this. About all I can say is that I hope those responsible for pulling the strings in Titan Tower will somehow get their proverbial shit together before the big show, although I’m not really holding my breath.
On that breathless note, I’ll call this a wrap but will look forward to catching up with you all next week for more candid comments on what’s hot and what’s not in the wonderful world of wrestling.
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