WWE Offends Many, Me Not So Much
WWE has gotten a lot of criticism over a pair of angles this week. The first was Vince McMahon referring to John Cena as a n****a in a comedy segment. I can understand why some people would be pissed off, but it didn't bother me. It was just stupid comedy about Vince being out of touch. That said, I never would have done the angle, because it would have been obvious going in some people would be offended, and there's no point in offending people when it accomplishes absolutely nothing. I also don't think WWE has earned a pass to do racial humor of that sort given their history of Saba Simba and Slick.
The other point of criticism was the angle on Smackdown. Rey dedicated a match in Eddie's memory, Big Show spit on Eddie's low rider, the car ended up being driven by Randy Orton, who effectively tried to kill Undertaker with it again. All of it was terribly tacky, but it didn't strike me as offensive. They weren't trying to sell PPVs with Eddie's name, which would be blatant exploitation of his death. They weren't disrespecting his memory, as Eddie was clearly the beloved face in all of this and we know how much Show cared about him already. The whole thing as I said was tacky, because it just came across as inappropriate the way they were invoking and using Guerrero's memory. But to be offensive to me they either have to try to make money off his death (Fritz Von Erich/his sons) or disrespect his memory (Louie Spicolli/Larry Zbyszko). In the absence of those factors, I can't come down too hard on Vince.
The other point of criticism was the angle on Smackdown. Rey dedicated a match in Eddie's memory, Big Show spit on Eddie's low rider, the car ended up being driven by Randy Orton, who effectively tried to kill Undertaker with it again. All of it was terribly tacky, but it didn't strike me as offensive. They weren't trying to sell PPVs with Eddie's name, which would be blatant exploitation of his death. They weren't disrespecting his memory, as Eddie was clearly the beloved face in all of this and we know how much Show cared about him already. The whole thing as I said was tacky, because it just came across as inappropriate the way they were invoking and using Guerrero's memory. But to be offensive to me they either have to try to make money off his death (Fritz Von Erich/his sons) or disrespect his memory (Louie Spicolli/Larry Zbyszko). In the absence of those factors, I can't come down too hard on Vince.
posted by Todd Martin at 8:07 AM
3 Comments:
I wasn't offended, but I thought it was in poor taste and there was no need to do any of that stuff. You would think Vince would try to avoid criticism and negative press at all costs during this time period, but I guess I was wrong.
My offend sensor is usually set on high, and it didn't go off last night either. I thought it was sort of dumb, but not offensive. It's not like Eddy had one low rider he used at every show, and that's the one they trashed.
I just think its in really poor taste. I don't understand the argument about the fact "it wasn't Eddie's personal lowrider, so that's ok" - whether he owned it or not, the symbolism was that it was Eddie's car and for them to trash it and use it in the storylines was poor. As Dave @ the Observer said, you can think badly of the guys carrying out the stories, but essentially its Vince's call and he should be held accountable. I hope guys like Benoit just calmly see out their contracts and maybe jump to TNA and that they can really make a go of the no.2 promotion. Wrestling needs that.
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