Everyone who watches pro wrestling knows WWE returned to the USA Network last night, after five years on The Nashville Network/The National Network/Spike TV. They celebrated the occasion by airing “WWE Homecoming”, a three-hour, pay-per-view quality spectacular. It was an amazing night for WWE fans, but one aspect of the final edition of Raw on Spike TV, just one week earlier, was far more interesting.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Plugging the move vs. going out in style
So there we were, minding our own business on September 26th, 2005. The final Raw to be broadcast on Spike TV kicked off with a visit by none other than WWE Chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon, in his usual suit and tie, with his usual swagger. At first, all was well. He very professionally paid tribute to Spike TV and to their five-year relationship. He said Spike TV and WWE had been “pretty good tag-team partners”, and thanked them for the solid run. Spike TV allowed McMahon to say USA Network when he referred to them in the past tense, but when he tried to announce Raw’s return to USA, he was censored.
Considering Spike TV showed the professional courtesy to air the final Raw as scheduled, including the overrun period (which was only truly meaningful during the Monday Night War anyway), it was WWE’s responsibility to be just as gracious. Unfortunately, WWE mentioned USA Network every chance they got and then insulted Spike TV on air for censoring that very phrase.
Obviously it makes sense to announce that you’re moving, I’d never argue that fact. However, there are several ways to inform your audience without actually saying USA Network. Vince could have said, “WWE is going back home,” or “Raw will return to the very network where it was born way back on January 11th, 1993”.
But once Vince gets his mind set on something, no matter how petty and childish, he sees it through to the bitter end. I was embarrassed for the 3-man announce crew, because I have to believe they didn’t want to act like such spoiled brats. Why the controversy? There’s no reason an amicable split between business associates should degenerate into the Hatfields vs. the McCoys.
Combined with the commercials that aired on USA and the internet announcements on both WWE.com and usanetwork.com, the graphic that aired at the end of the show would have been more than enough to tastefully, respectfully alert the fan base to the new location for the show without burning bridges. But that wasn’t nearly enough for Vince and crew – they had to make a game out of it. I’m sure somebody in the back was keeping score, counting the number of times Spike TV was too late in hitting the censor button and the words USA Network actually made it over the air.
Not only is it an immature, juvenile business practice to leave your old desk a mess when you get a new job, there’s something else Vince should have considered:
As Raw now returns to USA after a five-year absence, and TNA becomes the third separate wrestling promotion to air on Spike since 1999, the phrase “never say never” has never been more appropriate. That statement has permeated the pro wrestling business throughout its existence. One shining example is the infamous hug between Eric Bischoff and McMahon on Raw in 2002. Who knows? Vince might one day want to do business with Spike TV again, and he may have damaged his business relationship with them beyond repair.
Poor Spike TV was reduced to flashing “We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulty” banners on the screen for brief moments in an attempt to counter WWE’s blatant shilling for their new home. Obviously, they were prepared for Vince’s shenanigans, but it’s a shame WWE couldn’t have ended their business relationship with Spike TV with their heads held high, like professionals. Instead, they acted exactly the way most people who look down their noses at our beloved sport expect wrestling people to act. They trashed the hotel room just before checking out, and gave the front desk an expired credit card to boot.
This situation has garnered plenty of coverage. According to IP news sources, the censorship incident has received coverage in Yahoo!, Cynopsis, The Hollywood Reporter and other business and trade press. Also, our own Bambi Weavil discussed it in her most recent column.
The following comments from wwe.com paint McMahon and his Executive Vice President of Television Production Kevin Dunn as first amendment-loving, innocent victims:
When WWE attempted to inform fans that McMahon’s full comments could be found on WWE.com, Spike again censored the content. Then the battle began. Kevin Dunn was shocked by the continuing censorship and decided it was time for the gloves to come off.
“At the end of the day, it was our jobs to tell our fans where they can watch next week’s Monday Night RAW,” said Dunn. “It was an obligation we took very seriously. Initially, we were going to inform the fans of the move to USA in a very judicious and fair fashion. But Spike started censoring us right from the beginning. And then they censored us again later on when we attempted to inform
our fans that Vince McMahon’s comments were available on WWE.com. At that point, we began to fight back.”
“We went overboard,” admitted Vince McMahon. “But we did it in a very entertaining fashion. What we did was not mean spirited in any way. What Spike did, however, was mean spirited. At no time leading up to Monday night did Spike TV ever call us and say ‘Okay, this is what we won’t allow.’ We had no warning whatsoever. So for us it was business as usual.”
Or so McMahon thought. While in the ring Monday night, he had no way of knowing his comments were being deleted.
“Once we learned of the censoring, we decided to have a little fun of our own,” said Dunn. “Understanding the censoring technology the way we do, we knew that it was impossible for a technician to cut out a USA reference and listen for another one at the same time. Knowing that, we decided to load up on the USA comments. We knew that they weren’t all going to make their way through, but we also knew a good amount would. At that point, we were having fun with it.
And I think it showed.”
“I abhor blatant censorship,” McMahon said after RAW Monday night. “That’s exactly what happened tonight. I completely understand censorship in terms of FCC regulations. I don’t always agree with them, but I understand them. Of course, the FCC does not allow certain words or graphic nudity, but blatant censorship, which was executed by Spike TV, should not be tolerated. This was just as reprehensible as the flagrant violation of censorship itself.”
The way I see it, being a professional and showing a little self control and restraint is not about censorship, it’s about doing the right thing. How do you see it? Send me your thoughts about this unusual situation at vtruncellito@4sternstaging.com
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.
p.s. – What’s another word for thesaurus?
