Religion is a subject that can quickly light a fire under even the most peaceful person. It’s held dear by countless people around the world, and for many, their faith is the most important motivation in their lives. Religion has shaped politics, created conflicts, and dominated history. The United States of America was created as a result of a religious dispute. Freedom of religion is a founding principle in America, as demonstrated by the fact that it’s mentioned in the very first amendment to the United States Constitution.
Religion could be considered responsible not only for wars, death and suffering, but also joy, charity, and love. Belief in a higher power might be the most widely accepted concept to have survived since, well, biblical times.
If one chooses to lampoon religion, one would be wise to do so for a good reason, and to handle it in a well-planned way. Openly mocking religion for no good reason is simply a bad decision. Keep in mind that nobody’s better at making bad decisions than the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, Vincent Kennedy McMahon.
TODAY’S ISSUE: Vince vs. God
Vince has now added a religion-mocking angle to the long list of embarrassing, putrid, poorly conceived, stupid, arrogant, ignorant storylines he’s presented over the years. The results have been, not surprisingly, every bit as childish, sophomoric, useless, and insulting to the intelligence of wrestling fans as one would imagine.
Vince’s storyline feud with the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels is focused on Shawn’s newfound faith and change of lifestyle. For years, HBK was a legendary “bad-boy” of pro wrestling behind the scenes. He was known to party with little concern for the substances he ingested or the people with whom he associated. He had political power and influence backstage, which he used to help elevate himself and his “clique”, while ruining the careers of his enemies.
On screen, Michaels’ degenerate character was rude, nasty, immature, disrespectful, and arrogant. But now that Michael Hickenbottom has matured and found religion (which carried over into his ring persona), Vince’s character despises his former Montreal co-conspirator. I’m not sure if Vince has really gone completely insane or if he’s allowing his character to be perceived that way, but his over-the-top attacks against religion have been growing more and more disgusting by the week. He’s been getting under my skin for months, and I’m not a religious man. I simply believe that his actions have been uninteresting, unnecessary, and inflammatory, yet they fail to do so for any solid storytelling or angle-advancement. On the contrary, they just seem nasty for the sake of being nasty.
Spitting holy water? Speaking in a biblical style? Booking God in a tag team match? Pyro from the ring posts and fire on the entrance ramp? Walking on water? Claiming to be the lord of his own new religion? “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Squad”? I’m sure Vince believes these are controversial statements that will entertain viewers, improve ratings, and garner mainstream publicity, but these segments have come off as stupid, unfunny, unoriginal, and disrespectful. I’m sure when Vince looks in the mirror he sees a maverick, a visionary who scoffs tradition and operates outside the system. All I see when I look at Vince is a desperate, angry, childish, spoiled brat.
To clarify, his so-called storytelling of late has been unnecessary, and offensive to me as a wrestling fan. Conversely, there are some current WWE storylines that don’t desecrate anything sacred, and still manage to be entertaining. Here are a few examples:
SmackDown!: MNM vs. The Hooliganz – The young lions seek respect, success, and championship gold. Standing in their way are the arrogant title-holders who use their superior numbers and championship advantage to hold on to the straps, even in the face of being out wrestled at every turn by London and Kendrick. This harkens back to the old NWA days, when the world champion would travel to local promotions and seem vulnerable without ever dropping the title.
RAW: Mickie James vs. Trish Stratus – The star-struck fan seeks acceptance and approval from her idol, but gets carried away. James becomes a living monument to the movie “Single White Female”. After declaring James to be a stalker and wanting nothing to do with her, Trish feels the wrath of a woman scorned, and loses her title in the process. All Mickie’s love for Trish has turned to hatred, and the obsession motivates her to succeed. The new twist of Trish now taking on Mickie’s persona is not only fun to watch, but brilliantly written.
SmackDown!: Rey Mysterio vs. the world – The undersized world champion is living an impossible dream, willed on my the memory of his fallen comrade. Rey is often the underdog when he defends his title, yet he always seems to pull of an amazing victory in the face of adversity. This is a Rocky Balboa story, and who doesn’t love the Italian Stallion?
RAW: John Cena vs. HHH vs. Edge – A good old-fashioned tussle for the title. Each has a legitimate claim to the gold (at least the way they see it), and each wants to be the man. I do think HHH’s “King of Kings” moniker is unnecessary, since that’s a title Jesus is known by. Still, the feud is a pure wrestling storyline, with each man trying to one-up the other two and establish his dominance.
SmackDown!: JBL, the American Hero – The US Title is a perfect fit for this version of JBL’s character. His stars-and-stripes themed ring jacket in London was fantastic, and he delivered his pro-US/anti-UK promo brilliantly. Thankfully, he’s even stopped referring to himself as a “wrestling god” in favor of the less offensive “Real American Hero”. JBL is the epitome of the arrogant, deceitful, gas-guzzling American bully that many other countries think of when they look at us.
What do the above examples tell you? They tell me that WWE is capable of writing interesting storylines without “going there”. Vince’s God angle just comes off as a cry for attention, no different from a child acting out in public. It’s not thought provoking or enraging; it’s just lame and sad. This storyline doesn’t offend me due to its religious tones as much as for its failing attempt at being controversial.
I say to Vince McMahon, if you want to make a bold statement, MAKE IT! Otherwise, just get back to promoting wrestling, and leave your personal issues with God and religion in one of your many luxurious homes.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.
p.s. – What’s the opposite of the word “understand”? Is it “overstand”, “ununderstand”, or “derstand”?
