Suspension of Disbelief begins… now!
I love that Wrestling can still get me upset. I love that I can watch WWE or TNA (yes, or TNA) and still get upset when a bad guy does something underhanded, or flat out cheats, or wins by nefarious means.
It means that, well, my Suspension of Disbelief (everybody drink!) is still intact. It means that I can still get caught up in the world of make believe and root for the good guys and boo the bad guys.
This past Monday nite, on the “go-home” show for WrestleMania XXVII, John Cena and The Rock had their confrontation. The Miz came down, yapped his yapper, and he and Alex Riley attacked The People’s Champ. Rock got the best of them though, tossing Miz out of the ring and dropping The People’s Elbow on Riley. Then…
…
…then, John Cena sneaks up from behind and hits The Rock with an Attitude Adjustment. It’s kind of ironic, because Cena is the living embodiment of the adjustment the WWE has undergone since the attitude era.
(see what I did there?)
***
Now, I know I went extra in on my last post, which was about The Rock and John Cena and the differences between them, how Cena dropped the ball and The Rock was back for the rest of us. Well, despite the completely overwhelming comments I got on the piece, I felt like I didn’t explain myself thoroughly enough. I couldn’t put it together, why Cena bothered me so much, even tho’ for the most part I enjoy him.
Then he attacked The Rock from behind.
Moments earlier, Cena was talking about how The Rock had lousy reasons for not liking him: his shirts, his music, his ethics, and his position as a role model. I gotta admit, Cena had me going and for a moment I bought what he was selling. Why was The Rock so caught up on those things?
Then Cena attacked The Rock from behind.
It crystallized for me. We were hornswoggled. Bamboozled. We didn’t land on West Newbury, Massachusetts. West Newbury, Massachusetts landed on us. Cena espoused his code just moments earlier, and then went against everything he just said…
…and it wasn’t the first time.
You see, Cena talks about Loyalty, but is he loyal to the people that supported The Doctor of Thuganomics? The people who enjoyed the energy and intensity and the creativity that he brought to the ring? No. He stopped rapping, he started talking in a baffling southern accent, and kind of forgot that he was repping an urban culture. I mean, say what you will, but the entrance music, the Five Knuckle Shuffle, and the infamous “You Can’t See Me!” are all urban in origin.
You see, Cena talks about Respect, but does he respect the children who he says he is a role model for? The children who buy his merchandise, obey his code the way I obey’d The Tao of Hulkamania 20 years ago? No. He tells corny jokes, he talks down to the audience, and rather than speak in grown up terms, he says things like “Cheese And Rice!” and the like.
That doesn’t seem like loyalty to me.
That doesn’t seem like respect to me.
***
So now we are, at press time, 4 days away from WrestleMania.
We are 4 days away from seeing The Rock on the grandest stage of them all.
He will be cheered by the people that never left his side because he never left our side.
John Cena can not say the same.
The Rock is brash, loud, cocky, arrogant, and is more than willing to assert himself physically before anyone else. Do you know what else he is? He is a product of The People. The People elevated him. The People chose to love him. The People have chanted his name and kept hope that one day he would return to bring some sunshine, some energy, some of the wild, manic electricity that we had when we were younger. The Rock never abandoned his crowd, even though he changed his venue from the arena to the multiplex. He never stopped being the guy that entertained us, electrified us, and inspired us.
That is loyalty.
That is respect.
This has been Suspension of Disbelief.
–Rey Mundo
