*Part 1: If You Can Read, You Know What This Is*
{Mad
Cheshire's Note: To anyone reading this, please remember that I do not
have direct access to the Internet and cannot post this Blog to Twitter,
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Minion knowledgeable about such things. I am also unable to see
responses to these things that I write. So, I encourage any and all of
you reading this to link this and the installments to follow to any WWE
Network forum so others can read it and respond, and let them know how
to get in contact with me through JPay if they so desire. Thankee sai!}
I
have been watching WWE since way back, when it was still WWF, before
they got sued by the World Wildlife Foundation and forced to change
their name. I grew up with the Monday Night Wars during the Attitude
Era, and cheered when Degeneration X invaded WCW Monday Night Nitro. I've watched bootleg ECW videotapes in awe of the death-defying stunts
they pulled. I've seen flops and I've seen innovations; I've cheered my
favourites and lamented the screen time given to idiots. And yes, I was
one of those kids who dove headfirst off my porch onto my buddy and
damn-near broke my neck. The Biohazard/Jason Sneeze rivalry remains ond
of my most epic (and physically painful) teenage memories -- I have
plenty of scars to remind me of our many battles. And for those of you
who don't know, I am Biohazard and my Nuclear Drop was the shit! ^_^
For
the last 20 years, I've had to watch WWE from my prison cell. I was
delightfully shocked when Big Show and Brock Lesnar broke the ring on Smackdown!, and I had mixed feelings when Vince McMahon consolidated
WCW, ECW, and WWE. I've seen great superstars come and go, and seen
amazing talent get completely shafted for reasons I cannot fathom. I was
enraged when Seth Rollins broke up The Shield, and I always looked
forward to the Wyatt Family's next matches. And more than anything in
recent years, I hated* what WWE did to The Undertaker's Wrestlemania
legacy. It should have been Shawn Michaels that broke The Streak -- if
anyone! -- not Brock Lesnar. That was nothing less than a blatant,
promotional money grab by Vince McMahon who then allowed Lesnar to win
the Universal Championship and hold it hostage for months, disrespecting
both the talent roster and loyal WWE fans everywhere by refusing to
wrestle any time except pay-per-view.
But I digress.
I
Love watching wrestling. Right now, I even skip evening recreation to
make sure I catch every minute of the first Monday Night RAW after
every pay-per-view to see what happened. If I could have access to any
one Internet channel, it would be an all-Anime channel; but WWE Network
would definitely be my second pick.
It is because I am such a fan
that I write these next couple of installments. First, I want to
address the decline in WWE's quality. This really needs to be examined
and discussed and, hopefully, enough people will say something about
this to inspire changes by the management. It's what's best for
business. Stephanie, Paul, I'm talking to you. Hunter would have
known better, and probably kicked Paul's ass for allowing this crap to
happen.
When Covid-19 hit, it screwed up so much for everyone,
everywhere. I get that -- it didn't get any easier for prisoners like
me, either. But WWE missed an amazing opportunity to shine the spotlight
on talent that wasn't getting as much attention as they should have
been. But, instead of bringing fresh, hungry talent from NXT, or
promoting existing roster talents like Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, or
Humberto Carillo, they decided to scrape the bottom of the barrel and
bring back a barely has-been like MVP! And I'm being generous by saying
that they only scraped the bottom of the barrel with him! From there,
WWE has only gone downhill over the last year.
To date, their
major storylines have included a failed "Fight Club" by Shane McMahon, a
poisoning scam, a hit-and-run frame-up surrounding and playing on Jeff
Hardy's addictions (followed by the single worst bar fight ever),
Retribution's rise and fizzle (an especially disappointing flop), Shane
McMahon inserting himself once again into Wrestlemania, Sammy Zane's
so-called conspiracy theories, and Roman Reigns becoming the so-called
"Head of The Table" and turning into a complete bitch. But worst of all
has been the latest storyline concerning Apollo Crews. WWE has
completely disrespected every African American in the world with this
new "Real Apollo" persona. Apparently, this native of Stone Mountain,
Georgia has in actuality been Nigerian royalty all this time and has
been hiding his terrible pseudo-Nigerian accent. Not only is Apollo
claiming that he is the only "real" African American, but his actions
are among the most cowardly, entitled, and whiney anywhere in the WWE or
other wrestling venues. He has become the worst stereotype of a man of
colour WWE has over produced, including the "Baller" and "OG" airs MVP
keeps putting on, and even worse than Virgil!
If Apollo Crews'
behaviour is that of "real" African royalty, then Chadwick Boseman must
be turning over in his grave. Crews has gone from a top-notch athlete
with an impeccable work ethic to a cowardly, sniveling, entitled whiner
who attacks his competition (currently the North American Champion Big
E) from behind, then flees and crows that he "showed his enemy the
steel." What steel, Apollo? The steel in the springs in your bootheels
that helped you run away so fast?
Not only does Apollo Crews
sound like he picked up his accent after watching Black Panther a
couple times, but haven't we already had someone who used a fake accent?
Are you seriously rehashing this bit? I know it was a Jamaican accent,
but it at least sounded authentic coming from Kofi Kingston!
With the world's focus on racial equality and the
much-needed Black Lives Matter movement, it bewilders me that WWE would
promote such a blatantly disrespectful stereotype. It bothers me more
than Apollo Crews himself would allow himself to be portrayed this way.
Apollo,
is this really the way you want African Americans to be portrayed in
one of the most popular and visible entertainment mediums in the world?
It's one thing to be a heel, it's quite another to sell out in such MAGA
style.
Sadly, this is only the beginning. Stay tuned, folks, because I've got another rant coming down the pipelines.
The
preceding rant has been brought to you by Cheshire Industries, diehard
fans of wrestling since 1983 when we dropkicked that bastard in the
white coat who slapped us on our ass; and is sponsored by fans who
deserve better quality from their heroes, heels and antiheroes; and by
the number 3. Thank you.
I AM The Kyle and I approved this message!
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
BLOG #35: The Decline of the WWE Empire
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