Yesterday afternoon, I was proofreading the first positive essay about modern professional wrestling that I had ever written. In it, I lauded the WWE for their brilliant handling of the WWE-NXT Invasion. For the first time in ages, I sat agog as the rookies systematically destroyed the Monday Night Raw set and annihilated John Cena. I completely suspended disbelief and couldn’t wait for next week.
On Friday night, WWE.com reported that NXT leader Bryan Danielson had been released from the company. I thought it was kayfabe, so I didn’t think anything of it. My friend Brandon messaged me on Facebook about it, and I told him to watch the show on Monday. I finished writing my essay and went to 411Mania.com to see if any new developments had sprung up. I found out that Danielson had been fired for real.
Apparently, Danielson had gone above and beyond the WWE’s new PG rating when he choked the ring announcer with his tie and spat on John Cena. Allow me to put this in perspective. Aggravated assault with a sledgehammer is fine, but a logical gesture of hatred sends the sponsors running. Professional wrestling has to have some violence, or else the inherent conflict between good and evil is pointless. Danielson was not choking Justin Roberts for no reason. His character was unhappy with his spot and was willing to do anything to get the attention of the front office. Spitting on Cena was the exclamation point.
It worked. For the first time since Cena was anointed the WWE’s top hero, he seemed vulnerable. The vulnerability of the hero is the most crucial element of a wrestling angle. If you don’t believe the babyface is in danger, you have no reason to see the heel get his comeuppance. Even if you didn’t like John Cena, you had to feel some sympathy for him. Why throw all that heat away?
I don’t think the PG rating is a bad thing. I grew up in the days of Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage. Chair shots were rarely used, sledgehammers were non-existent and nobody ever went through a table. On the rare occasion they used “violence,” it was to escalate an angle. This sporadic use of violence was the catalyst for my fandom. Sgt. Slaughter attacked Hulk Hogan, locking him in the Camel Clutch while General Adnan waved an Iraqi battle flag in his face. It was completely believable.
By firing Danielson, the WWE has cut the legs of its most interesting angle in years. They have also fired an extremely charismatic performer who has a moveset beyond the WWE style. This is Vince McMahon’s biggest blunder since the WCW invasion a decade ago. I would have paid an obscene amount of money to see Cena clash with Danielson, and now it looks like I’ll be skipping Raw again.
If McMahon were reading this humble little essay, he’d probably give me his tired spiel about how the WWE is in the entertainment business and not the ‘rasslin business. This may be true, but the hardcore wrestling fans built your entertainment business. We were there in the fallow period of 1995-96, when your “superstars” struggled to fill 1500 seat arenas. We were there after the death of Eddie Guererro and after the Benoit tragedy. We have endured countless insults, but we remained because we love the artform. You might not need us right now McMahon. You have the little kids in their Rey Mysterio masks and John Cena dogtags. But one day, those kids are going to grow up. You can belittle the hardcore fans all you want, but you can’t afford to lose us.