Reality?.. Maybe Not
I used to love watching weekly WWF shows, such as “Smackdown!” and “Raw is War.” There was a time, when I actually believed the action, drama, and personas, all part of an elaborately conceived masculine soap opera, were real. Not until I’d gotten more in tune with the world, and interacted with more adults (male and female), had I realized that the hubris-gorged, trash-talking egoists, as well as the hair-ripping, high-flying temptresses were not your quotidian next-door neighbors, coworkers, or even outlaws.
I decided to revist the olden days, through watching the WWF debut of Chris Jericho (my once-favorite wrestler) on (my now-favorite website) Youtube.com. After watching, I couldn’t believe how I easily I was fooled into believing this claptrap. Since I don’t have all day, lemme just point out a few of the most GLARING affectations, and my own perception of how they pander to the audience…
(In case you want to witness the phoniness firsthand, here’s the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFX7_4uTqhI&mode=related&search)
1. “The Rock” (a man by the real name of Dwyane Johnson) refers to himself in third-person, with excessive arrogance and conviction (i.e. “Tonight…in front of all The Rock’s fans, he will go ONE.ON.ONE..WITH THE GR8 ONE!”). This is apparently done to satisfy and excite the audience, as enthusiastic applause follows his every sentence.
2. “Y2J” Chris Jericho uses much of the same “rhetoric” the Rock used. He also riled up the audience by announcing his arrival in third person, and even putting himself on “center-stage” (i.e. “RAW.IS.JERICHOO!!!!”). He furthers the already superfluous pretension by declaring himself “YOUR NEW HERO!… MOST CHARISMATIC SHOWMAN…COME TO SAVE THE W.W.F.!… (blah blah blah)”
3. This is where the CLASH occurs, where two super-egos collide to verbally and (eventually) physically tear each other apart. No way in real life, can two sane and sober people, who have just met get into such a rude, explosive and (not to mention) nonsensical altercation (i.e. Rock: “What is your name?” Jericho: “I TOLD you, my–” Rock: “IT DOESN’T MAAATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!”).
So, in an almost-vain effort to try to make sense of all this nonsense, I believe that people in this business put up such ridiculous, provocative, harsh facades because we people, especially men, crave a good hardcore (not in THAT way..) soap opera. We love seeing fights ensue, egos collide, and people getting hurt (as harsh as that sounds, I think we’re all, to some extent, sadists).
Well, there was my two cents, take it for what you think it’s worth.