Breaking The Walls Down - JBL Has A Point Submitted by Chris Dailey on Thursday, June 24, 2004 at 12:42 AM EST
Breaking The Walls Down
Hello and welcome back to another edition of Breaking The Walls Down. First, I apologize for the lack of a post yesterday. There were some technical difficulties on my end. The summer draws nigh and I’m certainly looking forward to watching my man Jim Thome crack 50-plus homeruns this year. He is what athletes should aspire to be (heck people in general) humble and down-to-earth. Anyway, onto Bits and Pieces.
Bits and Pieces
Thank you to all of you for writing me and letting me know what you do in the situation where professional wrestling comes up and the dreaded question comes up. If you do not know what I am referring to, please refer to my last column. The general census is that many of you defend professional wrestling vigorously through well-thought points that are quite valid. One reader made the point that they simply state (and this is summing up what the reader said and is in no way word for word what they typed) that if professional wrestlers are dumb, how can they go out and perform a pre-planned thirty minute match perfectly, move for move. I thought that was an excellent point and should definitely be made known to the rest of us. Regardless, many good points were sent in. Thanks.
Lita may be having either Kane’s child or Matt’s child. Hmmmmm, is it me, or has that tragic fire Kane was in years ago, really not affected him all that much physically? I mean, he miraculously got his voice back, his face isn’t hideous (although it is by no means model-worthy), I see no scars that were supposedly everywhere, his eye is “damaged” (uh-huh), and now we are supposed to believe that his manhood is properly functioning, as well? Geesh, why is it Kane seems less and less like a scarred monster and simply a heel?
So now President Bush and Senator Kerry are using the WWE as an outlet for attaining votes from the young section of voters. Why is it that they won’t show themselves on WWE programming though? Hmm, I wonder.
The “new” IC Title has been out for quite some time now and I still don’t like it. I don’t like the “new” US Title, either. I’m really hoping that the WWE decides to go back to the old ones, but I doubt it.
Tyson Tomko (sp?) looks like an imposing guy. I’m still undecided on him in the ring, though.
Can anyone let me know how Earthquake (Jon Tenta) is doing with his battle with cancer? I would greatly appreciate it, thanks.
And now, onto the column.
JBL Has A Point
To begin with, from this point forward I will be referring to JBL as Bradshaw. Bradshaw has a point and we all should, in the very least, respect it. Now, before I get a ton of anti-Jew e-mails and claiming I’m a supporter of Nazi’s, let’s clear that up, I’m not. In no form or fashion do I support or agree with what happened in Nazi Germany, in fact, I’m horrified by it and wish it had never happened, but it did. And, it’s a part of the world’s history, as sad as that may be. And, actors portray a multitude of things and in the character the actor portrays, world history may be relived.
Bradshaw is a professional wrestler. That comes first. While I will say what he did was in poor taste, his character did it at the right time. Look at this from an actor’s perspective. You’re in Germany, you’re playing an evil character, and you need to make sure that you are the most hated actor there. What do you do? Simple, break out the cheap heat. There is a law in Germany that disallows the infamous salute, but there is no law against it for purposes such as acting (for lack of a better word, meaning professionally acting).
Did the realness of the world cross into the fakeness of professional wrestling and form an unimaginable temporary partnership? Yes, they did. Bradshaw did cross the line, but technically he did nothing wrong. He’s done it for years and if it was illegal, he never, ever would have made it out of the country. He never would have been allowed to board the plane. Bradshaw did what he’s supposed to do, make the crowd hate him. And, let’s face it, he needs all the help he can get becoming a heel.
The WWE did not condone his actions and it was not scripted, but (and this is for you conspiracy theorists out there), notice how no reported actions were taken against Bradshaw. Isn’t that a wonder? For such a reprehensible act that the WWE quickly disavowed any knowledge of, Bradshaw hasn’t faced any punishments yet (again, that we know of). I find that very odd, considering the sensitivity of this subject. Why wouldn’t Bradshaw be admonished for his actions? Why wouldn’t something happen to him to instill in his mind that what he did was wrong. Why? Because I can see Vince McMahon doing the same thing in Germany to get the crowd to really, really hate him if he needed to get someone else over. Now, that’s not saying I know he would do it, but that’s saying I can see Vince doing it.
The reality here is that professional wrestlers are actors. Does The Undertaker walk around with Paul Bearer in front of him toting the urn? No, he doesn’t. I can understand outrage at a certain storyline (I know I have), but these guys are actors and that is what creates the interest in the business. If The Rock were to wrestle Steve Austin and both men came in with their real names and used their real backgrounds with no sort of story line, who would be interested? Not many. Because, the people that would be interested in that sort of non-story line affair are the people who enjoy Greco-Roman-style wrestling. Now, there is nothing wrong with enjoying that style (it’s a great sport), but it involves real people with no made up story lines. But, most of the time the people who watch Greco-Roman-style wrestling don’t watch professional wrestling because of the scripted actions of the wrestlers. So, you’re left with a very small audience if you eliminate the acting requirements of professional wrestlers.
Bradshaw may have acted on his own and he may not of. That’s not really the point. The point is he is an actor (in a sense) who is attempting to tell a story. CNBC should never have fired him. That was not right. In my opinion, Bradshaw was on thin ice from the get-go with CNBC. Bradshaw is a professional wrestler on a very conservative network. He was an experiment that they were very leery of and at the first sight of any form of trouble, they let him go as quickly as possible and washed their hands of him.
We pay to be entertained. When thinking about this, I can understand how professional wrestlers think of themselves as actors. They really are. I’m not going to argue if they are good actors or not, but they are actors nonetheless. True, they are professional wrestlers first and foremost, but with that profession comes the necessity to be an actor. If they can’t convince me what they are doing is real and that they care about the story lines, why should I, the viewer, then care about the show/program? In the end it comes down to profession and being a professional wrestler means being an actor. Bradshaw crossed the line, but that doesn’t mean he should now be the whipping boy for portraying a character.
