A recent trend in wrestling is to take real-life occurrences and weave them into storylines to blur the distinction between fact and fiction, thus theoretically making disbelief easier to suspend and edging wrestling a step closer to reality TV, an entertainment genre that is sadly prospering.
It doesnât work. Bookers think it does, but it doesnât. Look at the ratings and buy rates. The only thing that is driving wrestling to its current minimal level of success is star power.
Yet, this concept keeps getting foisted upon us.
Weâre so numb to it, we donât even notice when theyâve gone too far.
Jeff Jarrett went too far.
In his epic, never-ending (and never going to be fulfilled) quest to rise above the mid-card in the eyes of the fans, Jarrett allowed the tragic death of his wife at the hands of cancer to be exploited for the sake of a storyline. He allowed the grief of his young daughters to be exploited for the sake of a storyline.
It was bad enough that Jarrett turned on the schmaltz when he recounted how he had to tell his girls that âMommyâs not coming home.â But when Kurt Angle looked into the camera and said âDaddyâs not coming homeâ as if talking to Jarrettâs daughters, it went way, way off the deep end.
Jarrett probably thinks this storyline gets anyone whoâs lost a loved one to sympathize with him. Thatâs not the case. It insults anyone whoâs lost a loved one by trivializing premature death as part of a wrestling plot. Jarrett trivialized his wifeâs death, involving his daughters in the process. Heâs got to live with that.
It not only shows you how low wrestling can sink, it shows you how dead the creative process is, particularly in TNA. A booker shouldnât feel something like this is necessary.
Jarrett should be ashamed.
Angle, meanwhile, should be embarrassed that a wrestling storyline seems to have contributed to the breakup of his marriage, and that he allowed said breakup to be exploited on TV.
Is nothing sacred? Is nothing private?
Oh, Jarrett and Angle have every right to use their personal tragedies as they see fit. Vickie Guerrero, too. Thatâs America. Iâve certainly used bad taste for my own personal gain over the years.
But this appears to have left a bad taste in the mouths of almost everyone who followed the Jarrett-Angle storyline en route to Bound For Glory. Was that TNAâs goal? I doubt it.
ON A LIGHTER NOTEâ¦
I look forward with unbridled glee to the debut of Hulk Hoganâs Celebrity Championship Wrestling Oct. 18 on CMT. Hulk just keeps finding ways to milk more money out of the wrestling cow, and if it means involving an unnaturally-sized Danny Partridge and Screech from âSaved by the Bell,â so be it.
Give Hulk credit for loyalty: All his cronies have been invited to suckle on the CMT teat, from Jimmy Hart to Ed âthe Muleâ Leslie to Brian Knobbs, who is absolutely approaching maximum density. I guess I should have kissed up when I had the chance.
One of the students â” the show is basically a reality show about a wrestling school populated by quasi-celebrities â” is Nikki Ziering, the pulchritudinous cop stripper from âAmerican Pie 3.â Not long after the series was taped, is was revealed that Ziering is pregnant. No, conception didnât occur during one of Nikkiâs practice matches. I doubt Hulkster was teaching that real tight All Japan style, brother. Nikki, in fact, was likely with child during her time in the ring. Not exactly recommended prenatal care.
Todd Bridges? Frank Stallone? Tiffany? This is so dumb, it just might work. Hey, how much you want to bet that Dennis Rodman passes out in the corner (again) during a tag match?
