jacquez posted a link a few days ago about the Same-Sex Wrestling Wedding that is scheduled to air tonight on WWE Smackdown (UPN 8:00EST).
I can’t believe the press this has gotten recently. The Howard Stern show is one thing, I mean, WWE has a longstanding relationship with that show, and wrestlers show up all the time to promote things. But Billy & Chuck were on the Today show to promote it today. The New York Times is doing articles about them. GLAAD who has previously condemned wrestling portrayal of gay characters has actually publicly endorsed the way that WWE has handled the Billy & Chuck situation. The group actually sent along a gravy boat as a wedding gift.
Sigh…
I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was like 8 years old or something. Twenty years. Over that time, I’ve more or less come to appreciate the actually wrestling and not so much care for the theatrics. But I realize their usefulness. The thing with a hot shot angle like this is that its designed to boost ratings. To bring in wrestling fans who haven’t watched the show in a while. Wrestling is like a soap opera. Every wrestling fan knows that a wrestling wedding NEVER goes off as planned. Something always happens. That’s the entire point. The only one I can even remember in 20 years that was just a nice sweet little wedding was Macho Man and Elizabeth, and that basically sucked because it was boring. OOh… two people I don’t really know got married (and they had actually been married in real life, for like 8 years, so if you knew that, it made it make even less sense).
The problem is going to be the non-wrestling fans. Non wrestling fans don’t get wrestling. I’m amazed at how many people tell me even today “You watch that? You know its fake don’t you?” Like I’m an idiot. I like ER too, but I don’t think they’re real doctors. The thing is, a lot of people are going to tune in tonight. Too many people. People who want to see how wrestling has changed. People who want to see the new and improved, sensitive, politically correct, liberal, cuddly homosexual friendly wrestling. And they’re going to get the WWE. The same low-brow, redneck friendly, bottom of the barrel show that its always been. They show that the actual wrestling fan loves. Its supposed to be low-class. That’s the point. People who like that sort of thing tune in. Normally everyone else tunes out. And the world is happy.
Billy and Chuck was a well done angle. Not as well done as when Lenny and Lodi did the exact same gimmick three years ago, but it was more or less subtle and underplayed and worked well. It made people laugh. It made toothless fat guys in alabama wearing mustard stained wife beaters turn and nudge their wives and say “look, honey… look at the funny faggots,” and then they move on and wait for someone to get knocked through a table. That was it. That was the point. A little bit of gay humor in the midst of a bunch of violence and women walking around in thongs.
So people are going to tune in tonight, and they’re not going to see what they expect. They’re going to see… well, I already know what happens, and I don’t want to spoil it (the show was taped tuesday night)… but basically they’re going to see low-brow, redneck friendly, bottom of the barrel entertainment… and then the wedding is going to happen, only like I said, wrestling weddings never come off as planned, that’s the whole point. Only since the billion homosexual loving, rainbow ribbon wearing fans of the today show don’t actually watch wrestling, they’re not going to understand what happens. If the average person is flipping channels and sees wrestling they either keep flipping, or they stop and say “wow, did you see that big guy do that flip?!?” or “Woah! he went head first through that table” or even “Damn, look at the breastesses on that babe!” and they might stop and watch. They might be impressed and tune in next week. Or they might just go away, no harm done. But tonight, they’re gonna tune in, and best case scenario they’re going to be let down by what was an over hyped event. When the surprise happens during the wedding, they’ll say “I don’t get it? who the hell is that guy?” and they’ll never watch again and be upset that they just wasted 2 hours of their life. That’s best case. Worst case, they’re gonna tune in and be greatly offended by what they see. They’ll complain because of the bait and switch… I mean they tuned in to see this beautiful homosexual wedding and what’s all this reneck, lowbrow, bottom of the barrel wrestling crap doing here. Or they will be offended by how the WWE handles the surprise interruption (which I think may come off well to a wrestling fan, but someone who doesn’t understand could easily take the wrong way). Either way, nothing good can come of this.
Hmmm… the show should air in about 5.5 hours. I wonder when the GLAAD flaming is going to occur?
Why can’t people just leave us rednecks alone.