For those of you who follow my site or know me quite well, you know that one of my biggest wrestling pet peeves is when, in 2010, wrestling promoters STILL try and get us to blur the line between fiction and reality.
I've said it time and time again. Twenty years ago, it was fine. Nowadays, give the fans some credit! With the advent of the internet as a tool into the inner workings of wrestling, there's not a whole lot of mystery anymore. Oftentimes, results or stories are leaked and have to be changed as a result. That's fine and good as you want to keep the fans guessing, but that's not where the problem lies.
Perhaps I'm not the authority on the subject, but would you believe, say........Chris Jericho? I hope so, because here are his thoughts on the subject. In an interview with pro wrestling illustrated, he's asked about portraying a bad guy on TV but a charismatic, funny guy while hosting "downfall". Here is that short exchange:
AC: As you talked about in this interview, when you were Chris Jericho, the character, you took it so seriously that you didn’t want people wearing your T-shirts, because you wanted to be hated. And yet, at the same time, you’re doing this show on the other channel, Downfall, where you’re this likeable, nice, jovial game show host. Did you have any personal problems in presenting yourself in different ways? CJ: Absolutely not. I’m an actor, and I have to play the part of Chris Jericho in WWE. It’s like Anthony Hopkins doesn’t walk down the street eating people’s livers with a fine Chianti and a straight jacket. It’s a character he played in a movie and he’s more than capable of playing two or three different characters at the same time as they shoot two or three different movies. And I played the character of Chris Jericho in WWE and outside of WWE there is no character, unless I’m doing another movie. But, Downfall, that was myself. I was playing myself. I never ever, ever once went into the ring as they guy that’s talking to you right now. I became somebody else, because that’s what wrestling is—from day one for me. It’s not athletic. It’s not a sport. Not even close. You have to be an athlete, but there’s no scoring goals and all that sort of thing. It’s show business, man. One hundred percent. And that’s how I’ve always treated it and that’s why I did as good as I did. That’s why I’ll always do good in anything like that, because I play a character. I understand that. And the best guys in the business do that, and understand that and can be that. And the guys that aren’t are the guys that come and go.
It's show business, man! Wrestling fans need to accept that the second these men or women walk off screen, their character ends. They are acting, just like everybody else on TV. Thus, we need to stop pretending that there's a dose of reality in wrestling. It is a scripted show where actors portray roles.
I'm not going to get into why I don't like worked shoots (playing out "reality" in storylines on television) but understand that the future of wrestling is to fully appreciate the performers as the actors and athletes tat they are. Go see them at book signings or appearances and tell them "I enjoyed your work in Smackdown". Just don't expect them to cut a promo in character on you. That's just stupid and it's not 1992 anymore. Listen to Jericho. I promise, he knows what he's talking about!
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