I’ve been in the background for a while. Like Shawn Michaels circa-1997, I lost my smile. Now I’ve found it again. Hopefully, like Michaels’ run between 2002-2010, this will be remembered more fondly. I’ve been a fan for over 25 years and have written all over the place, done a few podcasts and basically harrassed Tyberius for about 4 years now. He’s my boy really, but *ssshhhh* don’t tell him – he secretly likes the abuse!
My columns used to be huge great pieces of work that took weeks, even months to put together. This new run won’t be like that. Instead, it’ll be punchier, quicker and with a point. There’ll be long ones and short ones. You’ll find points you agree with, and ones you don’t. That’s the beauty of being a wrestling blogger. Key word there is blogger. We’re all fans. We all have opinions, and thanks to the aforementioned Tyberius, we each have a forum to express it.
So, why Gorilla Warfare? Gorilla as in Gorilla position – the last spot before the wrestlers come out. And warfare because, well, it just sounded cool.
The next two weeks will be about the smarks who have taken over. Usually, you’d only get those types of crowds post-Mania, or in towns with a huge traditional wrestling following – New York, Chicago, LA etc.
Now, it seems like every week there’s a smart-ass bunch of people in the crowd who are more concerned with getting themselves over and disrupting the show rather than letting things play out and seeing what happens – like we used to do.
There are groups of wrestling fans who put too much stock in their opinions. People who disagree with a storyline or how they perceive someone is being pushed because they just don’t like wrestler X – and that’s totally fine. Cool. That’s your opinion. But then there are others who don’t like wrestler X because the guy he’s sitting next to doesn’t. Or his brrrotherrr brrrotherrr doesn’t, brrrotherrr.
The perfect case in point is Roman Reigns. The heir apparent to the WWE throne. It’s time to face facts people – whether you like it or you don’t, he’s the guy. He’s not a comedian and shouldn’t be making corny jokes. He’s not the Rock or John Cena. He’s Roman Reigns.
Roman fits the bill in terms of what Vince wants his top guy to be. Good build, marketable and young enough whereby he can build the company around him for the next 5-10 years. I’m not someone who, umm.. “enjoys the company of other men” (that’s as nice a way as I could put it without sounding offensive!) but Roman is one good-looking son of a bitch. The women in the crowd love him. Some guys do too.
The Samoan One is tailor-made for the top spot – he’s got that batch of 5-6 standard moves that all the top babyfaces of the last 30 years have had. He’s not a technical wrestler. And he shouldn’t try to be. Reigns is there to be a bad-ass. To kick ass. And have a hell of a lot of fun doing it, whatever role he’s playing.
As part of The Shield, no-one had a bad word to say about him. He was part of this cool, kick-ass group and wasn’t cutting crappy cartoonish promos. “Believe in The Shield” was about the sum of what he’d say every week. And he got over. Ask yourself honestly if you’ve ever seen Roman have a horrendously bad match. Horrendously bad. To the point you couldn’t watch. Even if you have, there won’t have been many.
So where did it all go wrong? About 2 years ago? Yeah, something like that. 2 years ago, every one of us were hooked on the Daniel Bryan story (something I’ll cover in future weeks). But Roman was getting a heavy push at the same time.
“Smarks” or “smart fans” started to believe that Roman was getting Daniel’s push. And they didn’t like it. They resisted. And Reigns has been systematically targeted by smart fans determined to screw with his career because he’s not who “they” want. Why? Because he’s not Daniel Bryan? That’s not his fault, and it’s not fair to compare them.
Bryan was a hugely-accomplished, well-respected competitor who had spent years honing his craft before he even got here. Roman’s been in the business for a millisecond compared to Bryan. Give the guy a chance!
Has he been pushed before he was ready? Yes. But put yourself in his shoes. If Vince McMahon pitched you the vision, the idea that you would be the star of the show for the next decade, would you say “no, I’m not ready”? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d say “Sure Vince, give me the ball and I’ll run with it”. That’s all Roman’s trying to do. Not everything will work out for him, as it hasn’t with others in his shoes from years gone by.
Booing him because you think you’re being clever isn’t going to make a difference to the man who matters. That man isn’t me. Or you. Or even YOU. The only man whose opinion matters is Vincent Kennedy McMahon. We’re all pawns in his game and the harder you push, the harder he’ll dig his heels in. He’s a stubborn, driven son of a bitch and he’ll do what he wants, when he wants, for however long he wants to. It’s that simple.
Sometimes as wrestling fans, we believe that our opinion matters more than it actually does. When the truth is, if you really, REALLY want to make your point. Don’t boo. You’re still reacting. And that’s all that matters. You know when your opinion might count? If enough of you stop watching to the point where revenues, ratings and merchandise sales fall below where they should be. As with everything else, it’s money that talks. Not a “Roman Sucks” chant.
There are times and places when you just can’t avoid a smarky response. But when you’re in Bumblef*ck, Idaho and you’re trying to get yourself over, then maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your life goals. You’re irritating more people than you’re entertaining. It’s time for all of us to make our own minds up, and not just do what’s “funny”. It’s actually flat out disrespectful. Especially in the case of Roman Reigns. And it’s time for that to stop.
We’ll continue this theme next time around when it’ll be crowd chants in particular that get the Gorilla Warfare treatment.
SLTD Wrestling's resident Scottish Nightmare. Some of my content may not be suitable for younger readers or those who are easily offended!
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