The flag match has been part of the WWE for almost 30 years and it’s time for us to move on.
At WWE Battleground this past Sunday, John Cena and Rusev met for a flag match where pinfalls and submissions didn’t matter and the goal was simply to retrieve the flag from your respective country and plant it atop the stage. Like every other match before it, the gimmick known as a flag match has never been about the display of technical excellence or wrestling proficiency; it’s about overt patriotism, plain and simple. More specifically, it’s about stirring up strong feelings towards the United States and then directing those feelings against an appropriate adversary.
On the July 18th edition of Smackdown, John Cena gave a lengthy, Teflon-coated speech in which he invoked the Founding Fathers, America’s history of defeating evil empires, and of course, 9/11. Even the most ardent Cena critic wouldn’t dare boo a speech so dripping with jingoism and thus logic dictated the only other place any displeasure could and would be directed is towards his foreign-born opponent (i.e. Rusev). The xenophobia perpetuated by these matches may not be intentional but it is certainly there. This is how every flag match has worked going back to the days of Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Duggan vs. Sgt Slaughter. It’s a simple and polarizing formula designed for cheap pops and even cheaper heat.
The flag match takes all the psychology out of a feud. It dilutes the matchup to a basic “us vs. them” mentality and forces fans to cheer for whichever wrestler is hoisting the red, white, and blue, regardless of their current heel/face status. In 2014, Rusev and Lana joined the main roster of RAW and quickly established themselves as heels by insulting the United States, praising Vladamir Putin, and calling the American flag worthless. Enter Jack Swagger and Zeb Coulter, who up until this point had also been heels. Their role as defenders of Old Glory instantly turned them face and fans took their side. Swagger wasn’t a worthy opponent for Rusev, as evidenced by him losing all three of their PPV matches, including a flag match at SummerSlam 2014.
Now that Cena’s spat against the Bulgarian Brute has concluded, it’s a foregone conclusion that his next target will be The Modern Day Maharajah, another “foreigner”. The predictable nature of the build up to their likely match at SummerSlam should induce collective eye rolling amongst every WWE fan. Stop me when this sounds familiar; Jinder Mahal will continue his theme of bad-mouthing America’s current negative attitude towards immigrants, which in his defense is not entirely inaccurate. He will take his criticism to absurd levels by insulting the United States – and the WWE Universe by association – which will trigger Uber Patriot Cena into action on our behalf. Cena will point out Mahal’s hypocrisy because America is the land of opportunity and his insults are an affront to this great nation and the WWE Championship and so on and so forth.
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The crowds will cheer Cena and boo Mahal because their feud will be less about a worthy challenger vs. a reigning champion and more about an American vs. a foreigner. The WWE can do better and fans should demand better.