Last night on Raw, the storyline between Paige and Charlotte took a poor turn, but it’s happened before in the WWE.
In the world of pro wrestling, death is a – albeit low – risk these performers take whenever they go out to the ring. There have been times when wrestlers have passed away while competing, like earlier in the year, when Perro Aguayo Jr. died almost instantly from cardiac arrest, due to a cervical stroke caused by three fractured vertebrae, during a match in Mexico. An incredibly sad moment for all those involved, and unfortunately, is an accepted risk in this line of work.
People like Mitsuharu Misawa and Owen Hart gave their lives for the sake of entertaining the fans, while there are countless others who passed away primarily from the rigors, vices, and punishment that come along with the life of a pro wrestler. So this brings me to the WWE, a company that is not one to stray away from controversy when the mood hits them, specifically in this case, death.
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Now, I’m not talking about Big Boss Man interrupting the funeral of Big Show’s father, tying the casket up, and driving away with it, while Big Show attempts to surf on top of said casket. As stupid as that is, I’m talking about bringing actual death into their stories, like they did with Paul Bearer (William Moody) who passed away in March 3, 2013, just as CM Punk and Undertaker were building their feud towards WrestleMania 29.
Yes, the feud between Punk and Taker needed a spark, and yes, the family agreed to Paul being included (most viciously, when Heyman dressed as Paul, and Punk threw his “ashes” on The Undertaker), but it still made some fans feel pretty awkward. Even though the Moody family signed off on it, his sons (via their Facebook) echoed similar sentiments:
"“The way it was presented to us was okay. Seeing it on screen was a different story. I don’t know what to say.”"
We are just days past the tenth anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death, one that still to this day, seems to hit fans harder than any other wrestler. Not long after his passing, WWE went from giving him a wonderful tribute to this:
Sure, you can say it was just good heelin’ and it went a long ways to getting Rey Mysterio over, but was it really necessary? Did WWE go on a bit too long with this story, for the sake of selling a few more shirts? In an interview with WrestlingInc.com, former WWE Creative Writer, Court Bauer had this to say on the Eddie storyline:
"“No one was on board, but Vince [McMahon] kept pushing for it and he just kept doing it. Week after week, he kind of gave it the whole holy water coating thing of being kosher, mixing religious expressions, and butchering it, at that. Basically, he made it legit in his mind by saying that Eddie was up there right now, laughing because he loved things like that. He’d be totally on board for stuff like this. How can you say that? It’s just his way of saying something that made it feel less of a cold, evil thing.It’s one of those things that I disagreed on and everyone in the room disagreed on. We all wished we could have done more, but we weren’t, we all volleyed it. ‘You sure? We could keep it more subtle.’ No. He wouldn’t even go for more subtle. So, there was nothing we could do and it was a terrible feeling and it was one of the first flags that went up that let me know I needed to consider other opportunities. But, I would hold on for a few more years.”"
So, this brings us to last night on Raw when Paige and Charlotte got the chance to close out the show with a contract signing, and for whatever reason, creative thought it would be “fantastic” idea to bring up the death of Charlotte’s younger brother, as a catalyst for a brawl. Just for some background, Reid Flair was an aspiring pro wrestler, who passed away in 2013 from an accidental overdose.
Here’s the video from last night:
You’ll notice the distant lack of reaction from the crowd, because a huge majority of them probably had no idea Charlotte’s brother actually passed away. He was never in the “WWE Family” which, at least, partly separates using Eddie and Paul in storylines from this. It was a cheap spark for this feud, when you consider all the topics creative could have used, they went with that. For fans who have lost family members to an overdose, this is not entertainment; this is at best, lazy booking and at worst, malicious garbage.
The counter to this entire article would be “well, it got people talking, isn’t that the point?” Maybe, but it’s weak on WWE’s part to sink to that level for some extra press when their ratings are in the basement, and the segment itself, was poorly done anyways. Simply put, it’s an ugly look WWE, very ugly.
What did you think of last night’s segment?