WOW’s New MAGA Character is a Step in the Wrong Direction

Off the heels of the second episode of WOW on AXS TV, we got another stellar episode of women’s wrestling. WOW continues to improve every week with no flaws in sight. Well, almost no flaws. WOW’s latest episode exhibited one glaring issue worth addressing.

Last Friday night, WOW – Women of Wrestling introduced a new character named Jessie Jones. Jones – in the storyline at least – was a trainer at WOW, but after injuring a trainee and arguing with co-trainer Selina Majors, she decided to whip WOW superstars into shape by becoming a wrestler instead.

Jones made an impression in this episode that was jaw-dropping but not because of her wrestling. It was because of her words.

Right before the match, Jones snatched the microphone from announcer Shaul Guerrero and started to spout off about how she wanted to “make wrestling great again.” She then advocated for America building THE WALL, then called the Los Angeles crowd hypocrites for not wanting The Wall when they hide behind the walls of private gated communities. Jones would add, “So what’s the difference?”

If the promo itself didn’t come off as too on the nose, her opponent sure was: Azteca from Mexico City, Mexico. The little cherry on top came when Jones defeated the Mexican athlete clean in the middle of the ring.

Jones’s promo calls back to the darker days of wrestling between 2016 and 2017 – hot off of the last Presidential election – where it seemed like every heel in professional wrestling was trying to make it “great again.” At the same time when Drew Gulak was on a quest to “Make 205 Live Great Again,” ROH’s All Night Express rechristened as The Cabinet to “make wrestling great again.”

In between all of this, AAA in Mexico had a top heel stable featuring Johnny Impact, Taya Valkyrie, and Brian Cage called “Team Trump.” Yeah, not every MAGA heel was subtle.

Then again, none of the MAGA heat in wrestling is subtle. It’s the cheapest heat that a wrestler could go for in today’s political climate. It’s the modern equivalent to a bad guy bashing a city’s favorite sports team. The difference being that while chastising a baseball team has proven to get a whole audience to jeer in unison, a MAGA rant only alienates a certain section of the audience.

Jones’s rant did receive some boos and it did generate a “you suck” chant (which may or may not have been piped in), but looking at the crowd, there were a lot of amused faces and even a few applauds.

Even though the current President is nearing an all-time record low for approval ratings, Donald Trump still has a large, devoted following. With that said, the pro-Wall promo that Jessie Jones spewed is counter-productive as far as heel heat is concerned. Those who agree with her will laugh it off and cheer while those who don’t are more likely to turn off their televisions. In short, it’s go-away heat.

At least that’s the kind of effect that Jessie Jones’s promo had on me. By the time she stopped speaking into the mic, I had mentally checked out of WOW programming and wasn’t really engaged when Azteca vs Jones was underway. Keeping a close eye on this mess of a political climate is exhausting enough. Seeing it injected into my wrestling like this made me tune out.

I didn’t hate Jessie Jones‘s character after watching her promo. I didn’t even hate WOW for creating her; if nothing else, I’m glad WOW at least have the self-awareness to make a MAGA character out to be a heel. No, rather than hate, I was just tired. Tired of seeing the worst of politics force its way into my wrestling. Tired of seeing the voice of hate have a platform. Just tired.

So, so tired.

Credit: @Wow_JessieJones on Twitter

Worst of all, the Jessie Jones character – and other heels of her ilk who were manifested in direct response to Trump’s Presidential term – runs a risk of normalizing serious concerns in this political climate. Normalizing his behavior by making him the butt of jokes and skits is what got him elected to begin with. The Trump campaign has given a voice to racism, homophobia, sexism and above all else, pure unapologetic hatred. Trump’s antics stopped being funny a long time ago. Injecting his rhetoric into silly characters makes us not take his movement seriously, which we should.

In terms of timing especially, the Jessie Jones character arrives at a time when our world is more divided that it’s ever been. The general public is struggling to come together in unison and characters like this do more to divide us more than anything. When it comes to both wrestling real-life issues, creating characters like this is like taking two steps forward in the wrong direction, or just going backwards.

With all of that said, as much as I’m not a fan of her character, I’ll give Jessie Jones props for playing her character well. A promo like this would’ve gotten a reaction out of me regardless, but I’m not sure I would have felt as strongly if I didn’t buy into the Jessie Jones character. Kudos to her.

I plan on watching WOW weekly, so the best I can do is remain hopeful. At the very least, I have some faith that they won’t cross the line with this character. If they’re going to run with a character like this, they need handle it with the utmost care and caution. Then again, in times like these, cheap heat and characters like this shouldn’t be used to begin with. They have no place in wrestling or entertainment in general.