A MCMAHON LOSS IS A FANBOY’S GAIN

"Bah gawd, he’s stompin’ a mudhole in Linda McMahon!" 

First of all, thank you Jim Ross for being a walking caricature of…well…Jim Ross.

You may not be aware of this, but we had an election this week.  I know, right?!  For those of you that missed the interminable election coverage due to the fact that you are dead or European (a new take on the “gay or European” game), let me recap:

• Lots of women are in office, usually beating a man that, at one time or another, described women as “five foot three baby ovens”
• Obama won and yippee and whatnot, though Mitt Romney’s loose relationship with the truth will be missed
• Florida is still not called.  Please note that I am referring to the 2008 election.  The 2012 election results in Florida should be available by August 13^th, 1927 (not a typo)
• Chris Matthews is still yelling at the screen, and has failed to realize that Rachel Maddow knocked him unconscious, moved him to a broom closet, and arranged an old Nintendo system to look like a camera.

The most important result for me and numerous fans of the WWE, however, is the outcome in the Connecticut Senate race between Chris Murphy and former WWE CEO, Linda McMahon.  Murphy beat the living crap out of McMahon, leading to her second loss in a Senate race (to put it in WWE’s terms, it’s equivalent to Lord Tensai’sreturn to the ring).

What does this mean to WWE fans?  Tough to say, though I have to speculate that we could see some changes.  Fans of “sports entertainment” (formerly known as professional wrestling) like me have mourned the recent goings-on during our favorite three-hour Monday night buffet of violence.  This especially pertains to those of us that experienced The Attitude Era firsthand, then slowly watched what was a fascinating, controversial, entertaining show decline into a Saturday morning cartoon.

It’s not for lack of talent or characters.  WWE has some fantastic talent on the roster, from the brilliant champ, CM Punk, to the best “seller” in the business, Dolph Ziggler, who is still one short haircut away from being a full-on national socialist, to a surprisingly fun tag team in Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. 

The pieces exist, but the way the company has been run, the development of storylines, the building of momentum, has been more reminiscent of the doldrums of the early 1990s than the invigorating ratings monster of the late 90s and early millennium.  

Today, bad guys lose.  They lose all the time, and should they manage to pull out a victory, it’s due to cheating.

Case in point: CM Punk.  I’ve spoken about him before, now fully embracing my role as a CM Punk mark.  He’s held the main title in the company for nearly a year now, a record unheard of during The Attitude Era, and during most of this period he was a face, or a good guy.  Recently, he made a heel (bad guy) turn.   

While this should have made him more interesting, more dangerous, it has instead castrated him as a performer.  Where before he was a rebellious, almost Stone Cold-eque character, he’s now a whining baby, winning only by interference or cheating.

It’s a formula we’ve come to know all too well in the WWE over the last several years, and many fans believe it is due to one primary cause: Linda McMahon’s forays into politics.

During The Attitude Era, the product was raw and uncensored.  The show pushed the limits every week, and while this could veer in a tasteless direction, it led to some of the most fantastic feuds and best characters in history.  

                                                               DX

                                                              The Rock

                                                             Mick Foley

                                                    Stone Cold Steve Austin

Since Linda’s first campaign, though, the WWE has toned the product down drastically, going so far as changing their TV rating to PG (leading to the new designation, The PG Era).  They’ve eliminated some of the more interesting titles, like the Hardcore Title (which was defended 24-hours a day by the champion, leading to some hilarious matches).  The characters, once vibrant, have become uniformly vanilla, and the company has returned to their reliance on good guys and bad guys, where once Vince McMahon, head honcho of WWE, laid this addiction to rest:

 Where WWE, and especially its flagship show, Monday Night Raw, catered to a younger, male audience, known for their zealotry and willingness to spend money, WWE is little more than a children’s show.

Will Linda McMahon’s second political defeat, despite spending $100 million, lead to a change in the WWE?  Hopefully it will, but those of us that follow the program know that, with WWE, nothing is certain.