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Guest Editorials
EDITORIAL: What happened to shades of grey in pro wrestling being okay? (with Reader Poll) Mar 18, 2008 - 2:54:23 PM
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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Jadran Mandekic of Rijeka, Croatia, PWTorch.com reader
Some people want clear cut heels and faces. I was reading this week's Raw feedback and once again I can't belive how people are complaining about not knowing who the faces and who the heels are.Torch reader Maynard Damon asked if Chris Jericho was a heel suddenly and is The Big Show suddenly a face? I ask everybody: Does it matter?
To me, wrestling is at it's best when it emulates reality. In the real world, what would I be? Would I be a heel or a face? I mean, I could cheat on my girlfriend and then break up with her, leaving her completely devastated, and then a half hour later I could go out and help an old lady cross the street. What am I then? Am I a heel or a face? In life everything is relative; why can't it be in wrestling?
People are complaining about TNA, and they say there are no clear cut heels or faces, but I don't understand why is it important? People with no wrestling knowledge, who are not wrapped in a wrestling bubble and don't care about wrestling terminology, watch the show and decide who they like, and who they don't like. The members of the NWO were heels in terms of storyline, but they often acted in a manner that made the people like them. Why is it so hard to grasp for some people? There are people doing bad things all around us, but they have a way of making themselves likeable and there are people who are considered to be good, but have skeletons in their closets. Clear cut good guys and bad guys exist only in comics, cartoons, and stupid action movies.
Wrestling was at its best (or most watched at least) in the late-'90s when it turned more toward the reality of the characters or, as Vince put it at the time, shades of grey. Did it really matter if Steve Austin was a heel or a face? Austin would beat up an innocent referee or an interviewer because he was pissed off, and at the same time fight the good fight against an evil manipulative promoter. And Steve would not do it because he was a heel or a face, he would do it because he was fighting for himself and to hell with everything else. Was Steve a heel or a face? Judging by his success and WWF's overall success, it didn't matter. Why should it matter today?
If the storyline is good, believable, mind stimulating, and the characters are entertaining, knowing who the good guy and who the bad guy is isn't the most important thing. Sure, there will always be characters who we will cheer for because, despite all of their flaws, they are generally “good,” but we do not need to define them clearly as faces or heels. They could also sometimes do the “bad” thing, but if we understand their motives it will not instantly make them the ultimate bad guys. Or maybe WWE should bring back another evil clown character to make it simple for us. [Vote in the Poll Below on this issue.]
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