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CALDWELL'S TAKE
CORNER CUBE TUESDAY 8/12 - Punk vs. JBL an example of the basics done right Aug 12, 2008 - 8:12:02 AM
Updated daily from the corner cubicle, Torch columnist James Caldwell's weekday blog focuses on hot topic current events and other items of interest from around wrestling.
Updated Tuesday, August 12
Pro wrestling is an art form built on a morality play of good vs. evil. That's the basic foundation of why fans cheer and why fans boos. In some cases, fans have their own perception of good and evil, such as is the case with John Cena, where a vocal minority of the audience has chosen to view Cena as a fraud who panders to the audience.
The fact that Cena has remained consistent with his character over the last several years has given the audience an opportunity to take-it-or-leave-it. We know what Cena's character stands for and what the character believes in terms of ethics and morals.
You can apply that idea to what made the Jericho-Michaels program the best part of Raw the past two months. Jericho has decided to tell the audience and gloat about his moral superiority, which has essentially canceled out any of his gregarious actions. The audience doesn't want to hear about its own short-comings in making character judgments, but Jericho is more than willing to shove it in their faces.
Jericho twisting the truth just a smidgen for his own personal gain has created great TV to set up the hero, Shawn Michaels, for an eventual comeback win. The same type of good vs. evil fundamental story was applied to JBL vs. Punk in the drinking game last night. I thought this was Punk's finest hour and JBL at the top of his game.
It worked because JBL immediately established Punk's personal morals and ethics. We had forgotten about Punk living a straight-edged lifestyle because it had not been played up on TV recently. JBL taking ten seconds to talk about no beer and no drugs set up the tension for Punk. Would he cave into the bully and join JBL in a category of deteriorated morals?
The morality play led to Punk's finest hour as he passionately defended how he arrived at World champion status and how he planned to retain the belt without changing his outlook on success. It's debatable whether Punk stepped over the line by splashing JBL in the face with alcohol before delivering a knee strike, but I believe that was fair retaliation considering JBL had verbally provoked Punk for nearly a month.
Because JBL established where Punk's moral compass is pointing towards and because Punk stuck his guns in a respectable manner when faced with the temptation of becoming what the fans loathe (JBL), Punk wasn't going to lose the audience or come across like a heel with a basic retaliation that didn't go over-board.
Punk's character is that much stronger because WWE built up a simple, easy-to-understand ethical dilemma that everyone 8-to-80 could relate to. When wrestling sticks to the basics of good vs. evil with shades of gray being a tool to be utilized, but not the only tool in the toolbox (TNA), great TV can be created, characters can be developed based on their own interpretation of morals and ethics, and fans will actually care about what's going on.
Punk vs. JBL stood out on a crowded Raw because they played up the basics exceptionally well. It's not complicated. It's simple, fundamental pro wrestling.
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