Low Ki, EVOLVE and the New Kayfabe

Asshole, playing one or both?
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Low Ki has gotten a lot of attention for himself lately, some might argue for the wrong reasons. When he made his debut for EVOLVE/DGUSA at EVOLVE 10, he claimed he was "taking his profession back" from the sports entertainers. It was met with rousing cheers from the Arena crowd, mainly because saying something like that is like throwing red meat to a tiger. He kept on that party line in interviews, really getting into the militant "wrestler" motif, going so far as to say that if he were still with WWE, he'd refuse to work with Zack Ryder. All this came to a head last night at EVOLVE 11, when after defeating El Generico, he dropped this quote:

You know, Generico... you're really not as good as think you are.

The reaction to this was a little less than conciliatory. Ki has long had the reputation of being abrasive to the point of burning bridges to most companies he's worked for. So obviously, he had meant what he said about Generico, right? What a haughty dick! Of course, if you had that reaction to his barb, then it worked.

Think about it. Why would a guy want to "take back his profession" in a company that was already dedicated to taking it back? I have to wonder how Johnny Gargano, Chuck Taylor, Bobby Fish, Sami Callihan and everyone else busting their asses thought about Ki coming in and being the guy to right the ship in EVOLVE when everyone else was already righting it from the beginning. Given that if it's said on the card time, it's part of the act, well, yeah, I'd say that Ki established himself as a bad guy right from jump.

I know, I know, I get annoyed too when people take a look at a situation, puff out their chests, get annoyed and say "it's a work" (my favorite are the folks who post pictures of Men at Work albums and think they're clever). It's one of those things that smart-asses do seemingly to prove their "smart" wrestling fan credentials. I hate it, but at the same time, there's also been a shift in more than a few companies towards blurring the lines. How many times have people even run with reports that there was bad blood between The Rock and John Cena and that all their promos were "ZOMG REAL" or even people who thought that Punk really did grab a live mic and shot during his original pipe bomb?

In reality, I'm not even sure if that confusion is a bad thing. Long have some among the fanbase complained about the death of kayfabe. People have wanted the toothpaste to be shoved back into the tube, but I don't think that's ever going to happen, no matter how much anyone tries. However, building a new kayfabe? Yeah, that's actually possible. That's where the blurring of the lines comes in. If you can't create an illusion in the old way, find a new way to do it.

So when Ki tells Generico that he's not really as good as he thinks he is, I don't really get up in arms. He's the new kind of heel, really the only kind of heel that can get over in the indies nowadays. When Callihan breaks beer bottles over people's heads or Kevin Steen scorches earth around him and threatens to destroy the company he works for, they're heroes, despite the fact that AR Fox and Davey Richards both have fan followings as well. It's not about generating heel heat or face heat, it's about the dueling chant.

But give off the idea that you're an asshole in real life and make that extend into your character in the ring? Yeah, that's a good way to get booed. (Either that, or be really boring and have someone really annoying manage you, a la Roderick Strong) In fact, those are the kinds of characters that EVOLVE needs in order to start, excuse the pun, evolving the wrestling industry. There's no way that you're going to grow a company past niche levels just promoting a bunch of wrestling matches with nebulous characters in simple feuds. (note to Lenny "Lenny Leonard" Leonard, that's why your gates haven't been great to start, not because of piracy or shitty crowds) There had to be something to change the dynamic. Ki's new character changes the dynamic.

I won't begrudge anyone who doesn't like the execution of it, but for a company like EVOLVE that markets straight to the kind of demographic that cares about these things, the idea of the character itself to me is brilliant. That's why I don't get up in arms about his whole "taking the profession back" thing, even if it would be an attitude that was repulsive to me if someone had it for real.