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| In reality, Sheamus would've been thrown in jail before the hour turned Photo Credit: WWE.com |
There's a certain expectation of the good guys having to dirty their hands in wrestling, obviously. It's a medium of entertainment built on a foundation of violence, and retaliation, while frowned upon in some real-world circles, is the rule of the day. Obviously, WWE good guys have been acting heelish for as long as I can remember at least (only the blindest Hulkamaniacs would deny that Hulk Hogan was at least a shitty friend). That being said, even for a hooligan, retaliating physical violence with grand theft auto seems like a giant leap across the void of character alignment. Shooting videos while in the stolen car was a nice touch for a sociopath as well. I have to wonder if WWE Films made The Dark Knight whether or not Heath Ledger's Joker would have been filmed in a far more sympathetic light. I'm sure if it was an in-house thing, Jerry Lawler would have also provided the Greek chorus rooting for the world to burn.
More and more, it feels like WWE doesn't have a narrative when it comes to who gets cheered and who gets booed. That's fine when the template is The Rock vs. CM Punk or even Kane vs. Daniel Bryan. When it's Sheamus vs. Alberto del Rio or nearly every other feud that has happened in the last decade or so, there needs to be some sort of guiding moral principle that the fans abide by. It's not like the heels are good guys either. Again, del Rio isn't above doing shitty things like using Ricardo Rodriguez as a human shield. Chris Jericho tortured the straight-edge CM Punk by pouring alcohol on him. The Nexus vandalized an entire ring and beat the ever-loving shit out of everyone at ringside except Michael Cole. As a counterbalance, John Cena spied on Vickie Guerrero's locker room and used the footage as blackmail, Kofi Kingston vandalized Randy Orton's custom-made stock car and Santino Marella engaged in a month-long campaign of beating the crap out of Rodriguez as proxy revenge for getting his own ass kicked by del Rio.
When all the characters are sociopaths, then what determines rooting interest? A good show, movie or whatever should at least nudge you in the direction of what they expect you to get from the narrative. Whether it's implying you need to make up your mind via characters involved in complex conflicts where both guys could be right or flat-out portraying good vs. evil, the audience can't be left ambiguous over what their role is. The problem comes when WWE expects you to root for Sheamus when the narrative they write doesn't make you want to root for him. If I were a first-time viewer of WWE last night, I'd watch the show and think that Sheamus was the biggest dickhead coward and Lawler as his chief apologist. That's a huge problem.
I don't mind it if WWE doesn't beat me over the head with what I'm supposed to think with every story. I don't even mind if they do that either. Art is art, and it can be good in whatever capacity it's conveyed. That being said, don't expect me to fall in line thinking Sheamus is supposed to be this awesome heroic guy when he's stealing cars and flaunting it in the face of the San Antonio Police Department (who according to Iraqi Minister of Information Jerry Lawler were okay with it) in response to getting jumped from behind. At least let me know that the good guys are good (even if they're only "wrestling good") and the bad guys are bad. Don't give me a roster full of assholes and expect me to arbitrarily believe that a handful of them aren't because you say so.
