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| Why did it take so long to band together against the Shield? Photo Credit: WWE.com |
The reason why I had that knee jerk reaction though was that Cena never, ever, EVER helps anyone in need. I mean, he stood up on the Slammy stage, professing his respect and admiration for Ric Flair, but when the time came for Flair to be saved from the same Shield, Cena was nowhere to be found. In fact, it was curious that it took so long that everyone the Shield had attacked to band together as a united front against the rogue group. Wouldn't they want to nip that shit in the bud right away, given the history of renegade groups getting out of control quick in wrestling history? It's not like the Nexus didn't just happen three years ago, and that the WWE doesn't have a fetish with bringing up the period in time when the nWo ran rampant.
It didn't matter that any of them got attacked before by the group, outside of a few instances when any combination of Ryback, Sheamus, or Randy Orton would run down to save Cena (or any amongst themselves) and even the odds. Even then, the Shield pretty much mauled people in even strength situations. It wasn't until they were found out to be Paul Heyman Guys® and the biggest Paul Heyman Guy® of them all, Brock Lesnar, shattered their beloved boss' hip that they were roused to action. Funny how fealty to authority is more important than fraternal loyalty to WWE. Then again, it's par for the course for the same show where taking a vacation is considered to be an extreme taboo.
Friendship, it seems, is a thing that isn't the enterprise of good guys anymore in WWE. It may never have been the enterprise of the tippity top good guys. I don't really recall Hulk Hogan running in to help people outside of the iconic Mega Powers angle. Still though, that was one instance more than I remember John Cena ever running in to help a fellow good guy out. Meanwhile, Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow profess platonic friendship with each other, and everyone, from The Miz to most recently Booker T and Teddy Long, do everything but state outright that they were gay and that being gay was bad (the latter a whole other problem in WWE altogether). So basically, only evil people have camaraderie, and the ones we're supposed to cheer are all loners who don't need any help to do anything. If that attitude seems unhealthy to you, then congratulations, you're a real person with real feelings.
The question now is why WWE chooses to portray its universe as one where dystopia is the ideal and togetherness is abhorrent bordering on hateful. It would be one thing if it were just a question of semantics or storytelling, but in a company where the tells of them cycling through heirs apparent to guys like Cena don't seem to be getting guys popular enough to take his mantel, they flat out ignore things that end up creating memorable moments and imbuing the crowd with a reason to like certain wrestlers. Seriously, the babyface save is one of the most tried and truest signposts that tell fans that you need to cheer the person running in to help the guy getting his ass kicked. Hell, we saw it last night when Sin Cara ran in to try (and fail) to save his tag team partner Rey Mysterio from certain death at the hands of Mark Henry. We've been seeing it in the last month when Alberto del Rio got megapopular because he helped his friend, Ricardo Rodriguez, from being bullied by The Big Show. Friendship doesn't just work with people of Latino heritage, y'know.
Sometimes, I wonder if WWE really is built in to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We can lash out about the bad writing as much as possible, but what if it's good writing for bad people? What if, in reality, the crowd is the collective heel, and everything is reversed? What if it really is the wrestling equivalent of Seinfeld? All those things are possible, and it would make a lot of sense as to why WWE would cater to people who think friendship is weakness, power is found in solitude, and that paranoia is a good thing. Still, I would like to think that communal love and fraternization are things that can stand beside cathartic violence in the arena of wrestling. And if the crowds really are heels who hate friendship, they sure have done an awful job of letting WWE know when it came time for Daniel Bryan and Kane to hug it out?
Truth be told, I think there's more of an appetite for the portrayal of a positive, friendly atmosphere among the heroes of wrestling than there is for a dystopian wasteland where the only time people come together is if they're the villains or if something happened to Fearless Leader. If WWE can tap into that, maybe the shows would more often than not have a more fun air to them, even when it came time for the bad guys to win the day.
