More on Wrestlemania
I've periodically written pro (WWE) wrestling segments in my journal posts. But readers might be curious why I've written several segments and tweets recently. First, for unfamiliar readers, scripted pro wrestling was sort of a stress releasing form of entertainment from my days as an undergraduate student; I recently mentioned how on a Christmas break one year I visited my maternal grandfather and found he was a huge Andre the Giant fan in the pre-WWE years, watching handicap matches on local New England programs. Years later, I discovered his little sister, my grandaunt Ida, was totally fascinated by muscle-bound Lex Luger and his trademark finisher "Torture Rack". I watched a lot of regional product, including Jose Lothario, a longtime NWA Texas Heavyweight champ (probably better known to WWE fans as an early Shawn Michaels manager), WCCW (with the Von Erichs and the Freebirds), and Mid-South (particularly tag teams Dibiase and Dr Death Steve Williams, Jake the Snake and (Nord) the Barbarian, and Sting and (in WWE) Ultimate Warrior). Of course, through the 80's and 90's, I followed WWF/WWE and WCW. I've sometimes followed other promotions, like TNA (until they ran into issues with cable programming) and Ring of Honor, but really haven't tracked the relatively new AEW, not covered in my cable package. So mostly this segment series follows WWE.I've been fascinated by how WWE has tried to work around the COVID-19 crisis. Now to explain the context, WWE has prided itself in sports entertainment as having no off-season, of constantly turning out new original content for decades. Part of the spectacle is crowd engagement. So in the aftermath of spreading social distancing policies, WWE suddenly felt the loss of a key revenue source, event gate receipts--and wrestler promo efforts are aimed at generating audience pops or heat. (Sometimes WWE has injected a dash of humor, like when Stone Cold Steve Austin was a guest (on 3/16, of course), delivering his promo to one of the announcers, holding up signs rating his soundbites. Of course, Austin ends up making the announcer eat a Stone Cold stunner.) So they've been canning matches in their empty Orlando performance center (in fact, I think all of this weekend's Wrestlemania matches over 2 nights were prerecorded as well as the typically highly-anticipated post-Wrestlemania RAW episode). They've been splicing in classic match footage in recent TV episodes of Raw and Smackdown; maybe that's because of somewhat reduced talent availability during the crisis. To me, old matches are already available via WWE Network, their premium Internet channel where this year's Wrestlemania will be telecast. It's not that entertaining to watch a match where you already know the outcome; it's like going to a mystery movie and the moviegoer behind you gives away the ending.
So Florida has been behind the curve implementing stay-at-home COVID-19 responses, but now that it has, the question is whether WWE can continue to staff talent at their Orlando facility. Travel to and from Orlando is more difficult for the wrestlers. I don't know if there are accommodations from stay at home, e.g., if they can house workers in the facility, erect trailers or other temporary living arrangements on-site. I think there's been speculation about booking cruises not subject to state laws. WWE insists that talent are tested for health conditions and talent have not tested positive for coronavirus. We have seen in the past arrangements for canning multiple weekly episodes per week, e.g., when TNA was experiencing financial issues, and I think WWE for the last few weeks has made a similar accommodation.
There have been persistent rumors that WWE might go on hiatus post-Wrestlemania. It's also possible that they've been canning matches over the past few weeks anticipating an interruption and continue as they have, using classic matches as filler material. My understanding is that RAW and Smackdown canned episodes later are pulling in weaker ratings so it's not a sustainable strategy. They are simply treading water until we see progress in the coronavirus crisis and the economy resumes some measure of normalcy.
The big match drawing the most attention has been Roman Reigns' challenge to new Universal champion Goldberg, who recently defeated Bray Wyatt/The Fiend. I've commented on this before; one of the problems with booking Reigns' character is that WWE never has been able to book Reigns convincingly as a babyface/good guy. It wasn't clear a feud with a relatively popular Wyatt would achieve the expected babyface rub. A part-time, relatively old (53) talent like Goldberg might be viewed as an undeserving champion, no doubt a placeholder to job at Wrestlemania. The theory is that Reigns beating heel Goldberg might get a babyface rub (I'm a skeptic; for one thing, Goldberg is a popular icon) Personally, after the immensely popular Shield faction with Rollins and Ambrose broke up, I would have probably recast Reigns as a Lone Ranger persona, say, The Vigilante, out to administer justice his own way in the ring.) It really wasn't clear why Reigns, without a belt, deserved to challenge Goldberg for the title. They could have had Reigns at least say, "I beat Lesnar at Summerslam for the WWE title after Lesnar beat your ass." But WWE never had, say, then new Intercontinental champ Braun Strowman argue for his right to challenge Wyatt (at least I didn't hear it) for the more prestigious title. Their storyline options narrowed when they recently had Strowman job the title to Sami Zahn in a handicap match and instead of a typical return match, WWE booked Zahn into a match with Daniel Bryan.
The problem is that Reigns, as most fans know, had to take a hiatus over a second battle with leukemia. As such, he is especially vulnerable to a COVID-19 infection and withdrew from his Wrestlemania match. The question was, how would they book his absence and replacement? As I recently tweeted, I would probably have written Bryan into a triple threat qualifying watch (inverting Wrestlemania 30). Rumors floated around about strongman Braun Strowman getting the nod. Of course, Strowman by virtue of his very size is a credible challenger to Goldberg, but there was no storyline. HHH hinted at a storyline, and I quickly suggested they would book an injury angle on Reigns and have Strowman win a #1 contenders battle royal. A pro wrestling website tweeted a possible angle with Strowman taking out Reigns, which might be later exposed by this new hacker gimmick (revealing Mandy Rose's tag team partner had schemed with Ziggler in screwing over Otis, who has a crush on Mandy) to get the shot. Of course, WWE could have booked Goldberg himself into the angle to put more heat on heel Goldberg.
But the point is you need a storyline that motivates an attack on Reigns. Of course, you have preexisting feuds like "King Corbin" who would be jealous at Reigns getting the rub, but losing the #1 contenders' match. You need to have some rationale for Strowman motivated to take out Reigns. Of course, Reign could have said something like Strowman's had his championship shots and blown them, didn't deserve a shot at Goldberg's title; he, on the other hand, has held the WWE championship. (They could "expose" this after the fact, of course. One thing is for sure: this would be a feud to book on Reigns' return after the COVID-19 absence.) Of course, given Strowman's past link as a member of the Wyatt family, it would be interesting to see Wyatt try to get into his former protege's head. And if Goldberg was behind the Reigns' injury, for Reigns, Goldberg's "next".
I haven't read others predicting match outcomes, but one rumor is Daniel Bryan will ease into a part-time role like Lesnar, Undertaker, Cena, and HHH. If true, Zahn should be booked into his first successful title defense. Clearly Goldberg will job. I expect Owens to get his Wrestlemania moment over Rollins. I think Lynch will be booked to lose her title (it would be interesting to see if Rousey is written into a revenge angle).
Trump, 3M and the COVID-19 Crisis
There are some things about Trump that pisses me off with white-hot rage; I thought about saving this for one of my rant format posts (I don't rule out a future related post). I really don't like Trump's bashing people or companies in general, including his wars with the media. But I really resent his populist attacks on Ford (e.g., here), Carrier (e.g., here), Apple (for government hacking into personal phones), and others too many to mention. He's bashed companies he thinks are offshoring manufacturing, etc.His current obsession is demanding corporate capitulation to open or upsize medical resource production in the COVID-19 crisis, using the Korea War-era Defense Production Act. For example, he's been bashing car companies to produce ventilators. 3M is coming under attack for not supplying more N-95 masks.
At first, I thought it was leftists attacking 3M, but add Trumpkins to the mix echoing Trump's bashing. Among other things, 3M is being "asked" to redirect masks made at its foreign facilities and being sold in those markets back to the US. There's even talk of an export ban on medical items.
Trade wars are batshit crazy in this crisis; Trump hasn't learned a damn thing. This idea that the US should steal protective gear saving lives in other countries also facing the COVID-19 crisis is beyond grossly immoral and counterproductive. Trump's moves will likely be matched by trading partners.
What Trump has failed to do in this crisis is to open up the government monopoly, e.g., COVID-19 diagnostic test, and relax the regulatory burden for expanding production during the crisis. He needs to focus on how government has or is fucking up and let the free market do what it does well without government intervention.
