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Welcome back to another week of Shooting for Heat. Before I get into this weeks topic, I have to say that in reference to last weeks column about the upcoming Samoa Joe Vs. Kurt Angle PPV match I was surprised by the amount of feedback I received that was overtly in agreement with my point of view. I hope for the sake of the business that TNA does well (and does the right thing) when Genesis comes around.
This week I’ll be taking a look at celebrities in wrestling, and more specifically, Kevin Federline, since he’s the most recent case in point.
Historically, wrestling has always tried to taken advantage when it comes to having the option of using celebrities on their programming. Sometimes it works out quite well (ala Mike Tyson & the WWF) and sometimes…well, sometimes it turns out so badly that it can help ruin the company in question (ala infamously former WCW Heavyweight Champion David Arquette).
More often than not, celebrity appearances in wrestling come and go without much fanfare or commotion. For every Kevin Federline situation, there are a dozen Mark Cuban-like appearances (The Dallas Mavericks owner who showed up and took an RKO).
Personally, I watch wrestling to see…gasp…wrestling, but I certainly grasp and understand the logic in using a celebrity to hopefully help draw attention to your promotion. In moderation, I have no issue with it at all in fact, especially if you’re actually able to parlay that publicity into something positive. However, when a celebrity is used as more than just a cheap pop, or as a temporary manager or referee at best, then I most certainly have a problem with it.
It’s no secret that Kevin Federline will be around for a while longer. Many would say that he’s been around too long already. In retrospect, I think it would have been best for him to have had just the one appearance on RAW where he showed up as Johnny Nitro’s guest (aiding the Nitro character as a heel), confronting John Cena and subsequently getting the FU. His appearance on RAW that night drew a lot of attention from the media and non-wrestling fans and provided a fun moment, despite most people’s aversion to Federline.
Of course, WWE has more in mind than just that one night with Federline, sadly, and it’s also now known that not only will he continue to be on RAW and annoy countless people both live and through the wonders of television, but he’ll be actually wrestling in a match against current WWE Champion, John Cena, on the New Year’s Day edition of RAW.
I can’t believe I just typed that sentence out. If you would have asked me 2 months ago if I would believe I’d see a Federline Vs. Cena match, I would have laughed at just the notion of it. Despite the obvious fact that physically he doesn’t visually match up to any wrestler at all, much less someone the stature of John Cena, Kevin Federline is infamous, not famous. There is a clear distinction between the two.
Back when the then WWF used Mike Tyson to garner attention, Mike Tyson was a hot topic in sports and obviously was and is quite famous. He had a very edgy persona, which they capitalized on. People wanted to see Mike Tyson, as evident by them paying out upwards of $50 per PPV boxing match to see the tarnished heavyweight in action. Amidst all of this, they never booked a match between him and Steve Austin, since logically that wouldn’t have went well, what with Tyson not being a wrestler and all (but obviously would have drew a lot of interest). Rather, they did the smart thing and created a conflict between him and Austin, positioned him with his then rival Shawn Michaels, and had him play the outside “enforcer†when Austin & Michaels finally had their Wrestlemania encounter. The result of Tyson’s involvement with the WWF then was outstandingly positive.
Fast forward to the topic at hand, Kevin Federline, and you can see the problems with the situation via contrast. Problem number one is that Federline isn’t popular or interesting as a celebrity himself. He’s infamous for being in a now failed marriage with Britney Spears, but he has no credibility to call his own. That’s pretty clear by the fact that his album debuted on Billboard at #151 (while Cena’s debuted at #15, despite him not being as well known as Federline). He can’t even get people to watch his shows when he gives the tickets away for free…yet this very same person is someone WWE will now spend time, money and energy on to build his eventual “match†with John Cena.
I’m sure they will draw some amount of extra attention and viewers for that night, since the match by then will be heavily hyped, but just the visual of the match alone has the possibility of hurting the credibility of John Cena, and that’s just another one of the many red flags that should have gone up in Connecticut when they came up with this idea.
I will say one thing positive about Kevin Federline though, the man has “world class†heel charisma and it translates well on TV, which came as a pleasant surprise to me. While I still wish and believe that his use on WWE programming should have just been limited to his fist night, if WWE is insistent on using him beyond that night (which is currently the case of course), I think he would make an excellent mouthpiece for a wrestler lacking in the ability to carry himself on the mic, at least in the short-term. In that case he would be able to help get someone else over, someone who actually will be around after his involvement comes to an end, and he wouldn’t have to hurt the credibility of any of the performers by getting in the ring. But alas, that’s not the case.
WWE has just 16 days, just over 2 weeks from the time I write this to effectively build interest in one of their “big 4†PPVs of the year(you know, the events that financially help drive the business), the Survivor Series on November 26th. On the other hand, they have nearly 2 months to build towards the freely televised RAW on New Year’s Day featuring Cena Vs. Federline. Something is quite wrong with that picture.
Ryan Rosenthal can be reached at Shooting4Heat@gmail.com.
