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THE CYNICAL VIEW LOOKS AT CHRIS JERICHO'S RETURN, SPOILED WRESTLING FANS AND MUCH MORE

The Cynical View

We Can’t be Saved, it seems

                                                    By Michael Campbell

Welcome back to “The Cynical View”, and I must say, I’m all excited in ways that unsure schoolboys at George Michael concerts only usually experience, as one of my favourite grapplers, Chris Jericho has returned to television. After several shows lacking a little bit of the Ayatollah of Rock an Rolla, despite what the WWE’s promotional machine suggested, he finally made his long-awaited return. But I’ve been somewhat irritated by some of the responses Y2J’s return has encouraged. You’d think we would all just be happy to have the guy on our screens. But that hasn’t been he overwhelming response. Instead, it’s been a mixed reaction.

You’re all horribly spoiled.

Flair, Edge, and Jericho, all within the space of a week? You lot… WE are all spoiled.

Okay, so WWE’s promotion and execution of the return of the Sexy Beast, Chris Jericho, was far from perfect. But it was also far from a flop. And Jericho is back, into an instant feud (which I imagine they’ll find a way of holding off on until Rumble time at least) and a fresh baby face for fans to enjoy. Isn’t that what’s important? Here’s a guy, who for over two years, a large number of fans clamoured for. A guy who never quite had the opportunity at the top, to become the crossover star I always felt he could be. And he has returned, and has no reason to not be every bit as entertaining as he was before, with the additionally benefit of being completely new and different.

I have to admit, I have had mixed feelings on the whole Save Us angle. At the beginning, it was ingeniously well done. Then we figured out it was Jericho. Even before this, rumours were swirling anyways. But it was no big deal, because the WWE (who belief the internet fans are a small minority of their audience), had hyped it as a code to be broken . The clues were there, it was blatantly obvious it related to Jericho, even without prior knowledge that he was perhaps returning, and they should have been happy, the “small” audience of “Smart” fans, were so excited. Instead, they acted like they’d been ripped off, and behaved like spoiled children, irate that we uncovered the secret. Surely that it was “solved”, was a good thing? Surely they wanted us to believe it was Jericho, and then we he did return, there would be, by their estimation, a small pocket of fans creating a knowledge buzz to go with the casual fans interest. Did they want this to be a complete and utter surprise? If that’s the case, they should have provided far more ambiguous clues.

Instead, as we’ve all heard, Stephanie threw a hissy fit, apparently believing that we are still in 1984, and that we should act accordingly. This completely is at odds of course with the WWE’s view of their fan-base. According to them, the Internet accounts for a very tiny minority of their audience. That is true to some degree (less and less I might add) , but if so, then why care so much, that the Internet had became aware of their plans? If the WWE’s estimates are correct, it shouldn’t have mattered what the net fans were to say, as it would not spoil it for the majority. But the WWE took their usual high-road approach, which was completely pointless, when viewed in their own terms. Thus, this all led to Jericho’s return becoming a tool for a ratings spike, at the request of the network. That in itself , I really don’t have a problem with, but for me, the way in which they handled the altered plans, was poor. It was treated as, no longer a surprise, but a half-advertised attempt to boost ratings. 

At this point, the debate is as to whether he was originally going to return at Cyber Sunday, or the plan was never for him to comeback until around now. The release of WWE magazine, a week before the debut, with the Jericho cover, pretty much confirmed that the likelihood was, his return was postponed. WWE’s attitude really detracted from the excitement of the Smart fans, in my estimation, many of whom simply became frustrated waiting. Instead of being excited, there was a distinctly cynical attitude, from fans who believed at this point, no matter how he returned, it would be a disappointment. 

But by in large, the promo videos were all intriguing and well done. They did the job they were designed to do, and were only at their least effective when they gave it away altogether, last week, with the words, “Break the walls” down. Most people however, seemed happy with them. They could have been used a lot more effectively, and a great deal more in tune with modern technology, but still, they were a memorisable idea.

With Jericho’s actual return though, it seems it is impossible to please everyone.

The most annoying complaint I’ve heard, is about his size. Are you serious? He’s too small? Jericho, has always been one of the smaller guys in the top end of the business, and yet, one of the most entertaining. His size is only a problem if he is pushed in an Andre the Giant gimmick. He isn’t. He’s Jericho, and has always wrestled with a lucha/Junior influence, and that’s what works for him. To complain about his physique (which is impressive) is to be a complete hypocrite, in a day and age in which we need to be supporting wrestlers who aren’t roided to the gills. It’s difficult to emphasize how today, it’s so crucial that wrestling presents positive role models, characters, and “athletes”, who have natural bodies. How can the business be cleaned up, if we’re negative towards anyone who doesn’t a physique like the Ultimate Warrior? If that’s your opinion, shame on you! The less guys that look like Lashley, the healthier the business will be, but that’s gonna require a long process of us rethinking our idea of what a “superstar” should look like.

Others have complained about his look. Jericho has always looked cheesy. It works for him, either as a heel or face. There’s a huge audience out there, who have empathy for a “Rock star” like Jericho, just as much as there is an audience for a forty-plus Christian with a ridiculous bald patch. He could get more mainstream friendly threads like Batista, or Randy Orton I guess, who needs variety? The point is, Jericho, like almost anyone else, works better, and is more convincing and entertaining, when he is onscreen, an extension of himself. His look is part of that. Don’t like spangly waist-coats and shiny trousers? Fine, cheer Trevor Murdoch, or Edge, or Elijah Burke.

As for the actual return, as a piece of television, it was very good. Much has been made of the rubbish camera work throughout this, online, and it is a ridiculous issue for a company like the WWE to have. But it didn’t detract from a quality, entertaining promo, and a definite sense of anticipation for the future. Some argued he should have beat Orton up in the ring, which I disagree with strongly. What happened to patience and build-up? A main eventer, who hasn’t been seen in around 27 months, has resurfaced! He didn’t need to do anything last night, other than simply be there. There is plenty of time for the rest of the meal…….. don’t be so greedy! If he had attacked Orton, we would have lost a basic part of “the chase”, a time-honoured tradition of having to wait, before the face gets his hands on a heel. Raw is on every friggin’ week, surely after two years, we can wait a matter of weeks for some actual action from the guy? I’m pretty sure, for newer fans, the whole arrival came of as a huge deal.

Anyways, Jericho looked super-enthusiastic, and delivered a solid bit of stick-work. I for one, particularly enjoyed the line about Orton’s “child-bearing hips”. It was classic Jericho, just like the promos that made me enjoy him in the first place. 

What was probably not the greatest idea, was on holding this return where they did. Fort Lauderdale was not the hottest pro-wrestling crowd I’ve ever seen, and in fact, were a mite unresponsive throughout the evening. I would have waited until they were in a really big wrestling state, like New York, or Chicago, Boston, or hell, Canada. Somewhere were there is genuinely emotional reactions, that translate on television. The crowd here were somewhat flat. Was there a buzz that grew all night? No, the fans were simply waiting for the return to occur. That’s nothing to do with Jericho, and entirely to do with the build-up, and location.

In other words, Y2J’s long-awaited return worked just fine for me. It was a great, exhilarating moment, that hinted at what was to come. Most importantly, it made me want to tune in next week. Hopefully, the WWE manage to let his character grow organically, and don’t force him into scenarios that folks don’t want to see him in. Hopefully, they don’t drop the ball, which they so threatened to do with his return. Give ‘em a chance eh?

As a side-note on Raw, I had to mention the terrible looking botch during the Divas tag match. I’ve said it before… these women (in this case, at least two-out-of-three involved) are not prepared for matches on live-television. The WWE needs to completely up-end their approach to Women’s training and presentation, or the next Candice-style incident could be extremely unsavoury.

Thanks for reading this nonsense. If you have any comments/questions/queries/or anything to say, get in touch at bazilalfonso@hotmail.com, whether you agree/disagree/hate me, or whatever if may be, I welcome all correspondence. Thanks again!

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