Some things never change with World Wrestling Entertainment. It might change in name, ownership, or creative direction. But there is one thing that will never change, and it’s that WWE is never wrong.
Do you remember when John Cena’s character was unbearable, with his terrible sense of humour, overt phoniness and poor in-ring work? Well, forget it. John Cena is the man who carried an entire industry on his back for two decades, bearing the burden of the fans until they became more mature and grateful for what he has done.
Also, he’s the greatest of all time. Well, it depends on when you ask. Since Hulk Hogan passed away, we have to pretend that wrestling was never popular before Hogan, and that wrestling would not exist if it wasn’t for him.
Every time the hardcore internet smart mark fans start complaining, just be patient. WWE gets proven right. Ten years after the fact. When the effects of those poor decisions are no longer felt.
Charlotte Flair’s newfound popularity is the latest example of this. For years, fans have pushed back against Charlotte’s push, thinking she lacked the charisma and consistency of other, more popular wrestlers. While no one could fault her in-ring abilities, fans felt it didn’t justify her multiple title reigns and enduring presence in the main event scene.
According to her own admission, her character did not resonate with the fans. She felt shallow; one could see she was trying hard to play a character she shared very little with.
Her entrance theme is symptomatic of why she could not get over. She enters the ring with a sped-up version of her father Ric Flair’s theme, which was taken from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
Charlotte’s presentation suffered from taking bits from her legendary father while removing what made it fun. Ric’s entrance was slow and epic. Charlotte’s is faster and bland. Ric meant it every time he said “Wooo”. Charlotte recites it. Ric was willing to make a goof of himself with his strutting and bumping. Charlotte never elevates her opponents and sabotages her own segments and matches with greener performers.
She finally got a chance to connect with the fans with her recent face run. Teaming with Alexa Bliss allows her to take a step back from the main event scene and compete for a midcard title.
She also gets to perform alongside Alexa Bliss, who remains beloved by the fans. Interacting with Bliss allows her to show more of her comedic side, more innocent side, as opposed to the stern demeanour she has been showing until now.
One might argue it took way too long, but better late than never. It takes courage and integrity to publicly acknowledge one’s mistakes and course-correct.
But that’s not the WWE way. Now is the time to remind fans of how wrong and cruel they’ve been.
Shortly before teaming with Bliss, Flair made the headlines for her Players’ Tribune article. The Players’ Tribune is a great place for athletes to tell their side of the story in a candid and introspective way. But Flair’s article was everything but that.
She wrote one of the most victimising stories ever published on this website, pretending fans didn’t like her for personal reasons, such as her age and looks, rather than purely wrestling reasons. She wrote about how hard it was for women her age to be accepted by fans, amalgamating her actual age and her TV age.
She conveniently forgot the part where she sabotaged her own segment with Tiffany Stratton, which made the fans boo her further.
Naturally, her subsequent approval by the fans proves she was right.
CM Punk pointed out when promoting WWE Unreal how the internet hardcore smart fans had parasocial relationships with wrestlers, using Charlotte as an example, relegating her backlash to a wrong perception of who she was.
One should be grateful for Punk reminding us fans that we don’t really know wrestlers. I’d have been tempted to say he only said it to defend himself after the backlash he got from backpedalling on his stance on Saudi Arabia.
A lot is said about WWE’s revisionism regarding the Monday night wars. Fans are adamant they can see through WWE’s lies, such as Austin becoming a main eventer immediately after his Austin 3:16 promo, or DX invading WCW Nitro with a tank (which I take as a joke, for what it’s worth).
Still, the fans’ discourse remains strongly influenced by WWE’s choices, especially when it concerns performers who’ve been in WWE for years.
