WWE RAW – A Special Comment

I know, I know, I’ve been away for FAR too long.  Same excuse as usual, School.  However, I have been watching RAW regularly, I even watched Survivor Series.  However, I haven’t found time to write about it.  However, following this week’s RAW, there’s something that’s been bugging me that I wish to address.  I wanna talk about Role Models.

When I was growing up, Bret Hart was presented as the Face of the WWF, and was the resident role model of the company.  Millions of kids,myself included, looked up to Bret Hart as the way a person properly composes themselves.  As the WWF’s Role Model, Bret Hart ALWAYS acted with a sense of self-respect, honour, pride, and later in his career, patriotism.  When his much-acclaimed feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin culminated at WrestleMania 13, many call that match one of the most masterful double-turns in wrestling history.  Why did it work?  Going in, Bret Hart was the frustrated leader of the Old Guard, a beleaguered role model.  During the match, he started getting heavily jeered for beating the piss out of Stone Cold Steve Austin unmercifully, and actually held onto the Sharpshooter for so long, and made Austin lose so much blood, he passed out.  You know the whole story.

The point is, after that Match, Bret Hart officially stopped being a role model for millions of children (in the United States, which makes up the bulk of the WWF’s, and today’s WWE’s, market).  He was no longer presented as a figure of admiration and emulation, but someone that was to be despised and loathed.  I clearly recall in Acclaim’s WWF Warzone for the Nintendo 64, Vince McMahon claiming “Once a role model, Bret Hart is now DESPISED.”  That single, overly-aggressive beatdown on Steve Austin did what exactly what it was supposed to.

Flash forward to this past Monday Night, at the tail end of the show.  You know, when John Cena commenced that lengthy beatdown on Chris Jericho for mocking the fans?  Yeah, that one.

I think it’s safe to say that John Cena is a Role Model.  While most adults hate the guy for his overexposure, his basic skill, and his sophomoric character, millions of children LOVE him.  And why not?  He is constantly portrayed on TV as a role model for all the young kids to look up to.  Hell, just, what, 10 Minutes prior to the aforementioned Jericho Beatdown, he was SURROUNDED by young children and preteens whom he referred to as his ‘friends.’  10 minutes later, he’s beating the unholy piss out of someone — without anyone stopping him — for the sole reason that Jericho dared to say something John Cena did not like.  

Then, there beatdown itself was WAY TOO excessive.  A few punches and kicks, followed POSSIBLY by a FU would have been fine, but John Cena went on a RAMPAGE.  This is WWE’s top guy, the face of the company AND Role Model to many a young children not just defending himself, but actually using excessive force to a frightening degree.  From what I remember, the crowd actually got a little weird at the end of RAW, giving me the impression that they did not know if they were supposed to cheer or not.

So, what are Cena’s young fans supposed to take away with this display?  That it’s PERFECTLY fine to commit aggravated assault on someone just because they say something that you don’t like, AND that no one will stop you, because John Cena does it?  Run as many of those stupid “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME” ads as you want, hell, run a two-hour block of them if you want; the fact remains, millions of children just saw their Role Model and Hero commit a violent crime, and get away with it.  Furthermore, that Role Model of theirs is also a ‘RUCK FULES’ kind of guy, who doesn’t take kindly to authority figures telling them how to act.  I might be alone in thinking this, but this is a COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE message to send to children, and I think it should be a rather hard pill to swallow, if John Cena continues to maintain his Child-Friendly, Inspirational Character next week.

John Cena has only been back on Television for a week, and already I have a new degree of dislike for him.

-END.