Did WWE Cross A Line On Raw Last Night?
It's not just death WWE have been keen to exploit. The ongoing personal issues of their own employees have regularly been the source of on-screen stories, with few considerations for the better sensibilities of a fraught HR department. In 1998, Michael 'Road Warrior Hawk ' Hegstrand became the subject of ridicule for his very real struggles with alcohol abuse. At one point, Hegstrand threatened to commit suicide after scaling the Titantron, as tag partner Joe 'Animal' Laurinaitis attempted to talk him down. Unlike Charlotte's apparent consent, neither man had approved the angle.
Attitude's commitment to schlocky crash TV made a virtue of vulgarity. If a shocking segment might raise the rating, it was worth running - no matter how objectionable it was.
There was no justifiable reason for the tactic over a decade later, with WWE claiming to have cleaned their content.
On a June 2012 episode of Monday Night Raw, Vince McMahon contorted his face as he put on his best - or worst - Southern accent in outright mockery of Jim Ross' battle with Bell's Palsy. If anyone was tuning in just to see one of the company's most tenured employees being ridiculed, they were in the minority. The skit served just a single purpose: to amuse one man. Ethics didn't come into it.
And it's entirely possible that's the case today. The official bluster of a put upon spokesperson notwithstanding, there's an implicit and long-established understanding amongst talent that disapproval is a direct way to shorten career prospects. It's no coincidence the Road Warriors were out of the company just months after objecting to their offensive angle. The only wrong thing to say is "no".
The sad truth is, WWE couldn't cross the line with Ambrose's comments about cancer last night - they went beyond that line years ago. We had this same situation with the Reid Flair outrage: much furore in the immediate fallout, before everybody forgets about it until fresh crassness instigates a new round of hand-wringing. Heck, knowing the company, that'll be next week when they reintroduce God as an on-screen character.