The madness and overreaction continues in the US towards the latest offering from WWE creative. Jack Swagger's current on-screen "ultra-conservative" character is still causing a major stir within the media of the US political right, and in the few days has taken some interesting twists. Earlier this week I posted
this article, in which I discussed why the "right-wing" reaction to the Swagger angle in the US as ridiculous and completely out of touch with very idea of professional wrestling. The two personalities that were named on last Monday's edition of Monday night Raw by Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler, Alex Jones and Blaze TV host, Glenn Beck have both attacked the WWE on their separate platforms. In response comments made by Beck on his Blaze TV show last
Thursday, WWE.com released the following statement on Friday evening:
"Following his criticism over the portrayal of WWE Superstars Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter, WWE has extended a formal invitation to talk show host and political commentator Glenn Beck to appear on this weeks episode of Monday Night Raw.
WWEs invitation stems from Becks recent segment in which he discussed the ongoing rivalry between World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio, No. 1 contender Swagger and his self-styled mentor Colter. In the segment, Beck specifically directed his comments toward the character of Swagger, recently reinvented as a xenophobic Real American who delivers anti-immigration State of the Union addresses as the antagonist to the Mexican hero Del Rio. Beck inferred that Swaggers persona, along with that of Colter as his mentor, would offend WWEs conservative fan base. Beck also referenced WWE as stupid wrestling people in the segment, which aired Thursday on The Blaze TV. WWE is in the entertainment business, creating characters and stories that revolve around our Superstars as well as culturally significant current events. Given Mr. Becks comments, WWE is formally extending an invitation to him to address our 14 million weekly viewers and global fan base as well as the live audience of the WWE Universe on WWE programming this Monday night. We look forward to Mr. Becks reply and the opportunity to have him on Raw." http://youtu.be/u9_RcD6WMmM This was promptly followed by a "worked shoot" promo produced by WWE.com. The above video features Colter and Swagger breaking character as they speak directly to Beck. They respond to his comments, and explain how and why wrestling works. Long term fans will recall
Vince McMahon's promo to introduce the "Attitude Era", and this promo nearly follows that piece word-for-word at points. This was another attempt to explain how this business works to those who don't want to understand it. At the time of writing, Glenn Beck has responded to the WWEs challenge with following statement on his Twitter, Unfortunately I am currently booked doing anything else. This has topped all the items that I discussed in my earlier piece on the crazy overreaction scale. I must admit that I am thrilled to be a wrestling fan at moments like this. This is why I watch it; Jack Swagger, an underrated wrestler at the best of times, was a top search term on Yahoo on Friday. At one point holding the number one trending spot! And now he is the subject of these prolific men's media operations. We are mere weeks away from Wrestlemaina and this is more publicity than the WWE could have ever dreamt of. Two of the biggest names in the "liberty movement" are literally feuding with the company on their respective platforms, as if they were wrestlers themselves, Beck on his end, and Alex Jones on his radio show and website. Both have dedicated large segments of their shows to address the WWE's new character throughout the week. Personally, I am more entertained by this than the WWE show itself! The Wrestling Observer Newsletter and Wrestleview.com are now reporting that, "in addition to their invitation to Beck the WWE has also reached out to libertarian talk show personality Alex Jones to make an appearance at Wrestlemaina 29 in New Jersey. Jones was also mentioned on Raw, and some believe the Zeb Colter character a spoof of Jones and his public comments. Jones didn't confirm if he would do it." I honestly feel that Alex Jones will actually make the trip to New Jersey and appear at Wrestlemaina. If his recent appearance on
Piers Morgan and his infamous appearance on
The View are anything to go by, this will be incredible TV. However more importantly for the WWE, this will draw many casual fans to buy the show that want to see this train-wreck. Forget the Rock vs. Cena. This is the money angle right now! WWE must follow through on this, and no doubt more is still to come. Simply put, WWE creative have achieved a master-work! One viewing of Beck's "analysis" of the character will show the genius behind this angle, these pundits have no idea what they are talking about. He opens with "we avoid it like the plague" and then makes a few negative comments about the people who view it until the profound comment "some people think it's real." Well Mr. Beck you must be one of them, because you are buying into this kayfabe angle, totally! The video by the WWE, mentioned above, should highlight for all that this is a story, nothing more. Bravo WWE. You are now sitting on a goldmine!