This is a response to Dominic Pellegrino’s entry found here:
http://mp743105.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/why-play-the-villain/
Dominic was talking about Brock Lesner being disrespectful to fans and it reminded me of a really great video I saw some time ago and had to share with anyone who may have not been so lucky to come across it.
Here we see none other than John Cena who wikipedia graciously refers to as “an American actor, hip hop musician, and professional wrestler.” I think any of us who have seen The Marine no that “actor” is loosely used here. What we see here is Cena “freestyle battling” a WWE wrestling fan in which he even makes a slight about the man being homosexual. The one underlying fact that seems apparent to me here is what makes all the difference: It is all fake. Staged. An act. I think the same can be said for Brock Lesner also, as this applies to all “professional Wrestling” such as the WWF, WCW, WWE etc. They create these rivalries and stage drama to create controversy and I think that just goes to show that being a “villain” definitely is attractive. They know thats what people like to see; who would want to watch their favorite massive pro wrestler hugging and complementing their fans? We want them to be mean and unapologetic, so that is what they give us.
Dominic said “we need the good guy to root for and the bad guy to hate,” but I think in the world of professional wrestling, it’s really all subjective as one fan’s villain is the other fan’s hero. My hope is that when it all comes down to it, they are all pretty nice guys just playing a role, but who knows; maybe the WWE is full of jerks looking for an outlet.
Thoughts anyone?
