I believe in professional wrestling.
Like any other storytelling medium, the theater of pro-wrestling can inspire, enlighten, and unite. The transcendent power of a pro-wrestling match is best comprehended by those viewers caught in The Moment of Pop - that instant where the onlooker forgets what they're watching is staged and is inspired to rise to their feet or sink into their seat.
In that millisecond of purity, all contrivance fades.
Read MoreThe Steve Austin Show returned to the WWE Network following the June 1st episode of Monday Night Raw. While there weren’t many hard-hitting questions to be asked (as Austin stated in the open of the show), it was still a thoroughly entertaining exchange where Heyman and Austin spoke openly about some of the booking woes and performance issues that plague the WWE’s main roster. Austin seemed even less reserved this go-round, speaking candidly and critically about the misuse of the DDT and John Cena’s “wasted” Springboard Stunner. The intensity and the unapologetic way in which he spoke, eliciting a similar candidness from Paul Heyman, was a refreshing change of pace from Jericho’s friendly, occasionally meandering conversation with Stephanie McMahon a few weeks back.
Read MoreLately, SmackDown has existed as background noise in my house.
This has less to do with the quality of the show and more to do with the fact that Raw’s three-hours saturates the viewer. By the time SmackDown comes around to HuluPlus on Saturday, I’ve already seen a minimum of four hours of WWE “content” (usually more as a result of perusing the WWE Network and YouTube). There is no other television-narrative I devote that much time to. Every other show I watch is either twenty minutes a week or forty minutes a week. Like most, I occasionally binge-watch a show, but such shows are always focused on the same characters or the same, consistent narratives. The WWE has yet to catch on to the viewing patterns of today’s generation, and the fact that more and more audiences are responding to psychologically driven, serial narratives with relatable characters in interesting situations.
Read MoreNXT is the best product the WWE offers, and more than enough reason to become a Network Subscriber.
And I am by no means a WWE shill. I'm hesitant to even write the phrase "WWE Network" because it's become associated with such negativity in our collective fan-mind (something that needs to be corrected in the future as it is actually quite a positive). I write that NXT makes it worth it because I am a subscriber, and every Thursday (soon to be Wednesday) when I see what is essentially a one-hour, genuine professional wrestling pay-per-view produced by the WWE, I feel as though my investment is worthwhile and as though there is hope for the future of the company.
Read MoreJohn Cena has been the "top guy" in the WWE for over a decade.
This is an unprecedented run that has inspired legions of fans as much as it has inspired legions of detractors. The character, and the performer, will consistently elicit a strong reaction one way or the other, but his existence also leaves room for more complex reactions.
For example, my feelings about the character have evolved from 2005 (when I first became aware of Cena) to the time of this writing.
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