Be a Star or Be a Bully?

September 5, 2013 Patrick Hickey Jr. Professional Wrestling 0

While it’s always hard to take a professional wrestling promotion seriously, the WWE hurt its legitimacy big time this past week when they continued a storyline that not only terrorizes their workers on live TV, it stops them from voicing workplace issues and degrades them for being individuals.

It even limits their success because of the way they look.

For a company that prides itself on their “Be a Star” anti-bullying campaign, this “storyline” is a disaster. The wrestling fans that watch see it as enjoyable. That’s because it is. The emotional journey that the Big Show and Daniel Bryan went on this week was something that hasn’t been seen on WWE programming in quite some time. It was dark. It definitely wasn’t PG. It was awesome.

So here’s the problem. Over the past decade, the WWE has made it their mission to cater to younger kids and make their product more family-friendly, but this storyline is not. If anything, this arc is the complete opposite of what the company should be doing if they want kids to watch.

It’s a known fact kids emulate what they see on TV, even if they have parents who put things into perspective for them. What kind of message is the WWE sending its young viewers by treating their employees like this on live TV? Even if its all kayfabe and a part of the show, ask yourselves this, are any of you preparing yourself for that conversation with your kid, you know the one where you tell them there’s no Easter Bunny, Santa Claus and that the WWE is fake?

Have any of you had that conversation yet?

The fact that the WWE blurs reality with well-written, relatable and close to non-fiction drama makes them even more responsible for what they put on their show. The fact of the matter is simple, the WWE has to make a decision- a real one when it comes to who their major demographic is children or adults. Right now, it appears their more lost in their own self-assessment than the Ultimate Warrior at a WCW contract signing.

This puts the company in the same situation they were in 20 years ago. Do they cut out the family-friendly stuff and go for a more rugged product? If they wish to continue this current storyline, the decision looks to be a simple one.

About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14263 Articles

Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

Be a Star or Be a Bully?

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