Crisis on Infinite Shows

Dear Wrestling,

So Jack Gallagher turned heel recently. A lot of my friends online are aghast at this--I'd say most are. My first impulse was to be delighted--he is, of course, as excellent at this as he is at everything else. I love seeing weirdos in particular excel. But it's been a week or two, and I've thought about it and I don't think I care for this after all.

My reasoning is this: In wrestling generally and WWE specifically, we're in a cultural trend of bad guys winning. One could liken it to the grimdark era of comics in the 80s. I mean, I'm new here and I can see it. It's hard to miss.

Wrestling sells itself as a kind of moralistic fantasy theatre. People watch wrestling, we are told, because they want to see clearly defined good guys and bad guys and they want to see the good guys win.

In WWE, not so much. Even the babiest of faces cheat or lie or are just dishonorable in some way...if they're on top.

Down in the gutter of 205Live*, art and magic still got to happen, hidden away from Sauron's/Vince's all-seeing eye. Or it did. We had Jack as a gentleman, honorable and true. We had Neville as a crazed king--crazed, but still adhering to his own code at least, bless him, and driven mad by his own excellence, if anything. We still have Mustafa for the moment, but for your health's sake, brace yourself.

Because now we have a Jack who has ignored the praise and admiration of the audience in order to prove himself to his enemy, on his enemy's terms. We have, sweet Thor save us, Enzo Amore as the cruiserweight champion. And so the patterns of the two bigger shows have crushed themselves down upon 205Live, like a stamp or a die.

The cruiserweights were our last holdout where good could triumph--or at least, at very least, it could stay itself. Jack's heel turn feels to me like the end of an era, however short it was. Now there is nowhere on wrestling's largest stage where someone can succeed simply by being good.**  And let me be clear: I think great stories can come from this orientation. I just don't think it should be the only one.

Autumn


*NB: I love the gutter. It's where all my favorite art happens.
**Until Kevin Owen's face turn. I believe KO can turn this trend and set things right.