Not Getting Heat, But Getting Paid

Dear Sami,

How long did I last that time? Almost a week? Yeah, I suck.

Transcript of Simon Grimm from the Tight and Fights podcast:

"Also, I'm just going to take a minute to say this even though it's completely unrelated to anything: How awful was that segment on Monday with [hosts groan in agony]...[clip of Sami's Incomprehensible Choices segment]

"I'm not letting that one go, because I wanted to talk about it. Let me just...So...one of the big issues that happens in wrestling is, we're trying to get heat. This goes back to what I was saying about a lot of the archaic ideologies that we have in wrestling still. We want to get heat, we want you to boo our bad guys and we want you to cheer our good guys. We want you to get heat if you're a heel. Okay, the first problem with that segment is, it was intended to be funny. You're supposed to not like Sami Zayn for doing that, so right off the bat, it's a failure, because you're presenting it as comedy. Secondly, if your goal is to make people boo Sami, how is him marching out clearly three men in drag and claiming they're Bobby Lashley's sisters going--like, this isn't 1983!"

"You know a lot of people use the phrase killing the business nowadays? Um, you know, Kenny Omega kills the business because he wrestled a blowup doll in Japan, or the Young Bucks kill the business because they throw 30 super kicks. You know what kills the business? Kamala."

"Kamala kills the business because as recently as the mid 90's, we had a black man on national television dressed up as a faux African 'savage' hailing from the 'dark continent'. That is something that when you are not a wrestling fan, and you see, you go, "Wow, this is every horrible thing I ever heard about. This is lowbrow, unintelligent, garbage entertainment for the stupidest of the stupid, racist, homophobic, whatever, redneck guys. Those are the only people that watch this. When you do something like the Bobby Lashley sisters so to speak, you're not getting Sami Zayn any heat, 'cause even then the audience is aware that this is a creative decision. The audience doesn't think Sami Zayn came up with this." .

[Mike:] "It doesn't even line up with his character they've presented on screen."

[Danielle, fiercely:] "Not even a little!"

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So what should we think? There are two option I can see: you were always faking being a good person, as a way to get...fans? Social credit? Women, maybe? Who knows? Given Big Larry, it's definitely a possibility.

Or, there was always a price tag attached to us. X amount of dollars, fans/reputation/previous 16 years worth of work happily thrown under the bus.

If working there is worth this because hearts are idiots and love what they love, please--I get that. My heart is definitely being a real dickbag right now--apathy toward you would be infinitely less painful.

Are we not people, though, that we deserve some tiny explanation of why you'd suddenly treat us this way? Your life is yours, I'd never want you to tell us everything. I'm not even asking all 280 characters on twitter: "Yep, money." "It's my job." "I can't disappoint my family." "I take almost all the cash and send it to save lives."

There are any number of reasons that would get me wholeheartedly on board.

In my philosophy classes, one of the refrains was, "Stick to the text." There were always a few to several kids who'd read Nietzsche, or more Plato, or whatever, and they wanted to bring that in to prove whatever point. But that's not playing fair, to the other students who haven't read that, or to the text itself--after all, how many theses are written about the 'contradictions' and changes in Plato alone?

So we stick to the text. We only go by what we can see and prove here. The text here, that is causing me so much pain, is:

Sami Zayn performed a racist and transphobic segment.

The guy he is at home agreed to do this.

There was a massive outcry, from all kinds of fans, including trans ones like me.

We have received no word from the guy at home.

We have received word from Sami Zayn that he doesn't give a shit about the harm he may have done.

We know he is paid more in a year to do this than I will be paid in any ten years of my life, and that he wasn't before he worked for this company--and that Big Larry aside, he never didn't anything close to this, then.

So, Sami, if you or that other guy would like to add something to the text, that would be terribly decent of you.


Thanking the Tao I'm a poor freak who'll never have the opportunity to fail people like this,

Autumn