• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

WWE Opinion: Foley, Cena and Putting WWE's Anti-Bullying Campaign in Perspective

Posted: Mar 10th 2012 By: mikeiles

Former WWE Champion and hardcore legend Mick Foley recently found yet another reason to return to his trusty soap box. The unofficial conscience of pro wrestling and champion of the golden rule set his sights on John Cena and Zack Ryder for their unkind, yet in-character, taunts towards Eve?who added a fresh coat of she-devil following a heel turn a few weeks back on RAW.

Responding to fans on Twitter regarding the ongoing storyline between Zack Ryder and Eve, Foley said the following about whether or not Ryder should take Eve back:

Sorry, @LizBDecker, but @ZackRyder should take @EveMarieTorres back AND apologize for calling her that name. @JohnCena should apologize too. It?s important to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. @ZackRyder should just say #noski when it comes to using the word #hoeski.

Foley continued to channel his inner third-grade teacher by using the all-too-familiar but blatantly bastardized "Be-A-Star" defense.

"I wouldn?t be so uneasy with the name-calling if not for Be a Star and @JohnCena rising above hate. Mixed message,? he wrote in response to the following comment: ?How does John Cena accusing Eve of being a skank and of being diseased fit with the Be a Star campaign?"

Poor Mick. I read all three of his best-selling novels. His otherwise real-life brilliance was always sprinkled with a bit of naivety.

Naivety or not, it's actually difficult to argue against Foley's common sense stance on the WWE's insistence on having an anti-bullying campaign despite their affinity for public humiliation. But that's only assuming that one does not understand the very essence and art form that is the public service announcement.

As the creators of South Park so eloquently concluded on the episode "I'm a Little Bit Country" from season seven, America was built on saying one thing and doing another. The same hypocritical oath can be applied to the sports and entertainment conglomerate of the WWE.

Once a company as socially reckless as the WWE becomes a publicly traded entity, certain measures need to be taken to?at the very least?protect the embattled promotion from outside scrutiny.

Public service campaigns put on by the WWE are not company-wide epiphanies that will inspire Vince and friends to change for the better from the top down, but rather they are superficial window dressings designed to trick casual observers into thinking that pro wrestling is cleaning up its act in one way or another.

Take the infamous "Stand Up for the WWE" campaign that coincided with Linda McMahon's Senate run of 2010. McMahon and the WWE had deservedly come under attack for questionable television content and a business model that had proven to be deadly to its performers.

The WWE responded by asking its talents to proclaim the joy that is being a WWE "employee." Too tough for health insurance. Too strong for stability.

The majority of testimonials were conveniently delivered by the newer generation of WWE stars, which made them the equivalent of first-year Hydroxycut customers singing the product's praises despite the looming long-term effects sure to give them liver disease.

Almost on cue, midway through both McMahon's senate campaign and the "Stand Up for the WWE" initiative, former WWE employee Lance McNaught (Lance Cade) died.

Is it reasonable to believe that most of these current stars will be pro-WWE 15 years from now when they can't walk and most of their friends are dead? Absolutely not. But public service has never been about the big picture.

WWE legend and poster boy for Greek wrestling tragedy Jake "the Snake" Roberts was once featured on an anti-drug poster. The fact that the 80's-era WWF/E even participated in an anti-drug campaign is a circus of dark comedic irony in and of itself.

Those with an intimate enough knowledge of the wrestling business, like Mick Foley, can easily poke holes into the logic of a similarly hypocritical campaign like Be-A-Star.

But these hollow campaigns aren't designed to appease individuals like Mick Foley. The WWE is not scared of people who have in-depth knowledge of their product, because chances are people who know that much about wrestling aren't part of congress?the only establishment equipped to infiltrate WWE's Teflon coating.

When the WWE shoots a public service announcement with CM Punk telling you not to be a bully, before returning to RAW just in time for Punk to verbally extirpate interim general manager John Laurinaitis for being a boring and uncharismatic failure at life, any subsequent outrage from intuitive onlookers is best left suspended.

Just because the WWE is willing to spend money on product posturing does not mean they have actually realized the error of their ways. If anything, campaigns like Be-A-Star afford the WWE more leverage to relentlessly bully individuals like Jim Ross.

After all, who is going to complain about Jim Ross being bullied in the face of an anti-bullying campaign? A lifelong fan and member of the obliviously obscure Internet Wrestling Community, or a powerful political adversary? With all due respect to good ole' J.R., how many high-powered politicians even know what a Jim Ross is?

A 30-second public service spot is often enough to keep most critics at bay given the built-in disdain they already have for the over-the-top world of pro wrestling. Such disdain limits their viewing habits to cursory at best because, let's face it, this is pro wrestling for God's sake. It's ridiculous. Nothing about the stuff is real, right?

The WWE will continue to promote an environment where their superstars put down and demean when it sees fit, regardless of what you think it thinks about its own campaigns, or as I like to call them, social tax write-offs.

WWE's partnership with Be-A-Star is cut from the same cloth as "Don't try this at home." Sure, they'll tell their fanbase not to bully people, but in no way does that mean they have to take their own advice. These are professional bullies who get paid to emotionally denigrate individuals; just don't do it on the playground. Get it? Good.