Oh buddy, what a day of mail from the wrasslin’ fans. The funniest part of the mail call was that people called me an idiot, then followed that up by affirming exactly the point I was making. I love it when that happens.
Oh, here’s a link to the piece.
Let’s start with Ryan.
BomaniIt’s writers like you how keep people watching the WWE. But the wise crack about Katrina. Please don’t you have any morals. You should be ashamed. Let the people decide what there going to watch. I turn to espn.com for sports news not smearing the WWE. I know that your working for espn and want everybody to watch Monday Night Football. Let the people make their choice. And just stay to reporting sports. Not creating it. But because the WWE has been successfull doesn’t mean you can become a WWE Writer oh wait you just did. For shame. So why don’t you take your column. Turn it side ways and stick it up your nose. If you smell what the WWE is cookin.
Most interesting were the people that took offense to the line about Hurricane Katrina. They couldn’t believe that I would make light of Katrina, which means they totally missed the point. I was saying that the WWE would, and there’s a track record to show that McMahon has so few scruples that even dissin’ storm victims would be possible. Too bad it’s not possible for Ryan to write a complete sentence.
And maybe Ryan should talk to James.
Good take on WWE being affected by the MNF move to cable. I read this line from your column and I shook my head, wishing it were true: “Not even the WWE would make jokes about Katrina.“
Actually, WWE did make an off-color Katrina reference on the Raw broadcast a few weeks ago on August 28. When Umaga came to the ring to attack an opponent, there was a comment made that a “Katrina-like tragedy” is about to occur. Sad, but true. Take care.
Mark also struggles with English.
dude u suck vince mcmahon’s dick and you lick his asshole u jackass thay get better rating then you dam u are so jealous of the wwe and vince mcmahon
Another dude named James is no fan, either.
Your recent column was the heighth of dumb. I am now dumber for having read it.Thanks for wasting three mintues of my life.
I am a fan of sports, all sports that take athletic ability, desire, and a will to win. Let me say that I am not a fan of Professional Wrestling. I can respect the creativity and skill these performers have. However I can not and will not respect the column you wrote making a childish attempt to ridicule Vince McMahon. It reminded me of a 9 year old child putting down another 9 year old in the playground. All this 9 year old is doing is trying to make them self look good, while hurting someone else. We all know Monday Night Football will have a large share of viewers. As a journalist Mr. Jones you acting like a child will not bring any extra viewers to the show and it did not show any integrity. After reading the tasteless column you proved to be someone who jumped right into the bottom of the sewer, as you swim looking up at Vince McMahon.
I’m a very loyal reader of ESPN.com and enjoy reading articles from the many columnists. But thanks to your jealousy and ridiculous article towards Professional wrestling, I’ll make sure to not read anything of yours again. You are messing with a community of fans that you don’t want to. Many emails and calls will definitely make it to espn and they will all concern you and your ignorance. I’m sure you’re one of the people that bash wrestling and don’t call it a sport, yet you’ll write about it on ESPN.com. You are an idiot and a moron, but I guess I should expect that from your type of people.
But at least Damian got it.
It is no secret that ABC/Go Network and Vince McMahon have been in competition for quite some time now. But as you said, that was when non-cable viewers had no choice as what to watch. The move by Monday Night Football to ESPN (in addition to being steeped in greed) puts the Go Newtwork in direct competition with their "wrasslin' wrival" Vince McMahon (and yes the dual W's are intentional). I write this email to simply thank you for this line: "But just as important was making the WWE's story lines -- which historically were steeped in racism, vulgarity and the objectification of women -- more tawdry and tasteless than they already were." The "racism" in that line is what I want to focus on. The average Joe doesn't seem to grasp the racist history of the United States; it serves as no surprise such "institutional racism" would seep into 'professional' wrestling. The last Black (not 'minority) champion before the current waste of TV time Booker T was a man by the name of Ron Simmons, the Florida State All-American. And that was in McMahon's competition WCW; McMahon had nothing to do with that. Now, in 2001 WCW tried Booker T as champion, but by then their ratings were lower than low; they were done. So, thank you whoever you are for pointing out the obvious.
Happy Tuesday!
16 Comments
by Mike Gibbons
Some people need to lighten up. So what if Bomani poked fun at wrestling. Big deal. It’s not that serious. There’s better, bigger things to worry about in this world.
by Tim
Way too easy to draw up a wrastlin’ viewer stereotype from the majority of that hate mail directed your way.
Good piece, by the way. It both entertained and pointed out how little I know about the current/latest WWE characters.
Something tells me that I’ll survive!
Damn those ‘horns on Saturday! Limas Sweed… watch out for that kid!
by Kirk
“If you smell what the WWE is cookin”
I knew it was only a matter of time before some knuckle-dragging troglodyte busted out one of his favorite wrasslin’ catchphrases. If quoting the Rock in an email isn’t enough to prove you’re a moron, then nothing is.
THIS is why brothers and sisters aren’t allowed to breed.
by ETS
LOLOLOL. I’m sorry but the nonsense that Mark wrote was hilarious! What is he, a 10 year old?! It must be great to know that so many people read your work and are passionate enough about it to write.
by DP
nice article about WWE. Wrestling has always been a guilty pleasure. The athleticism is stunning and the plot twists can be mildly amusing. I swore off soap operas, so this fills a void. thanks to the magic of DVR, I get to watch it and FF through the dumbstuff. cuts two hours down to like 45 min tops.
Occasionally, there is a rare mic man who can really spout a good one liner and as a writer, I can appreciate that.
HOWEVER…there is this new tag-team called crymetyme they are hyping up
Two brothas in bulletproof vests…It is truly mindboggling how over the line these two characters are.
by Big Walt
One of the advantages of being a broke rural white kid may have been having the knowledge that Vince McMahon said nigga on TV and it wasn’t censored.
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Dammit baba…we done created a monster….oh well Mother Made Them..and I think you know the rest…
by Arouna Davies Jr.
Bo, I thought I would get on your blog for a second. Great webpage by the way. I would also like to refute the comment about Bomani being an idiot. He has wealth in his material and from the past I’ve known him to be a great writer. I can’t believe all these people are getting stirred up over the WWE. Forget them if they can’t take a joke.
by Jarrett
In a cruel twist of fate, former WWF Tag Team Champions the Bushwackers, have been tabbed by ESPN to work the sidelines on Monday Night Football.
by Kirk
Until the 1st time Cousin Luke drunkenly turns to Suzy Kolber and says, in a Namath-esque fashion, “I wanna lick the top of your head.”
At which point, they’ll be replaced with Strike Force, if for no other reason than Tito Santana could use the money.
by Stephanie
I didn’t know that HEIGHTH was a word.
by Dame
I’m just gonna’ go ahead and take credit for Damian’s commentary.
That’s what 90% of people call me anyway..
Day-Men
by Chris Morris
Mr. Jones,
I respect your column and you as a writer but your totally wrong. WWE RAW is a 52 week all year long production; whereas NFL MNF is only 16 weeks. Its soo funny, the last time someone made Vince mad, he put them out of business with his Wrestling show. Vince knows wrestling and he can compete with MNF sooner or later. If ESPN starts up anything, just like WCW did in 1995 then watch WWE RAW to dominate in ratings Monday Night. Its not War yet, but people like you can escalate it. Your probably a Nazi liberal democrat who loves gay people RIGHT? RIGHT!
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
Just as Sam Jackson asked in Coming to America..
“Who in the fuck is this asshole?”
Although Raw does run 52 weeks, used to be 50 back in the gap on the first time on the USA Network (ironically owned by NBC)….Vinny Mac knows he does not have the resources to compete with the NFL.
Buildup to WWE’s two biggest PPV Events -Wrestlemania and Summer Slam- run unopposed to any other major U.S. sporting event.
I wonder how the buyrates for these next few PPVs during football season, especially those just for the Raw brand, will be during football season.
The NFL is not WCW, the business gangsta of the NFL is not one to be sullied by comparing it to that former branch of AOL-Time Warner. Shid just the TV deal the NFL got with ESPN alone probably is just as much Vince got.
Vince does not want to go to war with the NFL. Ask ESPN and the makers of the show “Playmakers”.
by Kirk
Fred, you know this is a lost cause. Think about the people you’re trying to reason with. Let Chris and his Uncle Dad hold on to the absurd idea that wrasslin’ is gonna bury the NFL. You’ll lose years of your life arguing if you don’t.
Oh, Chris: “Your probably a Nazi liberal democrat who loves gay people…”
You better damn well hope he is. There isn’t a sport or sport-related industry on the planet steeped in more homoeroticism than wrasslin. Unless, of course, it’s normal to be squat humping oiled up 350 lb. men in rubber underwear and I just didn’t know it.
by Fred Batiste, A Weapon of Mass Destruction
I know Kirk, but he come dropping that Limbaughish, Fox Newsish line into my boy Web site…It just marks a sad day in cyberdom…It means that dumb asses can actually use a computer …and as we all know..dumb asses and technology are a recipie for disaster…i