Hello Reader,
A few things have got me thinking what is the definition of professionalism in professional wrestling theses days; come with me while I explore those thoughts. As always; discussion in the comments section is encouraged and welcomed.
Cambridge dictionaries define professionalism as “the combination of all the qualities that are connected with trained and skilled people”; yet what does this truly mean? Like a lot of things in life; I guess it comes down to a personal interpretation mixed with the specifics of the field you’re talking about at the time. A professional actor could be defined as someone showing high level of skill in the field who does things the right way, such as knowing their lines and marks within a few days but having the skill to improvise convincingly when necessary, for example; while a professional sports person is usually defined as someone with a high enough skill level at their sport that they can make a living out of playing it.
In this writers view; the definition becomes very blurry when we talk about professional wrestling. There are performers who we view as great professionals as fans that the wrestling organizations don’t necessarily agree with us on and vice versa; it’s a problem that, in part, probably owes to the hybrid nature of professional wrestling as an industry as well as the traditions of Kayfabe. But it’s an interesting thing to ponder; so let us look at a few cases to see if we can get a little closer to the heart of the matter.
Let’s start with John Cena; a man who many fans, from an in ring perspective, do not regard as a great professional yet WWE feel is. I am not a Cena fan and probably never will be; for me, as a performer, you’re meant to evolve and get better at what you do and I don’t feel Cena has done that. His character is stale, his in ring repertoire is limited and, despite being in a position where, unlike most of his peers, he has huge influence over his career path, he seems happy to carry on regardless. But there are things I can’t fault the man for; namely his work for the Make A Wish Foundation and the tireless media work he does to promote WWE; those things, and the amount of merchandise he shifts, seem to be the reason WWE regard him so highly as a professional. For me it’s half right to call him a great professional for that side of his job; but the in ring aspect disqualifies him on the other hand. I listened to his recent interview on ‘The Steve Austin Show’ podcast and fount that, while he said a lot of the right things, he still doesn’t get the fact that his self-serving attitude is one of the major reasons that WWE has struggled to make new stars during his decade at the top of the business. We, as fans, know wrestling is not on the up and up; but we still want to suspend our disbelief and engage with the story of the match presented to us. The best way for that to happen is an air of realism to what we’re seeing play out in the ring; and Cena just standing up and hitting his five moves of doom like nothing has happened after the fiercest of assaults just destroys that. It also has a detrimental effect on his opponents who look ridiculous as a result; it then in turn kills any momentum the character had in time. Also never losing clean (honestly; I don’t think he’s had a clean loss since Summerslam) does just as much damage to the up and coming stars he faces; so, for me, to call this man an all-round professional is a joke.
“But;” I hear you say. “It’s not like this is a new thing for a top babyface to do; Hulk Hogan was doing it thirty years ago”. Yes, that’s true; but there’s a way to do it that Hogan got and Cena never has. Mostly, with a few notable exceptions (such as standing straight up after taking a Tombstone in their Survivor Series match in ’91), Hogan’s comebacks didn’t break disbelief in the way Cena’s do. Hogan would take a beating and sell (to the best of his limited ability) the effect of that beating; then, just as it seemed the heel would win he dug deep and kicked out. He was still selling the effects of those beatings at the start of his comebacks; drawing on the energy of his fans to eventually shake it off as he “hulked up”. Hogan, for all his other faults, understood the ring psychology aspect of wrestling in a way Cena never has or will; though nowhere near on a par with the likes of a Stone Cold or a Jake Roberts he was still leaps and bounds ahead of Cena in this aspect of his work. The amount of times I’ve seen Cena take a beating that would hospitalize a normal man, and that even Hogan would’ve sold for a bit during his comebacks, then just stand up like nothing had happened to him sickens me; and his apparent unwillingness to accept this as a reason why the roster has been thin on stars for a decade or so beggars belief.
For these reasons and my personal belief that a great wrestling performer has to work both sides of the coin (face and heel) convincingly I must disagree with WWE on this one; Cena, in my opinion, is a terrible professional.
I’ve gone back and forth on whether to talk about the CM Punk situation when deliberating what my next article will be about; I’m with most of you on this site that feel there’s too much coverage of the trivialities of his life since his walk out (there was a post the other day about someone picturing/seeing him taking a shower through his bathroom window for example; how is that news?) but I feel it’s time to pull on my size twelves and wade into this issue for the sake of this article. So advance apologies to those reading this who are sick of the amount of articles regarding it; but it is an interesting test case for this article.
There have been a lot of comments on this website about how it was unprofessional of him to just walk out of the company; too an extent I agree. But on the whole; I have to admit I’m on his side in this instance. Here is a guy who still is one of the top merchandise shifters despite the fact he hasn’t been on television since January; a guy who takes pride in his performance level and isn’t afraid of rocking the apple cart when presented with something he feels is beneath him. Does he come across as an arrogant and surly individual as a person to me? Yes; he does. But I can’t stand the musician Sting as a person yet it doesn’t stop The Police from being one of my favorite bands; and similarly I can put those feelings aside when viewing Punk as a wrestler.
I believe in the wrestling industry you have to have a large amount of self belief to succeed and Punk is a prime example of this; despite the crap and political nonsense thrown his way over the years he got himself over despite WWE’s apparent disinterest in him. His match work ranges from good to stellar, his mic work is top tier and he can play both sides of the coin; in my opinion he’s an asset to whatever company he works for.
But then we have the walkout situation; traditionally, with the old-school mantra that you finish up your bookings unless injured, it should be viewed as so. But, with Kayfabe now largely a thing of the past and the emphasis on protecting the business that it was invented for not necessary in the modern world, is it really?
Ask yourself this; if you were unhappy with the company you were working for and you felt they were taking liberties in they way they were treating you, what would you do? Would you carry on with it or would you express your feelings about the way you were being treated then, if the issue wasn’t resolved to your satisfaction, find a new job? I think most of you would; I know I certainly would.
Here is a guy that was on the road all year who you could sell tickets off of the fact he would be at the show; he was a commodity for WWE’s business. Yet, when the biggest show of the year roles around, he wasn’t in contention for anything more than a featured mid-card match; and the fact that, as it stood when he walked out, a part-timer who is friends with a top executive would be taking a spot he believed that, due to his status and the workload he had put in over the previous year, he should be considered for. Would you put up with a similar situation in your job? I doubt it.
Add in the fact that he had put over three part-timers in that year and was lined up to take on, and probably job to, another and this writer finds it hard to see how you can be against him in this; again, try to rationalize this in relation to your job and how it would make you feel.
But because this is wrestling it has been deemed unprofessional; & while I agree that it is on a level you cannot seriously view it as totally so when you factor in the other variables. Punk, unlike Cena, put people over clean, sold for and made his opponents look better; to me, that’s a model professional wrestler.
And now, I think, we hit the crux of the matter; professionalism in professional wrestling is dictated by the company you work for. I’m not the biggest TNA fan; but I struggle to remember backstage issues and their effects on the view of an individuals professionalism having as much of an effect on the career path of a TNA talent in the drastic, often ridiculous, way it does with WWE talents.
Dolph Ziggler is a good example of this for me; a year ago he was World Heavyweight Champion but has been consistently buried for most of the last year due to comments made in an interview that were deemed unprofessional. Yet, by most people’s qualification, he is a professional in the ring; a gifted athlete who sells for his opponent and puts them over. Yes you can argue about the personality and “it” factor aspect; but, based on his mic performance in the segment with Hugh Jackman the other night, you can also argue he hasn’t had the right opportunities to show us he has that.
I think what I’m trying to say, at the end of the day, is that professionalism is in the eye of the beholder; yet informed by certain markers and standards that are taken as the norm for the industry you are in. The problem in the modern wrestling industry is that the system is archaic and balanced too much in favor of the promotions; wrestlers need unionization and status as employees rather than independent contractors to stand any chance of avoiding the mine field that is what WWE deems as professional or not (something this writer is convinced changes on a whim from day to day). This probably won’t happen anytime soon if at all; so professional wrestlers, particularly those working for WWE, will forever have to walk an undefined tightrope of what’s professional until things change. And that isn’t exactly the best position to be in; whatever your walk of life.
Well; that’s my two-penny’s worth. What do you guys think?
Until next time
JJKH
