JG's Columns
Shock, Outrage, Jeff Hardy, and Something To Be Thankful For
By James Guttman
Nov 27, 2008 - 10:24 AM

In the United States each year, people give thanks for what they have. The holiday is called “Thanksgiving” because, well, that’s what you do.   Everyone has something different to be happy about.   We’re diverse.   Our opinions and blessings are up and down the spectrum.   Maybe you’re happy that you got a new nine bedroom house.   Maybe you’re happy that you didn’t need to have both your legs amputated.   Like I said, we all have different lives and different appreciations.

Remembering something like that will keep you from battering your head into the wall when you read an opinion online that you can’t possibly wrap your head around.   In this case, I’m talking about the Jeff Hardy situation and the massive amount of shock over it.

What’s so shocking?   Well, in case you missed it this week…or are one of the many people who barely watch wrestling anymore, Jeff was scheduled to appear at the Survivor Series in a Triple Threat main event match.   However, in an effort to put over the returning Edge as a major heel, World Wrestling Entertainment scripted an off-camera attack angle.   The WWE website reported that the Hardy boy was found in a local hotel stairwell and was rushed to the hospital.   You know.   No big whoop.

Well, except that it was a big whoop to some.   After all, Jeff Hardy is the poster child for “demons.”   “Demons” is the common name wrestling has found to refer to drugs.   Also, Jeff Hardy is the common name wrestling critics bring up when referring to drugs…even though there are plenty of guys out there who are far and away worse than him in that department.   Sadly for Hardy, he’s the one everyone thinks of first.   If drug usage were Life Cereal, Jeff is Mikey.   That’s just how he’s seen.

So lots of people assumed when WWE’s site “broke” the fake story that it was real and Hardy had overdosed on something.   People were worried.   Fans held their breath.  

Then they realized they were worked.

You remember getting worked, right?   It doesn’t happen much anymore.   The business used to be built on it.   In the days before the Internet, wrestlers would sell injuries for weeks in order to convince fans that what they saw was for real.   In 2008, with Pandora out of the box and the wizard exposed to be nothing more than Freddie Prinze Jr., fans are harder to trick.   They complain that they wish they could get worked more.   They point to classic wrestling shows and how much more fun it was to be surprised.   However, when they actually are tricked, they tend to lose their minds.

Now, I’m not letting WWE off the hook with this thing completely.   I get that some people were initially worried about the condition of their favorite high flyer.   There were a few people who figured it out early enough.   For others, it wasn’t until Matt Hardy’s terrible acting during his Survivor Series promo that truly showed them that they had nothing to worry about.  

What really got me though was the over-the-top reaction.   I mean, we’re dealing with an industry where grown men punch each other in the face repeatedly.   At its heart, wrestling is both violent and distasteful.   Even the kid friendly promotions are selling a product that involves one person physically beating someone else until they are ready to either submit or lay down for three full seconds.   We’re not dealing with tea parties here, folks.   You’re cheering on someone to hurt someone else.   That’s what wrestling is.

One particular part of the outrage that surprised me was how it was compared to the Chris Benoit situation.   After all, Benoit’s death was reported on the website.   Of course, that didn’t happen in a hotel…or a stairwell…and no one went to the hospital…oh, and it was real.

What gets me is that I routinely watch men knocking down women on WWE TV and no one is pointing out that Benoit was abusing his wife.

…Or when a wrestler sells a leg injury, no one freaks out about how Chris Candido passed away.

Know why?   Because it’s wrestling.   At its base, it’s a fantasy world scripted around a violent reality where things that may be life threatening in real life aren’t when done as part of the show.

WWE’s biggest error in all this has been to erase the line between reality and fantasy on their website.   I get that.   If the company had two websites – one for stories and one for real life issues – there wouldn’t be as much complaining.

Notice I said “as much complaining.”   People would still complain.   That’s the nature of not only the Web, but the world today.   There was once a time where there were two sides to every story.   Now there are a million sides.   Everyone has an opinion and for some that opinion involves reading into things so deeply that no one else would ever dream of doing the same.

What I’m trying to say is that this is all supposed to be entertaining.   Once you start picking apart motivations and searching for reasons to be offended, it takes away the entire allure.   In other words, stop picking apart every small detail and see if you like it more.   Chances are you will.   That holds true for anything in life.  

I can’t be the only one who gets it by now.  How many times do you have to be offended by World Wrestling Entertainment (and the industry in general) before realizing what it all is?   Sadly, distasteful stories are more the norm than the exception.

The fact that a company that scripted a promo following Eddie Guerrero’s death where Randy Orton claimed that “Eddie’s in hell” can offend you with an old-school injury angle three years later is mind blowing.   Doesn’t anyone get that the same people who worked for the company then are working there now?   Did you think they all went through personality transplants since 2005?  

If you have a friend who consistently no-shows your parties, how long would it take before you either stop inviting him or stopped being surprised when he doesn’t show up?   After a while, the fault is yours for not figuring out the true nature of the person you’re dealing with.   You either accept them for who they are or move on.   That’s it.   To express over-the-top outrage each time you’re left with uneaten guacamole dip and birthday cake is ridiculous.   Fool me once, shame on you.   Fool me twice, shame on me.   Fool me hundreds of times, shame on my own common sense logic.

So this year, eat your turkey, argue politics with family, and then settle down to watch some wrestling.   But if you’re going to be shocked and offended over something you could see or hear, it might be a better idea to watch football instead.

You’ll be thankful you did.