The Corporation of the PG Era

The Corporation of the PG era

Remember the populist WWE “B A STAR” campaign? Remember its full form- “Show Tolerance And Respect”. Remember that it was an anti-bullying campaign. And finally, remember how haywire and hypocritical it seemed when Vickie Guerrero was insulted for being ‘fat’, by the babyfaces of the company like John Cena and Jerry Lawler?

WWE thinks that they take this campaign very seriously, but what happened in the final segment of RAW with Daniel Bryan is by all means in the vocabulary called a ‘bullying’. I think it’s kind of commendable on the WWE’s part to showcase the disrespect catered towards Bryan in the fictional world as a culmination of the respect and push he is being aligned for in the non-fictional backstage world. The McMahons return as the Corporation- the evil, abusive, dictatorial bosses who are obsessed with power which comes from doing what is ‘good for business’.

During the Attitude, Era Stone Cold and Vince McMahon played out the dichotomy of the blue collar worker and the evil boss to the highest levels of awesomeness. History might be set to repeat itself, as the baton seems to be passed on to Daniel Bryan and Triple H now. The Rock was once the ‘Corporate Champion’, which seems to be the role inhabited by Randy Orton. Couple that with the similarity in the popularity of Stone Cold’s ‘What’ chants, and the current flavour ‘Yes’ chants, and there we have a match.

This storyline has a lot of great potential, as each member of the current Corporation seems to be in their natural habitat – the heel habitat. It’s really easy for Triple H, Stephanie and Vince McMahon and Randy Orton to be naturally villainous. Their positions in the hierarchy of a capitalistic organization make it easier for them to be abhorred than adored.

I actually felt really bad for Bryan when he was thrown and tossed around outside the ring by the Shield, with the entire locker room stupidly watching on and that whole environment surrounded by the atrocious, power glare of the Mcmahons and Triple H. Bryan’s expressions were demanding of respect and sympathy at the same time, because he was clearly the underdog being made to look like he had fallen in-between a pack of hungry, drooling hyenas. This storyline has shown great character development and is still intriguing. I expect Bryan to get some other superstars as support. Potentially Dolph Ziggler.

The physique of a wrestler has always been of utmost importance for the WWE management, which has been noted by many superstars, and hence, incorporating this business reality into the fictional world will keep fans interested and intrigued as to what other realities might follow suit on live television. For now, let’s just hope that its Daniel Bryan’s time to shine like a brand new star, and his title pursuit and victory might be one of the most anticipated and desired outcomes. And I wish he gets the dreaded ratings system ticking upwards.

On the other hand, WWE might get some praise for their anti – bullying campaign by giving Darren Young a potential push after he came out about his sexuality, and combined with Daniel Bryan’s push, WWE might finally be having a campaign that people can believe in, and get absorbed some more to their product.