(Photo: WWE.com)
Death is a tricky subject to tackle in the fantasy world of pro wrestling.
The death of a man named "Paul Bearer", who managed a superstar called The Undertaker, would prove to be an even trickier subject than most, as WWE tried to strike a balance on Monday between honoring the late performer, and using his memory to further a pro wrestling feud.
Raw opened with a tribute video to Paul Bearer, who passed away due to complications from a blood clot last week. The video, as with almost every WWE video package, was insanely well done.
What followed the video sparked some controversy.
The death of a man named "Paul Bearer", who managed a superstar called The Undertaker, would prove to be an even trickier subject than most, as WWE tried to strike a balance on Monday between honoring the late performer, and using his memory to further a pro wrestling feud.
Raw opened with a tribute video to Paul Bearer, who passed away due to complications from a blood clot last week. The video, as with almost every WWE video package, was insanely well done.
What followed the video sparked some controversy.
The Undertaker, a character who has achieved legendary status, in part, because of his supernatural gimmick that invokes the fear of death, came to the ring and paid tribute to Paul Bearer, whose spirit was represented by the urn that he used to carry with him when he served as Taker's manager. As absurd as all of this sounds, in the wrestling world, all of this was totally in context and made perfect sense.
But as Taker knelt in the ring, his WrestleMania opponent's music hit, and CM Punk entered the arena, telling Undertaker that he was sorry for his loss. Not the loss of Paul Bearer, but his impending loss at WrestleMania.
Many found the angle to be in poor taste. But some, including former WWE wrestler Lance Storm and former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas, noted that there was a clear delineation between the opening tribute video, which broke the fouth wall, and when the pro wrestling angle started. Korderas also noted on Twitter that had Undertaker, who had been managed by Paul Bearer in his first professional match, felt that the angle was in poor taste or disrespectful to his friend's memory, he would have nixed it.
It should be noted that Paul Bearer's real life sons were backstage at the show, and probably gave the WWE brass some assurance that their dad would have been fine with remaining a storyline character, even in death.
Perhaps I've seen too much of this sort of thing to be phased by it, but I didn't have a problem with the angle. In the past, particularly after Eddie Guerrero passed away, and when Jerry Lawler suffered a non-fatal heart attack late last year, I've been appalled at how WWE worked real-life tragedy into their fantasy world. Monday's angle never felt exploitave to me.
The angle was used to set up Kane (Paul's storyline son) vs. CM Punk in the main event of an otherwise unremarkable edition of Raw.
Kane scored a pinfall over Punk after a distraction from Undertaker, but Punk laid out Kane with the urn after the match, and escaped to torment Undertaker in the weeks to come, before their match on April 7.
Aside from another excellent video package hyping their main event match, The Rock and John Cena did not appear on the show. Given that theirs is a rematch from last year, and that they had an excellent verbal confrontation last week, I think that less is more with this angle. I feel as though I've already seen these guys insult each other in just about every way possible, so instead of doing any physicality or trying to force some creative angle, go ahead and let this one simmer for a while, perhaps even until The Rock returns to Raw on March 25.
Brock Lesnar did appear on the show to respond to Triple H's challenge from last week, and he laid out Hunter's former DX pals Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. Lesnar's mouthpiece, Paul Heyman, agreed to the match for Lesnar, provided Lesnar gets to choose the stipulation. Lesnar and Triple H are both scheduled for Raw next week in Pittsburgh, so expect some sort of storyline advancement there.
Video highlights from Raw, including an appearance by Halle Berry. Seriously:
But as Taker knelt in the ring, his WrestleMania opponent's music hit, and CM Punk entered the arena, telling Undertaker that he was sorry for his loss. Not the loss of Paul Bearer, but his impending loss at WrestleMania.
Many found the angle to be in poor taste. But some, including former WWE wrestler Lance Storm and former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas, noted that there was a clear delineation between the opening tribute video, which broke the fouth wall, and when the pro wrestling angle started. Korderas also noted on Twitter that had Undertaker, who had been managed by Paul Bearer in his first professional match, felt that the angle was in poor taste or disrespectful to his friend's memory, he would have nixed it.
It should be noted that Paul Bearer's real life sons were backstage at the show, and probably gave the WWE brass some assurance that their dad would have been fine with remaining a storyline character, even in death.
Perhaps I've seen too much of this sort of thing to be phased by it, but I didn't have a problem with the angle. In the past, particularly after Eddie Guerrero passed away, and when Jerry Lawler suffered a non-fatal heart attack late last year, I've been appalled at how WWE worked real-life tragedy into their fantasy world. Monday's angle never felt exploitave to me.
The angle was used to set up Kane (Paul's storyline son) vs. CM Punk in the main event of an otherwise unremarkable edition of Raw.
Kane scored a pinfall over Punk after a distraction from Undertaker, but Punk laid out Kane with the urn after the match, and escaped to torment Undertaker in the weeks to come, before their match on April 7.
Aside from another excellent video package hyping their main event match, The Rock and John Cena did not appear on the show. Given that theirs is a rematch from last year, and that they had an excellent verbal confrontation last week, I think that less is more with this angle. I feel as though I've already seen these guys insult each other in just about every way possible, so instead of doing any physicality or trying to force some creative angle, go ahead and let this one simmer for a while, perhaps even until The Rock returns to Raw on March 25.
Brock Lesnar did appear on the show to respond to Triple H's challenge from last week, and he laid out Hunter's former DX pals Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. Lesnar's mouthpiece, Paul Heyman, agreed to the match for Lesnar, provided Lesnar gets to choose the stipulation. Lesnar and Triple H are both scheduled for Raw next week in Pittsburgh, so expect some sort of storyline advancement there.
Video highlights from Raw, including an appearance by Halle Berry. Seriously:
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