AS I SEE IT 1/19: Reality, fantasy and a little about Obama

AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com

Well, people either loved or hated what I said last week.

I got responses all but referring to Vince McMahon as the anti-Christ. Those were kind of predictable.

Then I got one from a WWE troll (see... I don't think only TNA fans can be trolls) which referred to me as a "morbidly obese... blood mark" in love with indy wrestling (English translation: I promote CZW and IWA Mid-South on my PWBTS website, and don't have a waistline the size of Kate Moss) and am "again" picking on WWE. At the same time, he implied I'm kissing Gabe Sapolsky's ass by posting his blogs.

Maybe if he's going to attempt to ridicule me, he should make up your mind WHAT I am first. Am I a bloodmark or a "ROHbot"? Apparently both at the same time. Given that he's deduced I'm not skinny, he had to have seen me in person, which means he must be attending these same shows he seems to criticize me for. Insert your own joke here.

He DID get right that I love independent wrestling and promote Gabe Sapolsky's blog. Guilty as charged. I love independent wrestling and typically have more fun at indy shows than WWE or WCW shows over the years. I also plug Gabe's blog because I feel like it. He gave me a lot of enjoyment while he booked Ring of Honor, so I'm returning the favor. Pretty simple, really.

My guess is that our WWE troll's idea of a suitable punishment is tying me to an anthill and forcing me to watch WCW Thunder re-runs.

Beyond that, our troll should know that no matter how many names he calls me, Vince won't hire him. McMahon even fired Robert "Sgt. Slaughter" Remus and Ron Simmons this week...along with Mickie "Jay" Henson and Matt Cappotelli, both of whom have been out of action with medical issues....and Bob Holly. Hell, he fired his two limousine drivers.

That's all the cuts as of Sunday. Understandably, WWE didn't publicly "future endeavor" Matt Cappotelli on WWE.com. Public statements about releasing employ...er, independent contractors with brain cancer don't exactly do much for the image of a company that insists it treats its talent better than the depictions of Randy "The Ram" Robinson in the "The Wrestler". Actually, since WWE wrestlers have no medical insurance, and can be fired at whim...the depiction looks pretty damned accurate, if you ask me.

So along with the painful reality of real-life layoffs...there's Stephanie McMahon "firing" Chris Jericho in storyline on RAW this past week. I'm sure that'll make the 30,000 or so staff of Circuit City feel better when they turn on RAW. No doubt, of course, this is done to give us installment 3,213 of evil authority figure "Mister McMahon" beginning tonight. Oh joy. Profits down? Ratings not what we'd like them to be? I know, more McMahons on our TV set. That'll do it.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States tomorrow. May he be as President even some of what all Americans...and plenty of people around the planet hope and pray he will be as President. God knows the world could use it right now.

I watched the We Are One concert rerun last night on HBO. It's hard not to be at least a little hopeful when watching a concert and crowd that truly reflects America's diversity as opposed to the vision of America that was Washington the last eight years. This vision is one where we can feel stirred again by music and words representing America. At last for the next four years, we can start to believe those words again.

Until next time...

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If you have comments/questions, or if you'd like to add the AS I SEE IT column to your website, I can be reached by e-mail at bobmagee1@hotmail.com)