Friday 4 September 2015

WWE hit with more controversy and my opinions on both cases.

So its been a bit of a rocky time in the world of wrestling recently, we have had the whole Hulk Hogan erased from history due to racism situation, we have had the death of two legends Dusty Rhodes the American Dream, and Hot Rod Rowdy Roddy Piper and now two new pieces of news have been dropped on us.

The first which I am not going to go into much detail about is the fact that Zahra Schreiber, the girlfriend of WWE superstar Seth Rollins, has been fired from the organization because of pro-Nazi artwork she posted on her Instagram account back in 2012 including a My Little Pony with a Hitler Moustache and a Nazi style red arm band sporting a Swastika. Now I know once something is up online you have kind of shot it, as soon as her remarks and drawings were posted someone will have took screen captures and showed them to someone else and posted them to various forums after all this is how I was first shown what she had posted. A friend of mine sent me a link for a forum where her postings had been pasted and were being discussed. Now if anyone in the locker room had any racist skeletons in there closet you would think that when the WWE cut Hogan they would have at first panic'd and secondly would have gone in to damage control mode because if the WWE is willing to cut the immortal cash cow legend Hulk Hogan despite all of the events he has headlined all of the money his merchandise brings in then you can bet if your an NXT rookie or a mid carder then your butt will fly out of that company like there's a rocket up it.

At the end of the day and I dont mean this in a sexist way but Schreiber was basically just developmental talent, I think the more important part of this story is wether or not it has effected Seth Rollins standing in the company, after all he is currently holding on to championship gold. I do wonder if the WWE have had a little whisper in Seth Rollins ear, after all he was supporting her online as can be seen in some of the screen captures of what was said . Personally I would want to get him out of the limelight for awile and I would also want to make sure that he is well aware of the lines he has to walk within the company and to this end I would have Sting beat him at Night Of Champions and cleanly take the belt. Sting has not been allowed to really win anything or make any impact in the WWE yet to the point that its annoying people, so give the man some gold and a convincing win. Yes Sheamus has the money in the bank briefcase but I would argue for a much better angle than him simply cashing it that night, I have something new and and fresh. Have Sheamus come down to the ring straight away after the match have him have the briefcase in hand so everyone thinks he is going to use it and then have him talk to Sting, tell Sting that he respects him and that he doesn't want to win the belt by beating a tired man after theyve had another match he wants the chance to take on the new champion when he is at his best, he wants to face him with pride and honour and wants to trade the briefcase for a guaranteed match at a future agreed time.

Just like with Hogan this can be called a case of someone's past coming back to bite them in the ass and the same could be said about the next thing I am going to talk about as well. James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith) AKA Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka was arrested On September the 1st 2015, 32 years after the incident for which he was being arrested had happened. Now some will know who he is because they grew up with him, some will also not be too surprised by this arrest if they know about his history but for those less familiar I will explain a few things. Snuka rose to fame in the 1980s as a high-flying wrestler in what was then known as the WWF. he was involved in the main event of the original Wrestlmania being in the corner of Hulk Hogan and Mr T. He had a big career himself but he has also been involved in angels which have meant a lot to other characters development, Piper smashed a Coconut over his head for example and beating Snuka at WrestleMania VII was the beginning of The Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleManias.

On the night of 10 May 1983, paramedics responding to an emergency call from Snuka arrived at a hotel to find his girlfriend Nancy Argentino unresponsive. She was transported to Allentown's Sacred Heart Medical Centre, where she soon unfortunately died at the young age of 23 due to "undetermined craniocerebral injuries.",. When the coroner's report was released it stated that she had died of traumatic brain injuries which were consistent with a moving head striking a stationary object. The Autopsy also indicated that her body was coverd with more than two dozen cuts and bruises and indicated that these were possibly a sign of having an abusive partner. The Forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, wrote at the time that the case should be investigated as a homicide until proven otherwise.

Snuka was arrested four months before her death for dragging Argentino by her hair down the hallway of a hotel. In that incident near Syracuse, it apparently took sheriff’s deputies and two dogs to get the wrestler under control. So it was not surprising that they instantly looked at him as prime suspect number 1 in fact Snuka was the only suspect involved in the subsequent investigation. Although charges were not pressed at the time against him the case was left officially open. On June 28, 2013,it was announced that the still-open case would be reviewed and on September the 1st, 2015, 32 years after the incident happened, Snuka was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

So what has the WWE had to say about the situation? Well here are two of there statement son the situation “WWE expresses its continued sympathy to the Argentino family for their loss,ultimately this legal matter will be decided by our judicial system.” At the moment has has been wiped from the WWE as can be seen in the second statement from the WWE “Jimmy Snuka’s non-wrestling ‘legends’ contract has been suspended, and we are currently removing his images from our media platforms pending the outcome of this case” . This is a hard area to discuss because from one point of view you could say that Snuka should have been removed from the company after the events he is now going to trial over, in fact it must have been horrible for her family to see the man they were certain caused there relatives death being pushed as a hero and cheered despite what he had done. Yet you can also argue that the man is innocent until proven guilty and that it would have been unfair to dismiss someone when it had not been proved that they had committed the crimes for which they were being accused.

At the time I was just a young wrestling loving boy I had no idea of what was happening outside of the ring, I only knew the characters who were being pushed by the company, to me Hulk Hogan was a hero and The Million Dollar man was one of the most evil men alive. I suppose you can say that my childhood outlook on all of this just proved what a great job everyone involved was doing of selling entertainment. Yet now things are far more complex than they were and sometimes it is just hard to know what to say. I guess all I can say is that my sympathies go out to the family of the young lady who passed all those years ago, this can not have been an easy situation for them and now all anyone can really do is sit back and let the legal system figure this one out.




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