WWE’s Problem with History
During this Monday’s episode of Raw, the WWE announced an all-women version of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal for WrestleMania. This new match would be named the Fabulous Moolah Memorial Battle Royal in honor of WWE’s most notorious and contentious wrestlers ever. This sparked outrage and anger from fans and shined a bright light on another chapter of the WWE’s – and wrestling’s – dark and strange past. It’s a past many companies and businesses have, except wrestling has had a much odder journey than most. WWE’s constant inability and unwillingness to confront that past is a sour reminder of how poor this business can be.
Fabulous Moolah:
If you follow any kind of wrestling on Twitter you’ll more than likely know the horror stories from Moolah’s past. While Moolah was putting a face on women’s wrestling from the 1950s all the way into the 80, she was also darkly constraining it. While Moolah was succeeding she was doing everything in her power to control and ruin the lives of any competition that would come her way. Accusations include her of taking excessive amounts of wrestler’s earnings, pimping women wrestlers out to earn extra money, or even feeding wrestlers drugs to get them addicted and further under her snare. All these accusations aren’t anywhere near WWE’s radar because they don’t wish to acknowledge them. The 80s and 90s saw drugs in particular haunt wrestling as a whole, and Moolah’s lineage is potentially a large specter plaguing that past.
Thankfully the WWE choose to change the match’s name but of course they can’t find another, more positive, woman wrestler to replace Moohlah with. Like with so many other moments of wrestling’s past the WWE cannot shake their own narrative and replace it with the truth, it’s either what they claim to be reality or nothing at all.
Chris Benoit and Jimmy Snuka:
I’ve written about Chris Benoit’s tragic story and the WWE’s inability to confront it before. Benoit had a stellar career that ended in the most horrific of ways. It’s a chapter of wrestling often glossed over at the expense of the real accomplishments of the time. History is a fickle thing, but ignoring rarely yields anything positive. Which leads to Jimmy Snuka.
Snuka has had his own dark past and avoids the Benoit treatment. In 1983 Snuka placed a phone call for an ambulance for his then girlfriend Nancy Argentino who would later pass away. Both the medical examiner and sheriff suspected Snuka of abusing and murdering Ms. Argentino, but no charges were ever filed against him. It was until 2015 when Snuka was arrested and charged with murder but would eventually be found unfit for trial and pass away a few weeks later.
Snuka’s association, and eventual fame, with wrestling allowed him to skirt murder charges for decades. Benoit’s tragedy is much more dramatic, complicated, and even perhaps darker than Snuka’s. However they’re treated very differently in the WWE’s reflection of history.
The Ultimate Warrior:
While the WWE has a lengthy list of with problems, no one personality better exemplifies the WWE’s problem than The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior and the WWE almost never got along. Even before his sudden passing in 2014 shortly after making amends with Vince and the company, it was clear there was still plenty of past not forgotten. In the 90s, as Warrior got more popular, his ego got ahead of himself. Warrior demanded more money for WrestleMania 7 or he wouldn’t show and Vince suspended him afterward because of Warrior’s threats. Warrior would occasionally come to an agreement with Vince, show back up, then fade away again and retire.
Throughout the 90s Warrior was also battling the WWE about his name and potential trademark. Warrior was the Ultimate Warrior, yes he even changed his name to Warrior, but the WWE saw it a different way. Despite occasionally popping back up in the WWE, the feud between the company and the man came to a head in 2005.
Entitled The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior the WWE released a DVD that went over Warrior’s wrestling history. With every chance possible the WWE tore open the wounds the Warrior left citing every wrestler and match they could to paint the Warrior as unprofessional. The DVD showed how petty the WWE could be, but more so showed how the WWE is willing to rewrite its history. A decade later the WWE would be inducting that same man into their Hall of Fame and celebrating his accomplishments. When they want to the WWE can close old wounds and heal, or rip them open again to bleed.
The past, and our history, is important. It shows us where we’ve been, teaches us harsh lessons, and ultimately prepares us for the future. Ignoring bares a cost. For decades now the WWE has turned its back on its own history, choosing to highlight bits and pieces and tossing away the rest. Without context and explanation we will lose perspective not just on the past, but also the present. It’s time the WWE properly examines where it’s been because it’s the only way it’ll properly move into the future.
