We all know the story by now. Vince McMahon is the most successful wrestling promoter of all time, and that is indisputable. However, this also isn't enough, as he apparently sees pro-wrestling as essentially a disreputable carnival sideshow and he desperately wants to join the gleaming entertainment mainstream. Hence his re-branding of WWE as 'sports entertainment', and his attempts to reach out into other spheres. Mostly, these have ended in failure; his football league and movie studio have lost a lot of money for example. Basically, the only thing he's any good at is promoting wrestling shows.
Nonetheless, he seems to think that if he gets a load of celebrities on Raw, no matter how badly they fit, the show will become more respectable and mainstream. This is, of course, very flawed thinking, and this week's Raw proves how this can go awry when the wrong celebrities get involved. The appearance of daytime TV hosts Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford, which had the laudable aim of promoting a breast cancer charity, backfired horribly. There is almost no crossover between their target audience and the WWE's audience, which is predominantly young and male. Personally, I felt sorry for the two women who were heavily booed, and probably needed all that wine for Dutch courage. Given how the typically smark-heavy New York audience was certain to react to a segment like this, it almost feels cruel to subject them to such a crowd.
The annoying thing is that WWE has done this too often and has invited completely unsuitable people on a regular basis. The notorious 'guest host' era of Raw was a low point in the show's history, largely because guest hosts were seemingly selected by sticking pins into lists of random celebrities. The result was largely deflating. For example, ZZ Top were clearly only interested in promoting their upcoming tour, and phoned in a series of lame backstage skits with Santino before eventually making a token appearance in front of the crowd. And the least said about turning Raw into an edition of The Jerry Springer Show the better, quite frankly. Although the worst host was probably alleged comedian Dennis Miller, who hosted the Slammys one year. His routines were delivered to an entirely silent crowd, who were in no mood for political diatribes disguised as jokes.
However, this is likely to continue, as Vince continues to crave mainstream acceptance, so it's worth looking at the few categories where guest appearances actually worked. Firstly, we have the obvious case of celebrities who are actually wrestling fans. Hugh Jackman was almost the perfect choice. Firstly, unlike many other guest hosts, the Australian actor is well-known all over the world. Furthermore, his appearances in the X-Men franchise of films mean he's a good fit for the WWE's target demographic. Finally, because he's a fan, he understood how the show works and what was expected of him. The fact he was clearly enjoying himself helped him get over, and overall he added something to the show.
The second category that basically works is American footballers. This is a little more problematic, given that the sport's popularity is patchy outside the US. Nonetheless, given that gridiron stars have the kind of build that Vince favours for his wrestlers, they look credible when standing up to WWE heels. Certainly, when Ben Roethlisberger appeared alongside several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line in the ring, it made for a memorable visual image. I was considering also including boxers in this category, but then I remembered Ricky Hatton's stunningly inept performance and realised we'd probably better narrow the focus to footballers.
Then we have the curious case of The Price Is Right host Bob Barker, who was a surprise hit. On paper, 'The Price Is Raw' looked like a terrible idea, but Barker managed to make it work. It seems that he quickly realised he didn't understand what he'd got himself into, but decided he was going to have fun anyway. He proved an admirable verbal sparring partner for Chris Jericho, although he later admitted in an interview that the Canadian grappler frankly scared him during rehearsals. However, this category is not entirely foolproof, as Jerry Springer's two dire appearances prove.
So there you have it. Guest appearances can actually work, but celebrities need to be chosen more carefully. Unfortunately, WWE is pressing ahead with more randomly-chosen guests on next week's Raw. Apparently NeNe Leakes (from The Real Housewives Of Atlanta....nope, me neither) and businessman-turned-reality-show-star Todd Chrisley are lined up to appear. They might surprise me, but I have no idea who these people are and my hopes aren't high. Who actually benefits from this?
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