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PARKS BLOG: WWE could learn something about character development from Food Network's WWE-themed show
Nov 12, 2009 - 6:01:58 PM
By Greg Parks, Torch specialist
I caught last night's "Dinner: Impossible" featuring WWE stars Big Show, Stephanie McMahon, Gail Kim, The Miz, Evan Bourne, and Jim Ross (with cameos at the end by Mike Knox, Linda McMahon, and actor David Koechner). I'm not a usual viewer of the Food Network, but I came away impressed with how the wrestlers were portrayed and with the show as a whole, particularly host Robert Irvine and his willingness to play along with the wrestlers. Heck, he had a set of guns on him that could rival many superstars themselves.
The one thing that stuck out to me, and James Caldwell alluded to it in his recap of the show on the main page, was how The Miz, Santino, and Gail got their characters over more in one one-hour show than they have on Raw in probably a year's time (with MAYBE the exception of Miz). All three were in-character (although it's hard to tell with Kim, who doesn't really have a defined character, which is another problem that WWE has) and it was a treat to see them interact outside of a wrestling show. In addition, it was cool to see WWE send someone other than John Cena or Kelly Kelly to do promotional work.
The show was so well-done that, if Santino had been built up as any kind of semi-credible wrestler, he could have a feud right now with The Miz over the U.S. Title based on what was started on the show. Granted, it was taped in August, which could be a problem for explaining why the feud would only start now. But it was the simple back-and-forth Miz and Santino had, which started organically (no pun intended) in the kitchen, and ended with Marella dumping a tray of pastries onto Miz.
It's not a good sign when the Food Network can develop the personalities of WWE Superstars better than the company itself can. While it was fun to see the wrestlers out of their element, WWE should take note on how the show successfully spotlighted these underused members of the Raw roster.
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