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CALDWELL'S TAKE

CALDWELL'S BLOG: More observations on The Undertaker catching on fire, Washington Post fails in their reporting on Linda McMahon and WWE

Feb 22, 2010 - 12:35:41 AM


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By James Caldwell, Torch assistant editor

-- Check out my earlier blog with instant reaction to the WWE Elimination Chamber PPV and the standard Elimination Chamber PPV play-by-play coverage and analysis report.

-- Some observations on The Undertaker Fire Incident: Re-watching WWE's broadcast of Taker's entrance, you can't actually see Taker on fire, but there is a clear shot of Taker doing a hop after emerging from one of the shooting flames in his standard ring intro.

The flames also seemed to be a lot more intense than usual. I'll be honest that I typically don't pay super-close attention to the initial part of Taker's entrance, as I've seen it hundreds of times. However, there seemed to be more flames than usual shooting up.

It could have been a case of the timing being off, Taker walking slower or faster than usual from Point A to Point B in his entrance, or just a freak accident that really was no one's fault. It remains to be seen what actually went wrong here.

After "hopping" through the last flame on the stage, Taker tossed aside his ring jacket and hat before shooting a look toward the pyro area stationed off to the side of the ring entrance. He jogged toward the ring and there was a clear shot of referee Charles Robinson looking back toward the entrance ramp to see what happened.

They cut to a shot of Rey Mysterio, who seemed to inch forward inside his pod, as if he were trying to get a closer look at a TV from across a room. Taker then paced around the Chamber trying to collect his breath before entering his pod and looking down at his hands.

It's rare that something so routine and pre-planned goes wrong, but if this was a legit incident, then it seems Taker was fortunate just to have a minor scare.

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-- The Washington Post published a full-length story on former WWE CEO Linda McMahon on Sunday night that will likely be in Monday's newspaper. I had a chance to skim the story during the WWE PPV before reading it more closely afterward. I'll have a more detailed, formal report on Monday.

It was yet another frustrating piece of mainstream news reporting that could be classified as a good piece of P.R. for McMahon's campaign and WWE. Quotes from McMahon on very important WWE-related subjects went unchecked and unchallenged by the Post. One in particular was McMahon using the classic "how to fool a mainstream reporter 101" line about steroids being irrelevant in pro wrestling because there is no real competition in the "sport."

"The thing of it is, there is no competitive advantage for using steroids -- it's not going to make you jump higher, run faster, hit the ball farther or anything like that," McMahon said.

This subject has been covered with enough text written to fill a book on why there is a competitive advantage when using performance-enhancing drugs in pro wrestling, which is why a stringent drug-testing policy is necessary to create an even playing field for each wrestler.

One simple example is that wrestlers who use PEDs for cosmetic reasons have the advantage of being much more physically impressive or imposing. This typically helps build a stronger connection with the audience, which in turn leads to WWE putting a wrestler higher up on the card. (Or, in the case of many wrestlers, it gives WWE a reason to keep a wrestler around when it's obvious he lacks any discernible charisma.) The higher up on the card means more paydays, more PPV main event opportunities, and more of an advantage over someone not using PEDs when trying to stand out physically.

That's not even taking into account the potential health risks when PEDs become an abusive habit in order to maintain a certain look or size. The Washington Post leaving McMahon's quote unchecked is another sad example of the mainstream press failing to report on the real story when McMahon has spent most of her Senate campaign dodging questions rather than giving straight answers.


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