WWE Couldn't resist.

I thought that CM Punk returned too soon. He left for only 8 days? They had a bunch of matches on RAW that ultimately became pointless now that Punk is back. Punk got on the mic after RAW went off the air and said that he was back. You can make comparison's between HBK and Razor from Wrestlemania when they had 2 I.C. titles suspended up in a ladder match to determine the "real" I.C. champ but this is a bit different. CM Punk beat Cena, Razor didn't beat HBK leading up to the Mania match. It would have been nice for them not to rush CM Punk back like that, but I guess they believed that it was the only way to make Summerslam feel special. I'm not sure how it makes sense for him to comeback since "the dufus son-in-law" is running the company. What could HHH say to Punk to make it worth his while? I mean, other than offering Stephanie's services. The storyline isnt completely fucked up, but dreams of a new fresh era dont seem quite the same. Cena WILL stay strong and win all his feuds until he meets Rock at Wrestlemania. Move Punk over to Smackdown so he can have his own show.

Vince McMahon, Wrestling's Gatekeeper

Vincent Kennedy McMahon goes by many adjectives. Demanding, pompous, greedy, intimidating, smart, and coldhearted are all ways of describing this well-known businessman. He is the current CEO and owner of World Wrestling Entertainment. Born in 1945 he was raised into the wrestling industry. He is a 3rd generation wrestling promoter. Vince McMahon holds the title of chairman, producer, and gatekeeper.

Vince McMahon decides everything, and I mean everything. Of the company’s four WWE television shows nothing makes the air without his consent. He controls where the wrestling events are held, who wrestles that night, and the outcomes of matches and segments. He is the true sense of the word gatekeeper. In most cases he controls how audiences react. Through basic storytelling he can make crowds do what he wants them to do. Gatekeepers control our destiny in some cases. In the case of Vince McMahon he controls the destiny of the wrestlers that he hires and presents. Since wrestling is scripted and not a real sport, McMahon holds all the cards. Boxing, tennis, and ultimate fighting are sports that involve one on one competition in which the winning purse is completely controlled by them. Vince pays the most to the main eventers that he decides should be in the main event, while those who are left off of events may not get paid at all.

McMahon is known for being a very strict boss. Some say that wrestlers who work for him are afraid to request time off to heal because it would look like they aren’t as dedicated to the wrestling business as those who don’t need to take time off. Vince McMahon is seen as a gatekeeper that for the most part isn’t seen as ethical. “As long as it makes him money, then it’s good for business” is the attitude that he often comes across as having. An example of why he gets this reaction is one that dated back to 1987 and 1988. Several weeks after winning a championship in what would be known as the biggest match of his career at WrestleMania 3 Ricky Steamboat requested time off. He did so to be with his then pregnant wife, who was expecting his first son. This seems reasonable considering that the WWE (known as the WWF at the time) sent their performers out on the road over 250 days of the year, right? I couple months off. Well, that didn’t sit well with Vince McMahon. Steamboat took time off anyway and when he returned he was not used as prominently as he had originally been. Who needs ethics when business is involved?


Many have benefited and many have lost as a result of McMahon’s decisions. Thousands of wrestlers have benefited throughout the years being that the WWE have given them a platform to be noticed by millions of viewers. The most well-known of these who have benefited are Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Steve Austin, Bruno Sammartino, John Cena, and Ric Flair. Wrestlers who have lost lives due to the pressure of maintaining a certain look (via unnatural means) include dozens and dozens of wrestlers such as Andrew “Test” Martin, Edward Fatu, Eddie Guerrero, Lance Cade, Ray “Big Bossman” Traylor, and Davey Boy Smith. The later list caused McMahon’s decisions to backfire on him publically and personally.
In McMahon was put on trail in 1994 when he was accused of distributing steroids to his wrestlers. Several of McMahon’s former employees testified against him, stating that Vince encouraged them to start using steroids. He was acquitted of charges and he admitted to taking steroids himself. An interesting note is that arguably the biggest star in the history of the WWE, Hulk Hogan, became the star witness that testified against McMahon.

In 2006 the WWE created a health program named “The Talent Wellness Program” that is a comprehensive drug, alcohol, and cardiac screening program. The policy tests for recreational drug use and abuse of prescription medication. Under the guidelines of the policy, talent is also tested annually for pre-existing or developing cardiac issues. The drug testing is handled by Aegis Sciences Corporation. The effects of steroid use are still not as well-known as other drugs because steroids are still relatively new. Enlarge hearts of wrestlers is a reoccurring, trending side effect that wrestlers have gone through, years after the drug abuse had stopped. Still, scientists learn more and more about what it can do to the human body over time

Vince McMahon’s helping to create an environment in which drugs were frequently used eventually caught up to the company in 2007 when top star, Christopher Michael Benoit, had his life end in a double murder–suicide where he killed his wife, son, and them himself. This murder revealed a couple of things, one being that the 40 year old wrestler had steroids in his system and in his house. Reports showed that Benoit had a testosterone level of 207 micrograms per liter and an epitestosterone level of 3.5 mcg/L for a testosterone to epitestosterone ratio of 59:1. Considering that most people have a 1:1 ratio and some have a 10:1 ratio, this was an even bigger eye opener that the WWE still had problems. Tests were conducted on Benoit's brain head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, Julian Bailes/ Result of those tests showed that Benoit's brain was so severely damaged that it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient. So there are many criticisms to Vince McMahon’s gatekeeping habits but he has many positives as well.

The WWE is the top contributor in grants for the Make a Wish program. They have also recently started a campaign that encourages against bullying, the “Be a Star” campaign. The mission of this campaign is to get people, primarily children, to show tolerance and respect to ensure a positive social environment for everyone regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation. Gatekeepers have the ability to control and effect the way people live. Gatekeepers have the authority to control what people see and what people don’t see. McMahon is a gatekeeper that isn’t uncommon when talking about owners of small and large companies. I guess it’s a gene thing.

By: Jason Jeremiah

My Wrestlemania 28 Dream Card

Headliner: John Cena vs The Rock, No DQ match

This match is a match similar to Rock vs. Hogan and to a lesser extent, on a much lower scale, Piper vs. Bret. This match involves 2 wrestlers that at one time were the most popular wrestler in the WWE. Rock, the charismatic man with the ego to match his fan base was a wrestler that left the crowd wanting more, more often than not. He wasn’t technically great in the ring, but his facial expressions and other aspects of selling was one of the things that made him credible inside the ring as a face. His generation of fans appealed to the 18-35 demographic as well as to the younger crowd, unlike his counterpart, John Cena.

When John Cena first started out his innovative rap gimmick was what captured the attention of the WWE crowd. He had the attention of both the young and adults, but somewhere along the way (specifically when he was drafted over to RAW) he became a lesser star in the eyes of the adults and more to children. His Superman-like character is what sets him apart from many wrestlers in history. He never rarely ever loses clean. Just like Andre, just like Bruno, Just like Hogan, just like Austin, and just like…Rock. This match would seem like a passing of the torch, but really it wouldn’t be. Believe it or not, but John Cena has been on top longer than Rock, by double in years. It doesn’t seem that way, but that just goes to show how popular Rock was at his peak. Would John Cena cement his place in wrestling history by defeating 1 half of the most popular star of the WWE’s biggest era, or would he know his role?

Neither wrestler is exactly Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels inside of the ring, so this match would be No DQ, giving the wrestlers time to take shortcuts with weapons if need be.

Undertaker’s Streak: Sting vs. Undertaker, No DQ match

Potential Show Stealer: CM Punk vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin

Celebrity Attraction: Big Show vs. Shaq (celebrity attraction)

Potential Show Stealer: Kurt Angle vs Jack Swagger

Potential Show Stealer: Christian vs. Daniel Bryan

Double Turn: Miz vs. Triple H

Money in the Bank: Santino, Ziggler, Kofi, Barrett, Cody, Morrison, Bourne, Del Rio

Technology and it's Affect on How We Receive News

Technological advancements throughout the past 25 years have transcended the way news is gathered, discussed, shown, and saved. I mean, no longer do you have to save a newspaper article if you want to read it later. Now you can bookmark it, or save it on your iPhone. No longer do you need to leave the living room or even get up to turn on the radio in order to get the latest news. Now you just have to click on your homepage to get the biggest news stories of the morning. The way information is received has affected the perception of authority and reliability.

Google, everyone uses it, and if you say that you don’t then you probably aren’t aware of it. Google has controlled the way hundreds of millions of people find out things. Google, which owns YouTube, is a news source. It’s not perceived that way but it is. As a result, reliability is a big factor. Causal users often take what they see in a headline as fact so they are vulnerable to popular news sources online. This gives large news sources a lot of power politically, but it makes them accountable for the information that they provide. Are these changes due entirely to new technology?

I don’t believe that the greatness of technology is the sole reason for this movement. A large reason is because of McDonaldization. The process of McDonaldization takes tasks and breaks them down into smaller tasks over and over again until all tasks have been broken down to the smallest possible level. This process is how I understand culture to be. Examples of McDonaldization include emailing family members through a computer instead of writing a letter or paying someone a visit by foot. Often I would find myself going to my local library to find a book and it would either be sold out or not available. It’s easier now to search for it on Amazon or eBay where that particular book is more likely to be found. Often I would get the newspaper before school to get the results of a sports game. Instead of having to purchase a $0.50 newspaper I can find out the results, see the highlights, and get fan comments through ESPN, Facebook, and Twitter in a matter of seconds.

How will the internet continue to affect mass communications in the coming 5-10 years? What capabilities will the internet likely have? I don’t see YouTube going anywhere. I foresee YouTube using what Netflix has used to become popular. It wasn’t one of the top 3 features that made this company what it is today, but I see Netflix being ahead of the curve on surveys and taste preference questions. Netflix is very thorough when trying to figure out what the user likes, which then makes it easier for them to choose movies and shows that fit the users’ interests. I see YouTube doing this. I see them adding this as a feature when someone is signing up. “What type of movies did you like growing up? What would you rate your interest in love songs? Do you watch CNN, how often? Very often, not at all, or religiously? How interesting are you into Video bloggers?” Asking these along with taking into account the users’ age is a perfect way to recommend YouTube users without going through the hassle of searching. This wouldn’t be limited to only YouTube or dating sites, but to news websites as well. It would be a way to make users feel more of an attachment and loyalty to that particular site because the website knows them so well.

Written by Jason Jeremiah