The Ballad of Veronica and Archie

"There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good,
She was very good indeed.
But when she was bad, she was Veronica!"

When I was young, I was into comics. Particularly a series that featured a redheaded teenage boy and his circle of friends in a small town. The boy was a nice, if somewhat clumsy, young man who was caught between two girls. One girl, the blonde, was very nice and sweet. The other girl, the brunette, was rich, haughty and arrogant - although from time to time she would show a very sweet side of her own.

Of course, I'm talking about the Archie comics. Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper and the infamous Veronica Lodge. However, when I started watching CHIKARA, it took me awhile to see the connection between Archie and Veronica, and Marchie Archie and Majorette Veronica. The comparison is quite accurate (except that Comic Archie was never arrogant, whereas Marchie Archie was) - both couples were inseparable, until (invariably), Archie did something to make Veronica mad and look elsewhere. In the comics, Archie would either be unable to afford to take Veronica out, or do something clumsy or downright silly, and Veronica would turn her back on him to go out with Reggie Mantle.

In CHIKARA, this power couple were unstoppable and inseparable from their debut in the spring of 2011 until CHIKARA's first iPPV, "High Noon" on November 13th, 2011. After a loss to Colt Cabana, Marchie Archie has been on a losing streak that even turning into "Mixed Martial Arts" Archie has been unable to stem. Veronica has gotten mighty angry - and you don't want to see Veronica angry. Ever.

To make matters worse, she has cast her eyes towards a new face in the promotion - one Mr. Touchdown. She seems to fancy the muscular newcomer who has been the target of Archie since realising his partner's interest in him. Yet Majorette Veronica also shares a characteristic of Veronica Lodge - she, too, has a soft spot for Archie and has yet to completely abandon him, no matter how angry or how much she has berated him.

At CHIKARA's second iPPV this Saturday, "Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur" we will see the resolution of this conflict - MMA Archie is teaming with former foe Colt Cabana to take on Mr. Touchdown and Dasher Hatfield. If you have been following Veronica on twitter, you well know how conflicted Miss Ticklefeather is. Will she follow her heart or her head? Will she show mercy and compassion or be ruthless and unforgiving? Will we see a reuniting of Archie and Veronica? It all comes down to Saturday and to one woman's ultimate decision.

Tick tock.....tick tock....

Stereotypes in 2012 Wrestling aka Lazy Booking 101

 "I won't be ignored, Dan!"

I already wrote about my problem with the AJ Lee/Bryan Danielson story line. I made sure to mention last week about CM Punk's "I kinda dig crazy chicks" line as well. This week, cue WWE Shop's newest addition: a CM Punk shirt proudly proclaiming, "I Dig Crazy Chicks."

Three cheers for WWE continuing the stereotype of the crazy ex-girlfriend. Someone on twitter asked what AJ did exactly to be deemed crazy. Obviously according to WWE logic, any woman who reacts to a humiliating breakup other than "calmly accept it and move on" is crazy. Wrestling is full of stereotypes and the "crazy chick" is one of them. This is one of my core frustrations with wrestling itself - lazy booking that falls back into stereotypes instead of trying something different. If you're black, you get to be a savage, an angry militant, or a dancer (thanks to Demond aka OVW's Mo Green aka WWE's Lamont for pointing that one out!). If you're Mexican, you get to be a gang member or a lazy worker (such as the "Mexicools" driving their riding lawn mowers to the ring). If you're Asian, you get to be the superior foreigner who knows no English and is supposedly too good to learn it. If you're a woman, you get to have no personality (just another face/heel) or be a slut ("hoeski"), a bitch, power-hungry, or crazy.

Is it really asking so much for promotions to think outside the box when it comes to wrestlers outside of the white, straight male persuasion? Plenty of promotions have already, so why can't all of them? I'm speaking specifically of WWE here, obviously, but in 2012 no promotion anywhere should be falling back on such lazy, narrow minded and quite frankly stupid booking of their talent.

But on the flip side, if WWE is going to go the stereotype route with merchandise, lets go all the way. How about the following for shirts?


For Eve Torres, a silhouette of her when she had collapsed in the ring crying after Cena had publicly called her a hoeski. The words underneath would read something along the lines of "#HoeskiProblems" or "I Dig Hoeskis" or "Yay for Slut Shaming!"

For AJ, one that says, "I Hate Manipulative Douchebag Men." Comes with or without a picture of her holding a bunny in a pot.

For John Cena, "Minorities in Trouble? What, Me Worry?" or "Hustle. Loyalty. Respect.* (*Does not apply to homosexuals or minorities)"

For Vince McMahon, "Stand Up for Perpetuating Stereotypes!"


I wonder how many of those would sell? Maybe as many as the new CM Punk shirt.

*Edit, thanks to ACrimsonMask on Twitter for pointing this out. WWE really wants to get the point across that AJ is crazy. Take a look at her entrance video:

My Problem with AJ & Daniel Bryan

For several weeks now, the story line between AJ and Daniel Bryan in WWE has bothered me. But I couldn't really put my finger on it until last night right when I was about to go to sleep. If you watched RAW from 5/21, you would've seen AJ come up to CM Punk and say that she really liked watching Bryan getting beaten up by Kane and then by Punk. To which, Punk replied, "So you're a sadist?" Then she proceeded to cry after being called crazy, Punk hugged her, asked her to stop crying, which she stopped immediately. He said, "I kinda dig crazy chicks." And as he walked away, she looked bewildered, confused and upset.

What came to me last night was what AJ should've said when he asked if she was a sadist. She should have replied, very calmly and reasonably, what any woman would have said.

"No. I just enjoy seeing the man who tore my heart out and upended my world get a fraction of the pain that he dealt me." Or something along those lines. Because let's face it, when the man or woman that we are in love with rejects us (be it gently or harshly) one of our gut reactions is to hope that he/she feels as much pain as we do. And since Bryan isn't feeling the emotional pain AJ is, why not take enjoyment that he's in physical pain?

But no, they didn't go that route. Instead they seem to be heading further down the "AJ is a psycho ex-girlfriend" route. And that route bothers me. Why? Because I see myself in that role. I've been there, along with a lot of other women I'd imagine. And although I've harped on this before, it's just another example of how little WWE thinks of the women that they employ. The women have to fit into neat little boxes - Eve is the hoeski evil boss. AJ is the psycho ex-girlfriend. Layla's the spunky babyface that's freshly returned from injury and determined to prove herself worthy of being Divas champ. ...Actually that's it. The other women are interchangeable wrestlers. That might be the saddest, most telling point of all. None of the other women have any kind of point to them. The faces are smiley, the heels are ultra-serious. They're just there.

For me, however, I would rather see AJ be another faceless name than regulated to a role that is all too easy for women to be given. One person asked me what the difference was between this and Mickie/Trish. Well, for starters, Mickie was an obsessive fan that became a stalker, came on to Trish, was rejected and wound up taking the title from her. They were never a couple. Trish tried to treat her nicely and make it clear they were just friends but after Mickie came onto her, she rejected James. AJ and Bryan were a couple, and even though Bryan treated her like crap, AJ remained loyal. Even after Bryan so brutally dumped her. We always knew that Mickie was a little "off" but it's only since being rejected that AJ has started to show signs of not being "all there." So whereas I was okay with Mickie/Trish, I'm not okay with AJ/Bryan.

The boyfriend that uses the lovesick girl for his own means. The boyfriend that dumps her after a mistake that wasn't her fault. The boyfriend that keeps treating her like shit despite the fact she still loves him. These roles aren't good for either Bryan or AJ, although Bryan is hugely over despite being the heel, so I doubt he's complaining much.

At the end of the day, we are still seeing the tired old routine that we've seen in dozens of movies, songs, plays, etc. Girl goes off the deep end after being rejected by the man she loves. Being in love, having your heart broken and your whole life go upside down...it makes for great drama, but I watch wrestling to escape my problems for awhile. And when one of the women I'm a fan of is playing out something that I am still going through...it just makes me sad and reminds me of how strong the stereotype of the "psychotic ex" is still firmly attached to women.

I'm not psychotic. Nor are any of the other women who go through so much turmoil after a breakup. We are simply trying to find our way through one of the most traumatic experiences of our lives. That's all. And I'm tired of seeing it on television, let alone in something like wrestling that still has so many stereotypes tied into it. For my sake and the sake of the other women and men who dislike this story line, I sincerely hope it comes to an end soon.

Accentuate the Positives

It's really, really easy to focus on the negatives in wrestling, especially in World Wrestling Entertainment. I've done it, you've done it, we've all done it. Sometimes for genuine reasons (sexism, racism), sometimes for nit picking (Oh my God, what is Eve wearing? Cena wins again, argh!). Trust me, it's VERY easy to look at the downside. Just this once though I'm going to focus on what WWE is doing right. This is purely my opinion, naturally, so what I see as a positive, you might see as a negative. That's fair enough. A wise man once said that you can't please all of the people all of the time. That should go double for wrestling. Anyways, here we go.


*Layla's return. Before her injury and Michelle McCool's retirement, Layla was paired up with McCool and together the two were, really, flawless. McCool undoubtedly helped Layla with her in-ring training and in return the dark haired beauty brought personality and a much-needed spark to her blonde partner in crime. Sure, there were cries of nepotism and favoritism, but would Layla have gotten a chance to show what she could do if not paired up with Michelle? She might've been lost in the shuffle and ultimately released. For one, I'm glad that didn't happen. Upon her return at Extreme Rules, Lay won the Divas title for the first time, beating Nikki Bella in a short but crisp match. She then went on to have a really good (albeit short) match against Natalya last week on Smackdown. I see a ton of potential in her. She didn't rush back, she took her time to get rid of the ring rust (there is still a little but not a lot), and she is genuinely refreshing to watch. I can over look the "happy smiley" personality she's showing, as I think it's really her reaction to being back, but I do hope she gets some mic time soon and a story line.

Also, for the love of Pete, change her music. It will always be associated with McCool, a crowd killer, and it's more of a heel tune than a face tune. After all, a woman talking about how a man isn't enough of her isn't going to get a positive reaction...


*Claudio Castagnoli's Smackdown! debut. Yes, I know, he's now Antonio Cesaro - I still call Daniel Bryan, Bryan Danielson. Sue me. He's only had one match, a short but sweet affair with Tyson Kidd, but he's had two backstage segments and just the fact that he's back on my television is fantastic. FCW really does have some cream of the crop going on - Tyler Black (Seth Rollins), Chris Hero (Kassius Ono), Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose), Britani Knight (Paige), Ivelisse (Sofia Cortez) and that's just a sampling. These are stars and seeing how well Punk and Danielson have done in WWE so far gives me hope that the rest of these lads and ladies will give crowds great matches in the future.


*CM Punk v Bryan Danielson. Yes, I know, they've wrestled each other before in Ring of Honor. And they've wrestled each other on tv in WWE before. So why is this different? I don't know...it just feels different, you know? It will, presumably, be the main event on the next PPV (although I have my doubts, given that Cena/Brock was the main event at ER, and Cena/Rock was the main at WM) and be for the WWE title instead of the Heavyweight title. It feels like Vince is finally putting faith in "indy talent" as they've been referred to in the past. Yeah, they're not the biggest or the strongest or the most bulked up but both have worked their way up from the bottom to become champions in the most famous mainstream wrestling company.

That's admirable and it gives others who have the same goal hope. They both persevered and ultimately gained what critics said was out of reach. Hard work pays off. Do they get to wrestle the length of time they used to in previous companies? Maybe not. Do they get to showcase everything they know? Possibly not. However, you know damn well that however much time they are given they will put to the best possible use they can. They are two of the best in the world and together they have made magic before. I believe they will do it again.


These are the three main things that I'm enjoying right now in WWE, three people rather that I'm enjoying. What about you, what/who are you enjoying? What are the positives you see in the company right now?