John Morrisson/Teddy Long on "Smackdown"

[artDDP]

Oh, my God...WWE likely really thinks that segment makes Morrisson appear hip.

[goodhelmet]

For those who missed it, elaborate.

[NitroFan]

[Guest Hail Sabin]

It was not that good, but at least Morrison made every song that Long mentioned into a reason why he should get a title shot.

[Loss]

That was really, really bad.

 

Even the premise of Teddy Long in a daze thinking about Michael Jackson for no reason.

 

Also, beat it all around the world?

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

There's only one acceptable wrestling tribute to MJ:

 

[artDDP]

There's only one acceptable wrestling tribute to MJ:

 

Sigh, that's the type of creative comedy which WWE simply cannot come up with. Thanks for the link!

[Guest The 3H's]

There's only one acceptable wrestling tribute to MJ:

 

I raise you this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV8b_OOnUZI

[sek69]

The more telling thing, regardless of how it ended up playing out, is that WWE thought referencing MJ would make anyone hip.

[Strummer]

The more telling thing, regardless of how it ended up playing out, is that WWE thought referencing MJ would make anyone hip.

 

eh, with all the MJ nostalgia in the past few weeks I can kind of understand it, *Kind of*

 

it was just executed very poorly

[rovert]

I dont understand the hate for this at least Morrison showed some personality here.

[Jkeats]

I actually thought Morrison looked really disconnected here and showed the least amount of personality and charisma of any segment he's been in. It was just really odd. His gaze seemed far off and it looked like he was reading off a cue card (ala Saturday Night Live) for most of it.

 

I like Morrison and I think he does have some personality. It just doesn't work when they force the contrived comedy.

[goodhelmet]

Yeah, I think if there was a genuine MJ fan on the WWE roster, it would have come off as much more sincere. I mean shit, Teddy Long didn't even know the fucking words to Beat It.

 

That AWS match clip was priceless.

[artDDP]

I dont understand the hate for this at least Morrison showed some personality here.

The hate stems from WWE's insistence that if someone makes a pop culture reference through an obviously forced smile the audience will find them that much cooler. That may work on the small percentage of fans who are really oblivious to the world around them--those that take those "Did You Know?" graphics as fact--yet there is a greater percentage of fans who see right through this stuff. Remember, this is the wrestling promotion that trots out Kid Rock and Motley Crue years after their glory days and has tried for over ten years to make you believe Michael Cole is hip.

[rovert]

Yeah, I think if there was a genuine MJ fan on the WWE roster, it would have come off as much more sincere. I mean shit, Teddy Long didn't even know the fucking words to Beat It.

How do you know that was scripted? I took it as part of the comedy.

 

I dont understand the hate for this at least Morrison showed some personality here.

The hate stems from WWE's insistence that if someone makes a pop culture reference through an obviously forced smile the audience will find them that much cooler. That may work on the small percentage of fans who are really oblivious to the world around them--those that take those "Did You Know?" graphics as fact--yet there is a greater percentage of fans who see right through this stuff. Remember, this is the wrestling promotion that trots out Kid Rock and Motley Crue years after their glory days and has tried for over ten years to make you believe Michael Cole is hip.

 

You lost me. Your point whatever it is makes no sense sentence to sentence.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

The point is that WWE wants to present their wrestlers as cool but they can't be because they are scripted by a combination of old people, geeks, and old geeks.

 

For all the talk of Austin's heel turn and the invasion angle (which were the big reasons for the decline in fans, don't get me wrong), I think a pretty huge turn-off in 2001 was WWE's increased emphasis on comedy (which Vince preferred to call "humor" or "ha-ha") to the point where every match seemed to be bookended by Debra baking cookies or Steve Blackman holding a kendo stick between his legs in silhouette. They've managed to rein it in quite a bit since then. But when it's there, it's real bad.

[Guest Kenta Batista]

I just think its cool WWE did a shoutout to MJ. Whether corny, poorly written, or whatever. A small WWE tribute and mention to a legend is better then nothing at all. I LOVE The Human Tornado video.

[goodhelmet]

Yeah, I think if there was a genuine MJ fan on the WWE roster, it would have come off as much more sincere. I mean shit, Teddy Long didn't even know the fucking words to Beat It.

How do you know that was scripted? I took it as part of the comedy.

 

 

I don't think it was scripted. I think they saw Teddy Long was a black guy and assumed he knew the words. When they filmed it, Teddy didn't have a clue. If it was supposed to be scripted that way, it just reinforces my point.

[Guest culotron]

There's only one acceptable wrestling tribute to MJ:

 

I raise you this

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV8b_OOnUZI

 

[Marty]

Yeah, I think if there was a genuine MJ fan on the WWE roster, it would have come off as much more sincere. I mean shit, Teddy Long didn't even know the fucking words to Beat It.

Wouldn't that be greater evidence that the Creative Staff (or Vince) aren't actually Michael Jackson fans and also don't know the words to Beat It?