On Monday Night Raw during a promo against Charlotte in build up to Survivor Series, number one contender to the Divas championship Paige decided to bring up Reid Flair.
Paige bringing up Reid Flair to Charlotte is bad for business
Reid, the brother of Charlotte, passed away in March of 2013 from an accidental heroin overdose and other drugs at the age of 25. In the exchange Paige said, “You’re like your little baby brother. He didn’t have much fight in him, did he?”
Current reports state that both the mother of Reid and Charlotte plus their father, Ric Flair, did not know that Reid was going to be mentioned in the promo. Some people feel this might not be true, that COO Triple H would surely tell Ric Flair to prepare for Reid to be mentioned in the worked storyline between Charlotte and Paige. This isn’t actually new with the WWE, however.
In the build-up for the No Way Out match in 2006 between Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, Orton decided to bring up the recent passing of Eddie Guerrero to get heat, telling Mysterio that Eddie wasn’t in heaven, but hell.
The angle caused a ton of controversy, with talents debating whether or not it was in poor taste. Mick Foley wrote an article on WWE.com stating it was in poor taste and Orton didn’t need to say that to get his heat. According to former WWE Creative writer Alex Greenfield, the exploitations of Eddie Guerrero’s death were pushed by Vince McMahon. “God damn, Eddie would want this,” claimed McMahon whenever writers would express they were going too far. When asked in an interview, Randy Orton said he never wanted to do it but they called Vickie to get permission. According to Orton, Vickie said Eddie was willing to do anything that was good for business. This despite the fact Eddie refused to any storylines regarding the death of Art Barr when his best friend passed away.
However, is it really a question of permission and more a question of good taste? In the situation with Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, the fans were already getting cold on Mysterio’s push due to the fact it felt like the only reason it happened was to pay tribute to Eddie Guerrero. It wasn’t about Mysterio’s talent as a wrestler but the company being a little more comfortable pushing him to the title than Chavo Guerrero, Eddie’s cousin. To add the cheap heat, it didn’t make fans respect Rey more and while it might have made fans hate Randy Orton, their ire with Orton wasn’t to see Rey beat him.
When it comes to Paige mentioning Reid Flair, it takes the heat off of Paige and puts it into something Paige said. This is the problem with anything coined as “cheap heat” or “cheap pop”. When a wrestler brings up a city or America, fans are cheering for their geographical location. They are not cheering for the wrestler. When The Rock would say, “millions and millions of The Rock’s fans”, he turned the pop into about him. If he merely said millions and millions of fans, it would be just to acknowledge them. Paige was fine getting heat against Charlotte by insulting her but the moment she brought Reid into it, it made fans have heat for the statement. This is now not about Charlotte vs. Paige but what Paige said. It takes the attention away from the wrestlers.
The other problem with a bad taste statement is that it isn’t good for business. Nobody is going to pay more money to see Charlotte face Paige because Paige brought up Reid, just like the reign of Rey Mysterio was a general disappointment instead of a big money program from Orton bringing up Eddie. To insult the dead, you put the heat on the dead, and the dead cannot rise to defend themselves. When The Unamericans brought up 9/11 back in 2002, there wasn’t a dead wrestler from the attacks on the World Trade Center to come and avenge. It just made people feel uncomfortable and that they shouldn’t watch.
It’s not about what you should or shouldn’t say. If we break this down economically, the statements on Reid are just going to leave this in a shooting territory. Paige has already built herself a gimmick on making shoot remarks, and the heat goes from being about the programs to about what Paige is going to say next. The problem with that is that Paige has to keep her statements fresh, otherwise she turns into Matt Hardy constantly bringing up Edge and Lita, and then nobody wants to hear her. She has to pick a new subject next, meaning bringing up the dead can’t go anywhere. It’s unfortunate, because the promo was otherwise strong from Paige.
In the end, this promo is going to be remembered the same way Randy Orton’s statement on Eddie Guerrero is remembered. Nobody remembers the matches. Nobody remembers if the feud popped ratings. All they remember is the statement. In the last heel turns by Orton, they have never shown footage of him saying Eddie is in hell. It doesn’t make his highlight reel. This won’t for Paige either. Whatever heat created between her and Charlotte, all anyone is going to remember is her remarks about Reid Flair. Reid Flair, regardless of how he lived his life, deserves better than to be remembered through a tasteless wrestling storyline everyone will soon forget.
