by Erin Anderson
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

I agree with most of the points Brad made in his column, but I would also like to give an alternate perspective here. But does OO really need a third column on the topic of RAW's lovebirds? Absolutely. It is the most interesting and well-executed storyline WWE has going right now, and thus it has earned all of the debate and discussion. Any comments of Brad's will be italicized.

"Jericho, one of the most over and arguably most successful heels in WWE history, is beginning to display some blatantly face-like characteristics. He's smitten with Trish. Who the hell wouldn't be? So obviously, he must be on his way to a face turn, right? The smarks want it. They're practically begging for it. The average fans like Jericho too, they just know he's supposed to be a bad guy, so they boo him, right? Jericho needs to turn, right?

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong.

Jericho doesn't, and never will again, need to turn."

From a character standpoint, no, Jericho doesn't need to turn. As a heel, we all know who Jericho is and why he acts the way that he acts. He is a talented wrestler but cheats to win. He is a cocky smartass who thinks he is a huge rock star. He often dresses like an idiot but considers himself fashionable. He is clever and he knows it, but Jericho mostly embodies the phrase, "Delusions of self-grandeur." Like Austin and the Rock, he's almost exactly the same as a face.

Brad was dead-on in his analysis of Jericho's character, but that is not the issue here. Jericho doesn’t need to turn and ride off into the sunset with Trish to add another dimension to his persona; that has already been accomplished by him showing a soft spot for the girl despite being a heel. But it doesn't mean that Jericho doesn't have to turn. More on that later.

"Oh, hey... I like movies… What draws me into a film more than anything else are well drawn, fully realized characters."

In the movie Fargo, there is a scene that almost doesn't belong with the rest of the murder mystery: in it, Frances McDormand's character runs into man she knew in high school and find herself in a rather embarrassing situation (I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it. If you haven't, just rent the damn thing already). The scene doesn't really serve much purpose in the story except to show us the kind of woman that Marge (McDormand) is. It is there simply to develop her character.

That sort of character-building is a luxury that movies enjoy. Wrestling does not and cannot; the fans would quickly become bored with it. Because of its emphasis on action, characters in wrestling must be defined through the action and storylines, not the other way around. True character development, not of the stereotypical variety, almost always comes out with little unscripted touches that a wrestler puts into his promos and matches; after a time, the creative team is able to incorporate these flashes of personality into storylines deliberately.

In short: WWE doesn't go out of its way to build complex characters simply for the sake of complex characters.

"…he can beat someone to a bloody pulp for Eric Bischoff one minute and then go have an awkwardly sensitive moment with Trish the next. His actions are justified by his personality, not the other way around."

Not so. Character tics aren't deliberately scripted unless they serve an immediate purpose: in this case, Jericho's affection for Trish. The resulting complexity of Jericho's persona is incidental.

What purpose does that affection serve? The beauty of the storyline is that most of us don't really know, and new theories develop as the angle progresses. A Trish heel turn seems unlikely for the immediate future, given her comments on this Monday's RAW and the dearth of popular female faces on the show. The more probable route would be either a face turn for Jericho, or him kicking Trish to the curb. Either way, Jericho's sudden soft spot serves as a function for the story; it does not exist because his character is versatile.

I say this because nobody thought Jericho was sincere when he saved Trish from a beatdown to kickstart this angle. When he practically melted at Trish's feet the next week when she thanked him for it, we were still dubious. It took more backstage skits to make the fans truly entertain the possibility that Jericho meant what he said. His actions were not justified by his personality in this case. This is a side of Jericho that the fans have not seen since he turned heel two years ago. Come to think of it, this is a side that the fans haven't ever seen from Jericho. Kind and romantic are alien traits to Y2J, and are only surfacing now because they are necessary to the story.

"So, is a face turn in the works for Jericho? Is it necessary for his character? No, and neither is winning all the time or holding a shiny gold belt."

A face turn may very well be in the works for Jericho, and it has nothing to do with whether or not it is necessary for his character. If he is turned face, it will be because it is necessary for WWE and its storylines, just as his newfound romantic side is. The company may need another main-event level babyface for upcoming storylines, as its top two (HBK and Goldberg) do not wrestle regularly. It may be necessary for a Y2J/Christian feud. It could happen for any number of reasons, or it may not happen at all.

It is a sad fact that WWE doesn't take the wrestlers' characters into account more often in storylines: Triple H remained a face for far too long after he returned from his quad injury. Kane's past and his personality have been re-written and changed so often in the last year and a half that he's only now starting to recover from it. Jericho was made Stephanie's lackey and thrown into the background of what should have been his title feud with Triple H. By the end of the Invasion angle, none of the characters' motivations made any sense. It has happened time and time again, and it will continue to happen whenever the creative team gets a bright idea for a storyline.

The fans may care about the characters, but the writers do not. We and the wrestlers will always be at their mercy. If the writers want Jericho as a face, he will become a face whether it benefits his persona or not. It is as simple as that. We can only hope that our favorite characters can come out of it intact.
  

E-MAIL ERIN
BROWSE THE BROAD'S ARCHIVES

Erin Anderson is an Atlanta native and a student at Georgia State University. Since writing about wrestling didn't go over too well with her English professors, she vents here at Online Onslaught.

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