Dot Net readers comment on Monday's Raw: Reader bothered by "the crowd's display of xenophobia"

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I learned that I'm too old to get it. Being 40 and having grown up on Sam Muchnick's St. Louis wrestling club, I was brought up with wrestling that made me want, even as a child, to see the hero get his revenge at a big show. I tried to adapt to the Bob Geigle and Verne Gagne influence that ruined our town, then shifted to Jim Crockett and WCW years until Hulk Hogan showed up in WCW to which my hatred of him drove me to a couple rough years with the WWF before the Attitude era (which I thoroughly enjoyed).

I have tried to adapt to the present watching creative failure after failure (WCW Invasion which should have lasted more than a pay-per-view and ECW on Sci-Fi. Point is I've always tried to adapt until one glaring flaw hit me like a Bruiser Brody boot to the face. Why do I want to buy Judgment Day when the last image I have is Triple H in a dominant position over the challenger.

I already know he can beat Randy Orton. I should have seen Orton just decimate Triple H leading into the show, then I would buy to see him get his revenge on Orton. I learned that it just doesn't make sense and I've decided to give up and reduce myself to strolling down memory lane looking for the Kiel Auditorium and Checkerdome marquee's which state "Pro Wrestling Tonight" where it all made sense and I didn't feel like I wasted my time, my money or had my intelligence insulted.

John Brooks

***

Honestly, I turned the show off after that opening segment, as it was one of those moments that makes me wonder why I watch wrestling and makes me ashamed to be a wrestling fan. I'm not sure which was worse, the crowd's display of xenophobia because a foreign athlete wanted his own national anthem to be played (I mean, I almost understand where the crowd's coming from when it's an enemy nation but, last I checked, Britain was still considered an ally... I know this is a classic heel tactic, but I've never understood it) or John Cena coming out and encouraging it with his "You're in the United States of America" comments. 

I know I should expect such things by now but, for one reason or another, this time got to me even more than the usual displays of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia we see from WWE. Do they just edit these bits out when trying for an international audience?

Ryan Frank
Richfield, Minn.

Powell replies: I think you're being too hard on WWE in his case. I get a kick out of it when Canadian wrestlers and fans mock or taunt the United States. I think this was all meant in good fun. I assume this segment aired in the U.K. If so, the fans might remember and stick to Cena the next time he shows his face there. Either way, they'll cheer William Regal and boo any pro-America sentiments.