Raw is Sharpton

So I'm sitting watching television the other night, and I flip by the USA Network and I see a promo for their WWE Monday Night Raw program, and it says “Hosted by Al Sharpton.” Whu-whu-whu- what? Are you kidding me?

Let me back a bit. Pro wrestling is not what it once was. The current audience is not the audience it had during the reign of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Wrestling has always been the red-headed stepchild of professional sports. I'm not saying people don't watch it or enjoy it, but it's not mainstream and it's not water cooler talk. ESPN never covered Stone Cold giving people the stunner and then dumping beer on their face. I used to watch wrestling when I was a toddler, I thought it was fun and entertaining. Then I stopped, and then I picked it up around 1998, when they had Wrestlemania in Boston. I was a pretty fervent devotee for about 6 good years after that - I thought it was awesome and great drama. I knew of no one else who watched it like I did, and I knew there was a reason for that, but nonetheless, I enjoyed what I saw.

So what happened was, Stone Cold Steve Austin got sick of his company, and his injuries, and called it a day. He was the quintessential good guy with a bad attitude, anti-establishment. He didn't like his boss and he liked to drink beer and whoop ass. Who wouldn't like that? And then The Rock came along - Dwayne Johnson to you “The Mummy Returns” fans. The Rock was brash and knew how to deliver a promo like no one else. He wouldn't just say, “Your mom is fat.” He would say “ Your mom is fat, she's so fat, The Rock is going to come to your house, The Rock is going to knock on your door, if the door doesn't open The Rock will knock your door down, The Rock will come inside your living room, The Rock will have have a beer with your dad, The Rock will flirt with your sister, and then The Rock will find your fat ass mother, take off his size 15 boot, turn that sumbitch sideways and shove it straight up her candy-ass!” Or something to that extent. But The Rock also decided to call it a day and went Hollywood, and so went the ratings for the WWE.

And that brings us to today. Recently, WWE decided that they would have guest hosts for their flagship program – Monday Night Raw, in what can only be a desperate move to garner ratings. I understand that it might be seen as a good way to have celebrity tie-ins to events and promote through word of mouth. If you haven't been watching wrestling before, though, you're not going to start because Carrot Top is standing in the ring. Unless you want to him get hit with a metal chair, that's different.

They've had Jeremy Piven, Shaquille O'Neal, and I think K-Fed so far. That's fine, they're all entertainers (sort of) and they can do what they want. The problem I have with Al Sharpton hosting is that, well, he's The Reverend Al Sharpton. Tonight he was billed as “the controversial and outspoken reverend.” Great, so are Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter. And Glenn Beck, minus the reverend part. Should they all guest host the show (again, yes if there are steel chairs involved).

Back to Reverend Al. He is a supposed 'civil rights' leader, a leader of urban renewal and social change. And yet, anytime a TV camera turns on, anywhere, he goes out of his way to be in front of it. Even Jesse Jackson knows not to do that. He got more publicity and public viewing out of Michael Jackson's death than most of the Jackson family. If he wants to promote education and empowering children with Newt Gingrich, great, do that, just don't do it on a wrestling program. There are certain proper outlets for promoting causes and implementing social change. Monday Night Raw is not one of those programs.