Part of what I love about my liberal arts education is that it serves as a gateway to break barriers between different fields or subjects of study. The curriculum encourages me to make connections that I normally would not. And so, in light of both the recent primary elections and the post-Wrestlemania order in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), I thought I would put this sort of thinking to the test.
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In particular, there are two people -- characters, as it were -- that are of specific note. They are Democratic candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns. Both individuals seem to have much more in common than one would expect a presidential candidate and professional wrestler to have. Therefore, please bear with me on this one. To help justify my bridging these two together, allow me to note two important figures.
First, there is the case of Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a “despised” heel wrestler and commentator in the 1980s for what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation.
Following the end of his original tenure with WWE, Ventura entered the world of politics, becoming Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, in 1991, and Governor of Minnesota from 1999-2003. Even today, he remains relatively active in both worlds, such as guest hostingMonday Right Raw on November 23, 2009, and appearing on CNN earlier this year to discuss the election and having his own YouTube channel.
Second, there is the case of The Great Sasuke (Masanori Murakawa), a well-renowned Japanese wrestler from the early 1990s and into the 2000s. In wrestling, not only did he found his own promotion, Michonoku Pro Wrestling – the first independent promotion outside Tokyo, but he helped bring the lucha libre style to Japan. In 2003, The Great Sasuke ran and won an election to the Iwate Prefectural Assembly. While in office, in keeping with lucha libre tradition, he maintained the usage of his mask while in office.
Jesse Ventura and The Great Sasuke’s stories help to underline the potential connection between politics and wrestling. In both cases, having charisma and energy is a must. If you want a push in wrestling, getting over with the fans is imperative; much like, if you want to get elected, you need to have the electorate’s support. Being good at public speaking and image presentation will help out incredibly in the long run.
Now that the bridge between politics and professional wrestling has been built, it is time to move onto Hillary Clinton and Roman Reigns. Both Clinton and Reigns have a similar backstory, in the sense that both had tremendous partnerships that brought them to the forefront. In Clinton’s case, her marriage with former President Bill Clinton elevated her to the national stage. Her popularity as First Lady helped kickstart her career as a Senator of New York, and in turn, her push towards holding national offices.
Meanwhile, Roman Reigns, debuted on the main roster as a member of a faction, The Shield, which many consider to arguably be the best team of the PG era.
The Shield tore their way through the WWE, taking on some of the biggest names in the industry. Originally a heel team, their success and ability to get over with the audience warranted a face turn. Each played a critical role with the team: Dean Ambrose was the man with the microphone, Seth Rollins provided the high-flying offense, and Roman Reigns provided the muscle, the giant and the heavy.
With their huge popularity and exciting matches, the Shield served as a launch pad for each of the members involved. As the Shield’s breakup grew imminent (all stables/tag teams do eventually), it seemed more and more that those at the top viewed Roman Reigns as the guy to succeed John Cena as the top babyface in the company.
Now we come to a very intriguing part of both Clinton and Reign’s situations. For both individuals, the extremes in their respective parties have rebelled against them. Allow me to explain further.
Hillary Clinton, by all considerations, is not a terrible candidate. She is a moderate, as a Presidential candidate needs to be in order to win over the middle and independent voters. However, in being as such, she has isolated the far left in her party, especially in regards to the youth, who have taken to another candidate Bernie Sanders.
What has isolated her further from the far left has been her characterization as an “establishment” candidate, handpicked by those at the top, especially the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Her massive superdelegate lead over Sanders has not helped her in the eyes of the far left either. Both Clinton and Schultz have been massively villainized in the media. One simply needs to do a meme search for either of them to understand what I mean. However, no matter how much either is villainized, it seems that Clinton will continue her march to the Democratic nomination.
Similarly, Roman Reigns has received backlash in his push towards the top as well, especially from the smarks and from the “Internet Wrestling Community” (IWC). After winning the Royal Rumble in 2015, he was met with a chorus of boos, despite being a face and receiving an endorsement from The Rock.
In his title match with Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, the WWE was able to back themselves out of a corner by having Seth Rollins cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Yet even when the WWE regrouped and tried bringing Reigns back into the main event picture following his recovery from injury, the audience still booed Reigns. John Cena, since his rise to the top, has received a mixed reaction from the audience despite being a face, so as much should be expected from Reigns.
However, the reactions that Reigns has been getting is much worse than what Cena ever got. Yet, the WWE continues to force Reigns upon the audience, having him finally knock off Triple H and The Authority at this past Wrestlemania, and earning what will likely be his first prolonged title run.
Both Hillary Clinton and Roman Reigns are very similar. Their respective narratives provide for intriguing, and at times frustrating stories. They both have what it takes to make it to the top, but they are continuously bashed by the extremes of their parties. It would not surprise me enough if I ever heard Clinton say, “I am not a bad guy, I am not a good guy, I am THE guy.”
It is intriguing for me how applicable professional wrestling can be to the outside world. However, if politics to WWE is Cinton to Reigns, then what must Bernie Sanders be akin to? Well, right now, it would seem that Bernie Sanders shares that of The Phenomenal One -- AJ Styles.
