“The Whim Of The Smark”

Welcome to The Divine Miss Dumas.

The one thing you have to love about certain online people is their inability to understand the bigger picture. It is a flaw that has plagued the Internet Wrestling Community for a long while now and can be applied to the current situation with Amy Dumas. It can’t have escaped many eagle eyed Amy fans’ notice that there is a lot of disenchantment going on right now in regards to the direction of Amy’s career. I’d like to say that this is understandable and of course people’s opinions are all equal and should be respected and while this is a great theory, I find the practice to be somewhat different. I like to think of myself as a patient kind of guy but I find myself bemused at the insistence of some that Amy’s career is on its way downhill. That she has lost the plot and is unhappy. That WWE is misusing her and ruining her career. Because nothing could be further from the case.

If we judge things by the whim of the smark, Lita aligning herself with Edge has been the beginning of the end. The whim of the smark tells us that Lita is not in the ring so the instinctive thought is “here lies a problem” and the snarling smark beast within them convinces them that Lita is far better off without Edge, who is holding her back. Nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, the character of Lita needed rejuvenating. Like any gimmick which had been running for a good few years, things need shaking up, otherwise things become boring, dull. They stagnate. And this is what was happening with Lita’s character. She was still the awesome, talented face we all knew and loved from the start yet something was missing and that something was spark. And on May 16th, 2005, that spark was well and truly lit.

Although the circumstances of Lita’s heel heat were unfortunate due to fans judging her on something they know nothing about, the last laugh was on these haters as Lita’s character was well and truly rejuvenated after turning on husband Kane for Edge. Her promos were never better. The couple crackled and sizzled like burgers on a barbeque. The heat on her character was simply amazing and she looked happy – the first time she had seemed genuinely relaxed out there since she came back. Yet people weren’t happy.

Maybe their own ideas of Amy/Lita had been destroyed... I don’t know, but the one argument that always threw me for six was the “this is never what Lita was about” argument as surely the whole point of a WWE character is to be about what Vince McMahon and the bookers tell you to be about. Elements of real life may come into play (Cena’s rapping career, Angle’s gold medal, Jericho and Fozzy) but do some people honestly think that Cena spends his spare time making homophobic jokes? Or that Kurt spends his time whining before sadistically beating people? Of course they don’t. It is what playing a character is all about, and all Amy has done has had a much needed change of character. She is not the first and will not be the last.

Again, the whim of the smark tells us that she is being destroyed recently, which is a claim I find bizarre as Edge is being built for main event status – he has his own show to keep him on air while he heals, and he is being taunted about his lack of title opportunities which in WWE jargon is a sure sign that when he is ready to go, he will kick the proverbial arse. And Lita will be right there, in promos and in matches, fighting for him, speaking for him and allowing the characters to breathe and grow. Many would like Lita to be in the Women’s Division again and eventually I’d like to see this too, but only if the Women’s Division would significantly improve, as on the RAW side of things, it has crashed. The title means nothing anymore, seeing that Trish Stratus (who I love, don’t get me wrong) has held the title during months out with injury. Victoria has turned into a glorified jobber and carrier for the average Torrie and appalling Candice Michelle. Maria is a drifting character. Ashley needs a lot of work before she is anywhere near ready to build up the division. And as for Mickie James – my opinion on her is not positive despite the glowing reviews she has received. I fail to see the reasons for these glowing reviews, because to me, she is just a generic, average wrestler who has been made to look good not for her talent but because the Women’s Division is on its last legs. If Lita re-entered the division now and was still with Edge, what would happen? They would fade because the characters are not yet in a strong enough position to keep this moving. They are undoubtedly over as heels, but this is because of the time they spend together. Separate storylines would not be the way to keep them over. If Lita re-entered this division now and left Edge like is being suggested in some quarters, then not only would she be entering a fading division and becoming a jobber like Victoria, but she would also lose any kind of fan reaction she might have. Fans are not fickle when it comes to real life – she is hated (wrongly) for what occurred with Matt Hardy, and leaving Edge will do nothing to abate the bitterness felt by many fans, yet she will lose the heat she has gained because there will be nothing to jeer her about. So releasing Lita on the whim of a smark would really be releasing her into the wilderness, and I prefer to see Amy Dumas happy – even if it means I have to be patient when it comes to her in ring return.

Thanks for reading!

Dan