Chris Jericho has a temper tantrum- Can dish out criticism, but can't take it

[Ambiguous Turd]

I can't help but get a laugh out of this situation.

As you probably noticed on the News Page, Gabe Sapolski attended the Smackdown tapings in Philly, and made come critical comments about WWE on his MySpace page. Here is what he had to say about the show:

"Well, sorry that this blog turned into more of a hard sell than usual. This won't become a regular habit. There is just a lot going on. I stopped by the Smackdown taping last night and left after CM Punk's promo. Punk was great, but the taping sucked.

Most of the wrestlers were robotic (stop at top of ramp, pose, walk into ring, ignore entire crowd and turn to hard cam, pose, turn back to ramp and wait for opponent). Everything was formulaic. I sat there for two hours from the opening bell waiting through dead time between matches and endless videos before Smackdown actually started.

However, it wasn't all bad as Tommy Dreamer is still over in Philly and Punk is a superstar.

Anyway, my point. I saw some crappy wrestling lately that turned me off to the business. Now this weekend there are three cards and I'm looking forward to every match on each of them. I don't know if they'll all be good, but they are all interesting, fresh and have potential. This is roughly 25 matches. Things are great when you find yourself looking forward to 25 matches in one weekend. I'll have a report next week in this blog."

And ... Chris Jericho posted the following response on his Twitter page:

"Dammit if Gabe Sopolsky wasn't impressed, then what chance does the WWE have to survive even one more day??? Breadline, here I come..."

Anyone else amused by this?

Here, Sapolski points out some of the same arguments we've been making in our discussions on Wrestlezone .... the robotic scripted promos, the same boring confrontations, the formulaic feel to WWE television, etc.

I simply have noticed that Chris Jericho has had no problem dishing out his fair share of criticisms of the WWE product as of late ... including the PG rating holding back superstars and the problem WWE has in creating new stars. That is okay to do, according to Jericho.

Yet apparently when someone else criticizes the WWE product and that someone is not named "Chris Jericho", then that apparently is NOT okay. And he has to respond like a spoiled brat, and insult Sapolski. Because, after all, only people in WWE are apparently allowed to criticize their own product. "Anyone else who doesn't work for the company, doesn't know what they are talking about"- must be Jericho's mentality.

I thought Sapolski was spot on with his comments. I really have to question why Jericho had to whine about Gabe's comments like a 2 year old. I can only imagine that because Sapolski didn't plug Jericho's performance on the show, or give Jericho the blind adoration that his Internet Jerichoholics provide him with on a daily basis ....... and more likely because Sapolski's comments likely described the same type of interview/confrontation (walk out to ramp, make comments on mic, turn around, leave) that Jericho himself participated in.

I am beggin' someone to tell me why Jericho shouldn't be called out for being a word his character uses at least 20 times a broadcast ... a "hypocrite".

 

[Shadowmancer]

I actually think that it was a brilliant retort by Jericho. Sarcasm can be your friend, I do think that Jericho may just be working people with that comment. But yeah there are issues and Gabe does state them quite well, but I think that this comes down to what Jericho and others are allowed to do rather than what should be done, there is a concerted effort for everything to be pre-approved by Vince which I think is where the main problem lies, I know that it is a taped show but they seem to get across the wrong idea to the wrestlers themselves and I can make the same case when I went to a house show last year, there was no playing to the crowd except when caused by the crowd that was close to the ring. This is a byproduct of the entire need for things to be down to the second planning. Makes a boring product and the result is comments like Gabe's which leads to someone who is naturally creative like Jericho getting stuck in a rut and stuck doing the same thing week in week out.

 

[X]

Honestly I simply cannot believe you actually think that Jericho doesn't like Gabe or Dragon Gate. Jericho has long been a wrestling purist, and I guarantee that if he were to watch some of Dragon Gate USA (and he probably has), he'd love it. The only reason he retorted to Gabe like this was because he's employed by the WWE. It's the same reason you'll never see JR start ragging on the WWE in his blog. It's obvious that when you're with the WWE, you aren't allowed to talk negatively of them. Ever.

I don't see how he "can't take criticism" though. How do you figure?

 

[Blade]

I think Jericho's response was great, you're being a tad harsh on him Sidious.

Regardless of how Sapolski books ROH, he can hardly give unconstructive critisism. And yes, it was unconstructive. I generally regard the sentence "The tapings sucked" as unconstructive critisism.

Jericho handled it perfectly and, in his own way, made an excellent point. WWE has made billions from these 'robots', more than Sapolski will ever have the opportunity to make. If that's how they do things, who is Sapolski to criticise?

I have a belief that you can critisise someone who's less successful than you all you want, because you have every right to. If you're more successful, you've done something right and they've done something wrong. But you cannot criticise someone who is much more successful than you. It just makes you look like an idiot. If anything, you should be looking at how they do things.

It's like me critisising a mod for not doing a good job. I don't know what exactly mods have to do and I don't know how hard the job is. I have no right to critisise them.

Jericho's response was spot on. No matter how many flaws Sapolski thinks he finds with WWE programming, it seems to be working for them as they're still the number 1 promotion in America by a huge amount.

 

[X]

I think Jericho's response was great, you're being a tad harsh on him Sidious.
Regardless of how Sapolski books ROH, he can hardly give unconstructive critisism.

Gabe hasn't booked ROH in nearly a year. He's the booker for Dragon Gate USA and has been for awhile. He even mentions it in the article.

Pay attention Blade-a-thon.

I'd have to agree with Gabe though. Smackdown the past few weeks has been a huge, huge step down from what I'd come to expect over the summer. The show has really been lacking for about a month now.

 

[Ambiguous Turd]

I think Jericho's response was great, you're being a tad harsh on him Sidious.

Criticize my criticism do you? Weeeeeelll ... I don't think I am. But you are entitled to your opinion.

But, we'll continue ....

Regardless of how Sapolski books ROH, he can hardly give unconstructive critisism. And yes, it was unconstructive. I generally regard the sentence "The tapings sucked" as unconstructive critisism.

Well, that statement certainly wasn't the most professional. However, it was simply on his MySpace and I don't think was intended to be formal. Obviously, Jericho decided to turn it into a formal criticism though, and draw attention to it.

But Sapolski's actual comments, I feel, were right on target. Especially about the promos, which we even have a thread on in the General WWE section, for about a week now.

I can only imagine Jericho must have done one of those segments Sapolski spoke of, and took it personally.

Jericho handled it perfectly and, in his own way, made an excellent point. WWE has made billions from these 'robots', more than Sapolski will ever have the opportunity to make. If that's how they do things, who is Sapolski to criticise?

I knew some "WWE Shareholders" were bound to get upset at this one and go back to the "Well, WWE still draws plenty of money" argument. But just because WWE generates money, doesn't mean that the product is actually that great from a Creative standpoint. As stated, most wrestling fans simply watch wrestling out of habit. It's like an addiction. They are going to watch, regardless. But it doesn't make it good.

Sapolski criticized the product from a Creative standpoint. And he was spot-on with his remarks.

He never said that the WWE doesn't produce good a nice Balance Sheet. He said the product was stale. People are going to watch WWE, regardless if it is stale or not. That isn't a factor for a lot of people, because of their addiction.

I have a belief that you can critisise someone who's less successful than you all you want, because you have every right to. If you're more successful, you've done something right and they've done something wrong. But you cannot criticise someone who is much more successful than you. It just makes you look like an idiot. If anything, you should be looking at how they do things.

Well being that it's unanimous that the fans feel that WWE has seen a lot better days in the past, I would beg to differ. Vince is successful because of what he's done in the past. Not so much at what he's doing today. He's built up the company, and built a large, loyal fanbase. And where as the base of his fans gets eroded away, little by little ... it isn't by any leaps and bounds putting his company in any serious danger.

However, if I were to argue if WWE is gaining or losing fans these days, I would say that they are either likely gain a fan for every fan they lose ... or are losing more fans than they are gaining. I don't see them gaining more fans than they are losing, put it that way.

Vince however lives off his past reputation, and the company is doing the same thing. That has nothing to do with whether the product sucks from a Creative standpoint. Yes, people will watch shit. It defies logic, but professional wrestling has proven that to be true.

It's like me critisising a mod for not doing a good job. I don't know what exactly mods have to do and I don't know how hard the job is. I have no right to critisise them.

You can criticize a Mod all you like. Mods are open to criticism. You don't have to be a Mod to be able to criticize one, because you see the end result of what we do. Where as we don't necessarily report to you, we do however provide a service to you. Some Mods do a nice job, and some Mods need some improvement once in a while, don't know how to talk to people, go on Power Trips, or things of that nature.

So you have every right to criticize anyone. For instance, if you would do so for me, I would listen to your comments, determine if they have validity, and let you know what I honestly think. But if I don't agree with your comments, I will push back.

Jericho's response was spot on. No matter how many flaws Sapolski thinks he finds with WWE programming, it seems to be working for them as they're still the number 1 promotion in America by a huge amount.

Spoken like a true "Shareholder". You did Vince proud on this one, Blade.

 

[johnbragg]

Just on instinct, I think Jericho was criticizing Sapolsky "in character." And he was being, yes, a hypocrite.

By the way, Jericho and Lawler both made comments lately about TNA and used almost the same wording, that WWE had their best years when they were competing with WCW, so TNA's growth is good for WWE.

It sounded to me like WWE put out a "party line" to their employees, a canned statement about how WWE regards the prospect of TNA as competition. I have to say, "Competition-is-good-for-us, we-wish-WCW-were-still-around-kicking-our-asses" sounds better, PR-wise that "Hogan is going to flush that turd of a company down the toilet. By the time he's done Panda Energy or maybe Universal Studios might be out of business, never mind TNA."

I don't know if there is a WWE party line on Sapolsky, but I think that dismissing any criticism of WWE from outside WWE is probably what Vince wants from his employees, er, independent contractors.

At least he didn't call Sapolsky a ***.