So, WWE is on tour in the Southern Hemisphere this week - Australia and South Africa. Nothing eventful ever happens in those countries, just house shows and media appearances. Nope, nothing ever happens in South Africa...
Okay then.
First thing's first, how did Orton simply walk away from a dude loading up to uppercut him in the junk? Since I will take the high road here and not make a joke that Orton's, shall we say, viper is undersized, there are two explanations for his virtual no-sell. Either the dude straight up missed, or Orton has experience getting walloped there and knows how not to show that he's in serious pain. If the latter is the case, then man, Orton is a much better man than I am. I would have writhed on the canvas for about 20 minutes and done a stretcher job. I cannot take a good nut shot, and if you knew my brothers, you would know that I have plentiful experience in taking nut shots.
Secondly, how the heck did a fan actually make it so far as to low-blowing Orton and nearly escaping before he got tackled? My first instinct was to make this grand comparison to how security in the US is so much better, but how many times has WWE visited South Africa? How many times has an incident such as this happened before? One is the not only the loneliest number, but it's the smallest sample size, even if South African cities have crime problems that even the worst American cities are thankful they don't have. Regardless, a failure of security happened, and heck, two wrestlers almost seriously got injured. The video didn't really show anything other than the assault on Orton's member, but apparently, Big E Langston got dong-shocked as well.
Finally, this attack shows the perfect storm of how real wrestling might still be to some fans, no matter how far back WWE (or any company, for that matter) pulls the curtain back. Obviously, this guy could just have been a fame-hound. He may have been legitimately disturbed in the head. However, the probability that this guy just hated Randy Orton's guts, didn't realize he was a character, and decided he was going to do what folks who have opposed Orton in the past couldn't looms pretty large. In fact, if I had to hazard a completely uneducated guess, I would speculate that the fan running in while Orton's back was turned, dropping down to one knee, and delivering the low blow in complete WWE uppercut fashion is a sign to me that this guy thought he was part of the show and executed his attack as such. Again, pure speculation on my part, and maybe in a twisted way, I want that scenario to be true because anything else is just scary.
Anyway, the assailant has been arrested, and WWE.com has even reported on it. In a side note, I had a hearty guffaw at the phrasing of the story lede on the company site. "WWE.com has learned..." I don't care how much they try to reinforce the new kayfabe, the cognitive dissonance of a company website acting like a third party journalism outlet regarding stuff that happens under their own banner will never not be hilarious. I doubt this will be anything more than an interesting footnote in the year, but there's a lesson to be learned about not jumping the rail and trying to hit a trained performer. If you're thinking about doing it? Don't.
First thing's first, how did Orton simply walk away from a dude loading up to uppercut him in the junk? Since I will take the high road here and not make a joke that Orton's, shall we say, viper is undersized, there are two explanations for his virtual no-sell. Either the dude straight up missed, or Orton has experience getting walloped there and knows how not to show that he's in serious pain. If the latter is the case, then man, Orton is a much better man than I am. I would have writhed on the canvas for about 20 minutes and done a stretcher job. I cannot take a good nut shot, and if you knew my brothers, you would know that I have plentiful experience in taking nut shots.
Secondly, how the heck did a fan actually make it so far as to low-blowing Orton and nearly escaping before he got tackled? My first instinct was to make this grand comparison to how security in the US is so much better, but how many times has WWE visited South Africa? How many times has an incident such as this happened before? One is the not only the loneliest number, but it's the smallest sample size, even if South African cities have crime problems that even the worst American cities are thankful they don't have. Regardless, a failure of security happened, and heck, two wrestlers almost seriously got injured. The video didn't really show anything other than the assault on Orton's member, but apparently, Big E Langston got dong-shocked as well.
Finally, this attack shows the perfect storm of how real wrestling might still be to some fans, no matter how far back WWE (or any company, for that matter) pulls the curtain back. Obviously, this guy could just have been a fame-hound. He may have been legitimately disturbed in the head. However, the probability that this guy just hated Randy Orton's guts, didn't realize he was a character, and decided he was going to do what folks who have opposed Orton in the past couldn't looms pretty large. In fact, if I had to hazard a completely uneducated guess, I would speculate that the fan running in while Orton's back was turned, dropping down to one knee, and delivering the low blow in complete WWE uppercut fashion is a sign to me that this guy thought he was part of the show and executed his attack as such. Again, pure speculation on my part, and maybe in a twisted way, I want that scenario to be true because anything else is just scary.
Anyway, the assailant has been arrested, and WWE.com has even reported on it. In a side note, I had a hearty guffaw at the phrasing of the story lede on the company site. "WWE.com has learned..." I don't care how much they try to reinforce the new kayfabe, the cognitive dissonance of a company website acting like a third party journalism outlet regarding stuff that happens under their own banner will never not be hilarious. I doubt this will be anything more than an interesting footnote in the year, but there's a lesson to be learned about not jumping the rail and trying to hit a trained performer. If you're thinking about doing it? Don't.