Is this treason?

Patriotism has been a central theme in professional wrestling for as long as there has been professional wrestling. The evil foreigner threatens some aspect of American values, allowing fans to pretend to agree about those values and rally around defending the United States of America.

If there's one thing that American wrestling fans love, it's chanting "USA" at a show. They yell it to support the American good guy. They yell it defiantly at the evil foreigner heel.

I walked into my first live wrestling show about 10 minutes after it started. It was a WWE house show. I was struck immediately by the anger from the crowd as they chanted "USA! USA! USA!" Why were they so passionate? Because Jinder Mahal, the world champion at the time who hailed from India, was in the ring. He was going to talk to his people in his language.

Patriotism can be ugly. One might argue that it's ugly more than it's not in the year 2024. In that sense, wrestling tells a pretty accurate story when it comes to patriotism. That’s been true over the course of wrestling history as well. Consider the fact that Hulk Hogan is the one with the song that goes, “I am a real American.”

I get the sense that a certain percentage of fans cringe a little bit when the evil foreigner stories pop up. These angles are still part of wrestling, though, even if we should know better. And when given the opportunity, fans still love the "USA" chant.

MJF, the American Champion

There is something fascinating happening with Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Will Ospreay. MJF is the clear bad guy, back to his ways as a vicious and cruel heel. Ospreay is the good guy, the one trying to win the right way and giving it his all on behalf of the fans.

Wrestling, like real life, has moved away from black and white and towards more stories in the gray. Anti-heroes ride high. ‘Tweeners hold down spots as the top guys. Not every story has an obvious baby face and an obvious heel. In many feuds, fans will cheer both wrestlers.

This is not a gray area feud. With a black and white battle between good and evil established, patriotism entered the story this week.

That's where things get interesting. Having recently won the International Championship in a classic match against Ospreay, MJF announced a change. He would be replacing the International belt with the American Championship.

In the process, MJF aimed his ire at the fans in attendance and AEW fans at large. Specific to American fans, he accused us of abandoning our country. MJF cited "treasonous" behavior from those of us who cheered Ospreay and booed MJF.

I was enthralled by the segment. I knew the "USA" chant was coming. I had no idea where things would go from there. What hold did patriotism have on this story, this apparent subversion of the typical evil foreigner story in professional wrestling?

Patriotism is weaponized and manipulated in so many ways, both seen and unseen. Even for people wary of the current state of affairs in the United States, it's a serious thing to be accused of behavior or views that are unpatriotic or anti-American. MJF made that accusation, and as sure as ever, the crowd chanted "USA" upon the reveal of the American Championship.

Was this the start of a double turn? Was this story still going down the path of fans booing MJF after he staked his claim to the sacred ground that is patriotism?

The answer came moments later. MJF explained that he didn't mean to represent all of America, and certainly not the people of Nashville, Tennessee. He only meant the real America, very specifically located in Long Island, New York. That’s what he means with his new American Championship.

That did the trick. The people booed. The heel remained.

After he confronted MJF, the fire in Ospreay’s promo came from the opportunity to win that belt back in his home country at Wembley Stadium next month at All In. The segment concluded with red-blooded Americans in Nashville rallying behind Ospreay and his quest to restore the International Championship. They booed the ugly American. They cheered the British hero.

I appreciate this twist on a story that has been done so many times. We’ve done the evil foreigner thing enough. Besides, it’s probably fitting in 2024 that patriotism in the United States go hand-in-hand with ugly and boorish behavior. I’m just glad the fans saw that as a bad thing.

Is Finn Balor OK?

Gunther has developed a reputation over the years. His chops are loud. They become memes. And they leave people in rough shape when the match has ended.

Here is the search menu if you starting looking for highlights of his chops, in this case using his previous moniker (WALTER):

The hardest chops have to be the shots from the empty arena match against Ilya Dragunov. But it’s a long list of Gunther matches that could make their case for second place. Most of the stiff matches on that list would come from pay-per-views or premium live events. Our latest entry comes from this week’s Monday Night Raw, courtesy of the main event match between Balor and Gunther.

Gunther is one of the best wrestlers in the world. He distinguishes himself with a character and style in his matches unlike anyone else. The current rise of WWE coincides with the rise of Gunther as a top guy, among other factors.

Some other thoughts and questions

Is Seth Rollins going to wear that referee shirt? All eyes will be on the guest referee, after all, because it’s not clear where his interests lie. He hates Drew McIntyre and CM Punk, and he’s a baby face. These all present interesting wrinkles on the special guest referee angle. His wardrobe also presents interesting wrinkles, so I’m really pulling for a funny ref shirt.

Is Dirty Dom going to cost Rhea Ripley the championship? It seems like the obvious next step in their story, with Rhea moving forward as the baby face chasing her title and battling the Liv Morgan/Dirty Dom duo.

Did you know Bayley is wrestling Nia Jax at SummerSlam? I’m in the camp of fans who don’t watch every minute of wrestling every week, but I generally know the big stories. That would seem to be a prerequisite to writing a wrestling newsletter, after all, even if the content on Kanefabe often isn’t really about wrestling. Anyway, I saw this on the card for SummerSlam and had zero idea it was happening.

When is Roman Reigns coming back? Might it be after the main event this weekend between Solo Sikoa and Cody Rhodes? Whenever it does happen, are you ready for Roman to get a giant baby face pop?

Did you know any of this was happening?

As I just noted, I can’t even keep up with everything in WWE and AEW from one week to the next. I do not watch TNA. But the suggested videos on YouTube thought I would be interested in this clip, a clip that feels like someone spun a wheel with the names of random wrestlers and landed on these two.

I’m always happy to see people get another chance, so good on these guys. Nice suits, too.