Fact or Fiction: Pro Wrestler Fired for Doing His Job

You probably won’t find too many comparisons between pro wrestling and corporate America out there nor will you see too many, if any, job sites blogging about the latest news coming out of Vince McMahon’s empire that is World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) — however the recent firing of one particular WWE employee has a lot of pro wrestling fans buzzing all over the web including us at JobsDirectUSA.

Imagine disliking your job so much that one day you go into the office and just snap into a frenzied craze and we’re not talking about a Tom Cruise in Jerry McGuire  “Who’s coming with me” moment.

No, we’re talking more extreme than that – more along the lines of a violet rage by way of spitting, choking, kicking and assaulting to no avail.  Forget about just a pink slip; if this happens to you you’re most likely headed to jail.  That’s in the real world at least.

If you work for WWE as an on-air talent however you might get off the hook unscathed unless your name is Daniel Bryan who lost his job just days after embarrassing this generation’s Hulk Hogan on national television last Monday night.

Before you jump ahead and shout “Well pro wrestling is fake dude!” – We know this.  It’s the ultimate male soap opera, it’s scripted, and the lines between reality and fantasy are constantly teased while on-air talents are made out to be  like superheros right out of a Stan Lee comic book.

However, World Wrestling Entertainment the company is no different than any other publicly traded corporation.

Rightfully so, its corporate image is everything; and to ensure that WWE does not piss it’s corporate sponsors – and fans – it has corporate executives in place that closely run its day to day operations outside of the ring.

But wait, like any other major corporation in America it too has real life issues which stem from sexual harassment claims to failed drug tests to off-camera conduct violations such as DUI’s and public intoxication – it happens quite often actually. Real stuff, no scripts here.

This takes us to the story of wrestler Daniel Bryan who last week was fired by WWE for violating WWE’s conduct policy which did not involve any of the aforementioned. In fact, Bryan’s firing was directly based on the actions performed by his on-camera character – in other words Bryan was fired for doing his job as an entertainer!

As reported by WWE.com on Friday afternoon, Bryan – whose real name is actually Bryan Danielson – was released from his contract largely due in part his involvement in a scene during Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, in which he choked announcer Justin Roberts with his tie, then spit in the face of WWE Champion John Cena before proceeding to kick him (Cena) in the head.

The apparent feeling within WWE was that the “attack” (despite not being real) was too violent for WWE’s TV-PG rating.

But who is really to blame here? The employee, or in this case performer, Bryan Danielson who was merely acting in character and doing as instructed by WWE’s production team or WWE who pushed the envelope far beyond its TV-PG limits (it would not be the first time) and was probably then slapped on the wrist by USA Network Executives, corporate sponsors or maybe even Vince’s wife Linda McMahon who’s running for U.S. senate.

Is it uncommon for someone to be fired for just doing their job? Nope. It happens every day in corporate America, WWE is no different.

In this case it’s only coming from a company which once made catch phrases like “suck it!” late 90’s pop culture and throughout the years has produced angles, or skits, which involve sex, violence and public humiliation

Is there morale to the story here? Not really.

A lesson to be learned? Possibly.

A direct connection between realities of corporate America and World Wrestling Entertainment’s reality? Most definitely!

Next time you are told “just get it done and don’t ask questions!” – keep calm and be sure that you don’t spit in the face of the company superstar or you might just be given the smack down along with your pink slip as in the case of Bryan Danielson.

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