Over the years, we’ve lost an increasing number of our favorite wresters from our childhood but they were regularly given a tribute of ten bells the next show.
But lately, the WWE has not done that except for certain people. When Pat Patterson passed away, he got a salute, a video package, and a constant stream of social media posts about him.
If anyone noticed, Vince McMahon’s was the one that stayed up the longest while the others were changed out before many could be read.
But that made sense as Pat Patterson was a legend in every meaning of the word.
He was the first openly gay wrestler (1970s), was the first Intercontinental Champion, created the Royal Rumble, and was instrumental in the WWE being what is it today.
When compared to that legacy, few will be able to compete and Pat deserved his large tribute.
It’s about respect
The problem comes when the WWE doesn’t even do and ten bell salute anymore. When Joe Laurinatis (Road Warrior Animal) passed, he got a graphic as some social media posts.
Sure, the WWE eventually put up a tribute video which they could’ve put on their shows, but they chose to post it to social media instead, eliminating their largest possible reach.
While it’s easy to gloss over what Huber did in the WWE for seven years, he was still a beautiful person and the fact the WWE performers were able to share their thoughts is great.
And everyone should’ve seen that on primetime but we didn’t.
And why wasn’t it shared on Smackdown since many believed they wanted to allow AEW to do their tribute show first, this would’ve made perfect sense?
Instead, they released it on Thursday (December 31) on social media and couldn’t be bothered to fine a few minutes on Smackdown to air it.
It’s also interesting to note how many WWE stars were in the photos AEW shared in their tribute video.
Bitter breakup
One reason could be that Huber and the WWE parted under difficult terms. That makes sense, especially give the various reports of Vince McMahon’s behavior toward those leaving and going to the competition.
But then we look at Animal and others that recently past, they didn’t get the tribute ten bells or otherwise on primetime television.
Again, it makes sense for Pat given what he meant to the company, but Animal was one half of the greatest tag team in history, so that argument kinda loses its steam.
In the end, the WWE will take a lot of heat for this and they should. If they don’t want to cut out a few minutes of missable television even for a ten bell salute, they deserve every bit of heat.
Jon Huber was the kind of person we should all strive to be, and he’ll be missed and my thoughts and prayers are with him and his family during this time.
RIP Jon. You’ll be missed, but thank you for the memories.
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