Having met a couple of wrestlers and people of the WWE through work, I can honestly say that the ones that I have met are extremely intelligent and genuinely friendly/awesome people. I used to laugh at the WWE for being fake or the impression that they and their fans are hicks, now I just have mad respect for them. They are true entertainers.

They brought back Batista to ruin the awesome storyline of Daniel Bryan meeting CM Punk at Wrestlemania with Bryan winning the Rumble. They brought back Brock to take the Streak from the Undertaker in the stupidest way imaginable.

They have fucked up so much in the past few months that they've lost me as a viewer. Only the WWE could get me to cheer for Cancer!

I think I could actually watch the WWE if it weren't for the wrestling itself. I get a kick out of all of the stuff in between, but can't suspend my disbelief enough for the wrestling. Many of the wrestlers are actually fairly talented actors, and quite fun to watch given how over-the-top the characters are meant to be.

:~)

Mmmmm, nope. It's still fairly easy.

9 years on the epitaph... What a fucking cruel life it is. I gave some money to a children with cancer collection man before, glad i did.

The wrestling is often hard to watch when not done by people who are really good at what they do. But holy shit some of those guys do things that money can't buy for some of the most vulnerable people. Ok, so that kid didn't get to grow up and live his life and do whatever he wanted to do out in the world, but right there and then at 8 years old he wanted to be a wrestler, and god fucking damned if he didn't get to pin HHH in a stadium in front of a crowd of respected wrestlers!

Most people will never get to do anything remotely like that in their whole lives, but that kid did and i think that counts for something, at least to him, and that's all that matters really. Ok a lot of them are getting paid well and a lot of people profit from the business but the wrestlers do go through a lot of immediate and exponential long term pain, and deliver one of a kind experiences to kids who don't get as long as the rest of us to find and have such experiences.

I think on balance i'm happy to pay for the odd pay per view and watch their adverts. If you can find a way to enjoy it (even ironically) then it's a good way to waste time and money.

Wrestling is like a religion for children. To them, it's incredibly important and absolutely real.

Hey listen, it's great that they did something nice for a kid who was dying of cancer. While I didn't weep, and I don't like WWE anymore because of this, I can empathize, what with being a father and all.

But why was the only person interviewed for this other than the father, the Chief Branding Officer of WWE? Because it's SADVERTISING and they've taken a nice, caring thing that the WWE and its employees did and have tried to use it to manipulate you into liking them, thereby robbing all altruism from the act.

I'm sad for the kid, I feel for the father, but F the WWE.

Meh, I dunno Aaronfr. I do understand your point of view and the cynical part of me is turned away by it, but really, it's a win-win. For instance, most people don't donate to charities out of genuine altruism so much as to *feel* as though they're altruistic, and that's really a perfectly acceptable reason. Every company that "donates a portion to charity" and has pink yogurt lids or whatever are doing it for marketing, but that's okay too because they're still donating money.

If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. These things work both ways. Maybe this kid took advantage of the WWE's desire for free publicity to get his dying wish fulfilled. If giving people a ribbon to wear on their lapel so they can stroke stroke their ego in public for the rest of the day brings in more donations, it's worth the extra cost of the ribbons.

Perhaps it is, but until I saw this I didn't know the story. It's a story that deserves to be told regardless.

And yeah, the poor little bugger probably had a better 9 years than many other kids on this planet get, but the thing is, it's not about how you or I feel about it, it's how it made Connor feel.

Whether it's cynical exploitation or honest, a little boy got to have a brighter moment in what was otherwise a pretty shitty existence. If only we could all say we'd done as much.

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by antonye.

This is marketing and it's not surprising that wrestling fans can't see through it. Not that it's not nice. But the reason they do such nice things is that they are seen doing them.

But that's the thing... I can say I've done as much; hell, I've done much more to help more people and I continue to do it everyday. But what I don't do is turn it into marketing in order to sell myself or a product.

Instead, I take that bit of egotism that altruism does indeed feed and feel a little better about myself. I remain humbled by all the problems I couldn't fix and the people who inspire me, and I keep doing my work without self-aggrandizement or the need to draw attention to myself.

It is important that Connor had a good day and felt great. It is important that his father got to give his son something uplifting and wonderful in his short time on Earth. It is NOT important that the WWE tell us all about it so that we will think better of them and buy their product.

Not always, Cena has done more Make a Wish granting thingies than anyone and they're not all known about or shown. They aren't featured on the shows barely at all, and most people don't even know that that is what Cena does.

So while marketing does have a purpose here and there's reasons for it, it's not like it isn't something nice to do and it's not like it's the sole reason.

Wrestling fans are a lot smarter than you think, for instance I'm a wrestling fan and I'm much, much smarter than you.

You're going to use an outlier like John Cena to make your general case? That doesn't seem intelligent.

What's more, anyone who makes a joke like "Only the WWE could get me to cheer for Cancer!" and then gets offended by what I've said can suck my dick. Fuck you Yogi. i'm serious. You sanctimonious cunt.

OH come on don't try to be like me. Yeah I think Cena is an outlier but my point is they don't market his stuff all that heavily so they could be doing more marketing than they do, but they don't because I think they realize it can be invasive.

I don't like the WWE specifically because they're bad at this wrestling thing now, they want to be all about the spectacle and nothing of substance. Which was basically your critique and I was more or less agreeing with you while pointing out certain things that make you look like a dick.

Because that's what's fun for me.

The point I'm driving at is that this is one of the cases where I think the end justifies the means.

People can take away what they like from watching it. "Aww poor kid", "Man those wrestlers are nice", "What a pack of bastards, exploiting the little bugger"... And that's fine, I'm not trying to tell people how to feel.

But one little guy who was suffering got a bright moment in the sun. I don't care if they go full idiot and publicise the shit out of it because it was worth it. Hell, I'd be pleased if self interest caused more people to be "altruistic" to high note themselves. It's the core of things like Ronald McDonald house, which is a PR exercise in it's purist form and yet still helps.

And if they hadn't publicised it, being an Australian who doesn't actually watch much wrestling, I probably wouldn't have heard of it at all.

Does it really matter why someone does a good deed? Why isn't doing it enough? Why keep it a secret?
Really, I don't understand. There's no shame in this, nobody is loosing anything by talking about it. They made a dying kid feel better, they made the dad feel better. There's nothing wrong.