Everything Is Wrestling

So here is the rundown. Michael Strahan is leaving Live! with Kelly and Michael to join Good Morning America. This is great news for Michael Strahan but puts co-host Kelly Ripa in a bind. Moreover, Kelly Ripa got the news about the move almost at the same time as the news was being made public to everyone. Kelly Ripa was left in the dark and then no-showed the next four shows. In essence, a company shit the bed in being transparent and communicative between co-workers. This probably happens at one point or another in every office in America in some fashion or the other but it becomes more intriguing when the drama plays out in public.

One workplace that occurs in plain view and requires just as much communication as TV co-hosts is Pro Wrestling. In the same manner that Kelly and Michael rely and trust each other to entertain their fans and stay on script, wrestlers know how a match is supposed to end and keep any beef they may have in the locker room and not in front of the TV cameras. When things don’t go as planned and the outcome of the match is switched without informing the loser, they call it a “screwjob.”

The most famous screwjobs occurred in November 1997 during WWF’s Survivor Series. At the time WWF was in direct competition with rival promotion WCW for TV ratings and talent. Then-WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret “Hitman” Hart signed a contract with WCW that was to begin once his WWF contract expired in December 1997. Hart presumably needed to lose the championship before leaving to another company and was booked in a title match against Shawn Michaels, whom Hart had beef with on and off-screen, at Survivor Series. Hart was not willing to drop the title to Michaels citing that he didn’t want to lose in his home country of Canada and so the scripted ending to the match was supposed to be a disqualification, which would allow Hart to retain the title and drop it at a later date. Without Hart’s knowledge the ending of the match was changed so that in a part of the match that had already been scripted and agreed upon by both competitors, the referee rang the bell as though Hart submitted at the order of WWF owner Vince McMahon. This gave Michaels the victory and the title and Hart erupted at ringside, destroying TV monitors and spitting on McMahon.

The fallout here is that fans who saw this all play out took sides. Opinions ranged from those who said Vince McMahon had to look out for his business and didn’t want a former star from his promotion appearing on a rival’s show with his promotion’s belt to those who feel that Hart should have been trusted to do the right thing after over a decade of loyal service to WWF.

The same conversation is happening with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. Ripa is accused of having a “total meltdown” or hot takes that this situation was sexist. Strahan supporters find that he’s doing what is best for his own personal business and doesn’t owe his co-host anything.

Now Strahan leaving the show on May 13, four months earlier than what was announced after a few fill-in hosts carried on a few shows where Ripa’s absence was the elephant in the room.

This may be good for ratings. After the Montreal Screwjob WWF surged into its highest level of popularity as it became more unpredictable. It’s possible that ratings may increase for the daytime talk show as people want to find cracks in both hosts’ relationship on-screen.

So did ABC screw Kelly Ripa? Or did Kelly Ripa screw Kelly Ripa?