AEW star MVP recently shared his philosophy on the use of comedy in professional wrestling, stating that while he is not opposed to it, the effectiveness of comedic elements largely depends on their execution and placement within a storyline. The leader of The Hurt Syndicate discussed the nuances of using humor to generate heat for a heel character versus making a babyface look good, and he warned against taking comedy to an extreme that detracts from the integrity of the wrestling product. His comments provide insight into the mindset of a veteran performer who has seen various styles and approaches to comedy throughout his long career.
Speaking on the latest episode of his “Marking Out” podcast with Dwayne Swayze, MVP broke down his thoughts on comedy in the ring.
“Usually when a heel is using comedy for heat, they’re the butt of the joke. They’re the ones on the receiving end of the comedic whatever it is, which is great for the babyface. You know, the babyface pulls the heels pants down or whatever, the heel is the butt of the joke. It can go too far. In terms of killing the moment, it depends from everything I’ve been taught and from how I approach it. I don’t do ‘Ha ha,’ I’m not into that. You try to do some comedy with me, I’m going to punch you in the face. Light ‘ha ha’ when you’re a cool babyface and you’re mocking me in some kind of way, what I’m going to do is I’m going to be malicious. I’m going to maul you vicious because you embarrassed me, how dare you embarrass me? We can do the haha, but the way I’m going to get my heat back is after everyone is laughing and I maul you, who’s laughing now? You can get that moment back, I don’t think you kill the moment. It’s all in the application. What is the moment, you know? What is the comedy spot, how was it done, there’s so many variations to that to contextualize it.”
MVP also commented on seeing comedy taken to extremes at independent shows.
“I have seen on indie shows where the heels are doing comedic spots and I feel they take it too far where it’s like, are we wrestling or are we doing a sketch comedy show? I’ve always said it’s a buffet, there is definitely a place in comedy for wrestling for sure. It’s just how you go about it and what your taste is. I don’t care for the haha, but I’ve seen haha done right where it’s like, oh, that was actually pretty clever. It all depends on the presentation.”
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
