Kizarny

On this Friday's episode of SmackDown, WWE introduced a new character in a vignette. This wrestler has intrigued me due to the notion that it is targeted to insider wrestling fans.

Kizarny - as he is called - appeared as a carnival act. The video shows him at a fair and he begins speaking in carny welcoming people to the carnival. Shots of the fair are interspersed throughout this short introduction.

The speech is made using an 'iz' inside each word and dates back to the early carnival days where the workers would use it to communicate with each other whilst in the presence of non-carnival workers. It was used mainly to hide a con from the people at the fair.

Wrestling grew from the carnivals so it isn't surprising that elements of the carny language was adopted. Wrestlers would use it to kayfabe (another carnival term used to protect their con by making it appear real) themselves while in the presence of their audience - or 'mark' as the carnies would call them.

Protecting the business is sacred to people within the business so it surprises me that they would allow a wrestler to have a gimmick in which he spoke carny and - if you decipher his name - was called Karny.

I was speaking to a friend about it yesterday and he thought the idea was pathetic. I agree for one simple reason - a vast majority of the audience will not get what the character is all about so it will be lost on them. How can they invest in something they don't understand?

The WWE writers have been criticised by many for writing to please Vince McMahon. This is another example because I am sure he will get a kick out of this idea. The problem with this, however, is McMahon does tend to give up on gimmicks once he has had his fun with them.

Kizarny mizay be anizother one of thizose ideas thizat is shizort-livized.