Corey Graves Explains Why the Joe Gacy Character Works In WWE NXT 2.0

In a recent edition of the After the Bell podcast, Corey Graves discussed the Joe Gacy character in WWE NXT 2.0, how the character connects with what’s going on in society, and much more. Here’s what he had to say (via Fightful):

Corey Graves on the Joe Gacy character in NXT 2.0: “A guy that I was buzzing about this morning after I woke up; Joe Gacy. He caught the world’s attention; right, wrong or indifferent, he had the internet ablaze beyond the sports entertainment bubble. I’m talking actual news sites were covering Joe Gacy. It’s controversial. You can feel about it however you want, whether you like it or hate it, but watching him do what he did, and listening, I love the dichotomy because what he is saying is peaceful. He is giving a peaceful message, a message of tolerance, but his delivery is such that you just want to smack him in the mouth and go, ‘Don’t tell me how to live my life.’ I think it’s really unique, it’s current, it’s modern. It’s going to get under a lot of people’s skin and piss a lot of people off, but guess what, that’s the point.”

On how Gacy’s character connects with what’s going on in society: “Some of the greatest characters in the history of the world, the Attitude Era in particular was a reflection of what was going on in society at the time. Are they parody? Yes. Are you giving them the full spectrum of what that issue or situation is? Not always. You cherry-pick. For how many decades did you have a foreign bad guy in sports entertainment? Not just WWE, any company. There was always some sort of conflict, whatever the conflict was with the United States at that time, generally, you would see a bad guy representing the opposition at some point. That mentality has changed, that xenophobic issue. Thankfully, as a society, we have gotten away from that for the most part, so you can’t do that anymore. So, you become creative and evolve with the times and you realize, whichever side of the split you fall on, there is an undeniable split in the country, in the world, politics are all over the place.

“Everybody is on edge about something. There is tribalism amongst society. You take that reflection and say, ‘Hey, here is a character representing a fraction or idea of society. Now, let the fans do what they want with it.’ Who knows, people may decide that Joe Gacy is the most entertaining and wonderful…he may be a huge good guy superstar. Just as likely, a lot of people are going to go, ‘Oh, he reminds me of my neighbor, I want to smack him in the mouth.’ It’s a bit of a throwback, as modern as the character is, it’s sort of a throwback. It’s a little, tiny, minute aspect of society that you crank up to 11 and see what happens. I hope we see more of this. I’m intrigued if nothing else.”