Last week during the NBA Draft, Lonzo Ball was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers with the second overall pick. Since then, there has been a lot of media attention on the Ball family, especially on Lavar Ball, who has been doing a lot of appearances to promote his son’s NBA career and gain exposure for their product line. It made sense for WWE officials to capitalize on the moment by having the Ball family on Monday Night Raw.
Celebrities outside of the wrestling world coming in for some exposure can result in a bad segment for many reasons, but LaVar Ball’s antics derailed the segment and forced WWE officials to pull the plug rather quickly to stop the damage once LaMelo Ball dropped a racial slur twice during the segment. Obviously, that’s an issue for any televised event, but WWE has been playing damage control since last night. Immediately following the Ball family’s appearance on Raw , the company released the following statement through the Los Angeles Times to set the record straight.
“The inappropriate language used by a guest during the ‘Miz TV’ segment was not scripted nor reflects WWE’s values.”
Aside from the use of racial slurs that have become the big story coming out of the segment, WWE fans have responded one of two ways. Depending on your taste, the segment may have been funny and entertaining, or it may have been ridiculous and annoying. Either way, there is something to talk about, and the angle for the Ball family’s antics has been that any publicity is good publicity. If nothing else, Lonzo Ball entering the Staples Center for the first time as a Laker will be remembered, and the Ball family had a fun time on Raw.
However, WWE officials were not as enthused by the way the segment happened, especially with the issues involving the racial slurs. Apparently, a lot of people were rolling their eyes backstage, and the segment has been getting comparisons to the recent “Bayley: This is Your Life” segment that many people thought was one of the worst segments in recent years. WWE does feel that The Miz did everything he could to save it.
The fact is WWE is making headlines alongside LaVar Ball’s name, so the people who see anything about his appearance on Raw may just see more from last night’s episode. On paper, it got more eyes on the product, but it just didn’t go as WWE officials thought it would. It’s unlikely the Ball family will be back on WWE TV for some time. The company and everyone will just move on, and eventually, any issues will blow over.
[Featured Image by WWE]
