It’s that time of the year when a big inanimate sign with the Wrestlemania logo on it ends up being a bigger star on WWE programming than guys like Kofi Kingston, Santino Marella and the Great Khali. From January until the start of April, the John Cenas, CM Punks, Big Shows and Dolph Zigglers will stare dreamily at, or point at the sign which hangs high above the arenas in which these shows take place in. But the point of this post is not wrestling at all; it’s about the Wrestlemania logo, or more specifically what is on the Wrestlemania logo.
“NY|NJ” As in “New York | New Jersey.” Which will be taking place at MetLife Stadium, which is located approximately in East Rutherford, wait for it, New Jersey. Not New York. No part of Wrestlemania will be taking place in the state of New York. 100% of Wrestlemania will be taking place in the state of New Jersey. Yet the actual Wrestlemania logo goes as far as to integrate the Empire State Building into it as well, further adding to the absurdity that Wrestlemania is going to take place right in the heart of Times Square or something.
The bottom line is that I don’t really understand why New Jersey so often needs or is unnecessarily given the crutch of New York to give it appeal. The irony is that I don’t even really like New Jersey, but I still feel bad for the state for constantly being in this strange identity limbo that requires New York to be handcuffed to them in order to give them any notoriety.
Wrestlemania is taking place in New Jersey, not New York. The New York Giants and New York Jets both play their home games at the aforementioned MetLife Stadium, which is puzzling why New York teams have to play in New Jersey instead of well, New York. Howard Stern managed to get America’s Got Talent moved to New York, only for it to actually film all of its finale episodes in Newark, New Jersey, and nowhere in New York.
This is like my vendetta against Korean restaurants that label themselves as “Korean | Japanese.” Because anyone with a quarter of a brain knows that the entire menu is going to be 99% Korean, with Asahi beer as the lone Japanese item in order to maintain true advertising. If you were to look at the other ends of the spectrums, there’s no fucking way a Japanese restaurant is going to claim they have any Korean dishes at all, and any event actually taking place in New York isn’t going to give a second thought to possibly giving the state of New Jersey a single iota of a mention.
I just don’t get why anyone does this. I know it’s all for marketing reasons, and to try and leech onto neighboring entities, but to me, such sentiment comes with the price of diluting the native territory. I have an objection to any Korean restaurant that feels the necessity to claim they have Japanese options, because they want to rope in weeaboos, because it’s an insult to Korean cuisine. I think it’s the dumbest thing that the Angels call themselves the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” despite the fact that they’re based in Anaheim, and that their most successful season ever was one of the few years they were just the “Anaheim Angels.” If I’m a hypothetical proud resident of New Jersey, then I cringe, whine and bitch anytime something in New Jersey has to be followed by the condemning “/New York” at the end of it, because every time that happens, it’s a slight to the state of New Jersey.
It’s weird to me too, because I’d have to hypothesize that New Jersey should have turned into a place capable of holding itself up on its own two feet by at least now. Especially with as much pop culture to have emerged from the state, be it the Kevin Smith universe, Harold and Kumar, to even Jersey Shore, it’s not like smart people aren’t aware that New Jersey exists on its own. Why so many corporate entities feel the need to dilute the identity of New Jersey by handcuffing it to New York is clearly beyond me.
Speaking of New York, on a different topic, New York is a funny place in a regard that makes them a lot like Virginia. Much like Virginia, to those who live in Northern Virginia, the state ends once you leave say, Prince William County. Despite the fact that there are still hundreds of miles separating the start of ROVA until you get to Tennessee or North Carolina, it’s really not Virginia anymore. It’s the same way with New York, in that once you hit White Plains, pretty much anything further north is considered “upstate.” Never mind the fact that from White Plains, there’s still about 300 miles due north until you hit Canada, but who cares, it’s not really as New York as say, New York City is. It doesn’t really count.
But anyway, as I said before, the ironic thing is that I don’t even like New Jersey. But even I still feel bad for them that this keeps happening to them. Whenever someone unnecessarily attaches /New York to anything regarding New Jersey, it’s almost like when non-black people go all white knight, and fervently take offense to racism against black folks; decent attempt, but terrible, unnecessary execution.
