Is It a Mistake for Brock Lesnar to Abandon His Pro Wrestling Persona?

Is there a story more cliche than the douche bag who learns a bit of respect though a brush with his own mortality?

So much to be said for Brock’s “homophobia” but i feel like discussion down that avenue would bring a lot of banhammer dropping.

Snowden, if Brock had done another post UFC 100 you’d be calling for his wwe heel antics to be discarded in lieu of true sport. And yet, he became a true sportsman, was humbled, and came back as victor. I just don’t get it. You’re a fantastic writer, I just wished you believed in what you were writing, because it often doesn’t feel like you do.

I think it partially had to do with Brocks opponent. Leading up to the fight with Mir, Everything said was very personal back and forth. Mir even said he wanted to “murder” Brock.

Leading up to the fight with Carwin, the only smack talk was very professional. Things that you would hear from any 2 fighters in the UFC. Carwin was barely even talking to the press leading up to the fight, so he really wasn’t giving Brock any ammo anyways.

Give Brock an opponent who is gonna get under his skin like Mir, and I bet we will see the “Old Brock”, Trash talking just like before.

I have a feeling the “old Brock” will be back soon enough.

Lesnar can be fun loving and sensitive-until the camera’s red light turns on

Really, Lesnar can do whatever the hell he wants. He’s a professional fighter. People – clearly – are always going to hate Brock Lesnar.

Brock is just being smart. The heels make the noise, draw a lot of attention, but in the long run, it’s the good guy persona that brings in the dough outside of the ring. The Rock has been the heel, so has Hulk Hogan, etc… but when they step into other media like television or movies, it’s the hero (or “faux” bad boy) that sells. Vin Diesel, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many more make a splash at first with their glowering attitude, but the cash down the line is in being the accessible role model in “The Pacifier” or “Kindergarten Cop”. He’s prepping his post-fighting career, and optimizing his endorsement possibilities.
 Ask Tiger Woods, Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson what happens when you lose that likability factor.

For the 3 people that didn’t know about all of the unpopular comments Brock’s made in the last 10 years: Here’s your recap!

onto Brock for his over-the-top attitude are still Brock fans. The people who were impressed by his skill but couldn’t get past his cocky attitude will now be able to appreciate him more without having the attitude cloud their opinion. I think it’s a win-win situation.

I think it’s a bit excessive to say that Brock Lesnar won’t make as much money as a ‘face’ than as a ‘heel’. For starters, champion or not champion, the guy has a great chance to be headlining PPVs for years to come. I probably won’t have to remind everyone that headlining PPVs probably means he’s getting a nice cut of the profits as well as his usual 400K paycheck. Right now, every heavyweight in the UFC is practically begging for a shot at the man – and quite a few of those fights would sell very very well indeed, thankyouverymuch.

On the same note, it’s a lot easier to sell Lesnar to the general public when he’s willing and able to talk instead of merely acting like a pissed-off extra-large redneck. The Lesnar we saw after the fight can hardly be said to be bad for the sport.

He challenged beloved figures like the Rock and Hulk Hogan and seemed destined for a long run near the top of the sport.

Haha, sport. Snowden you’re funny man.

A lot of times you can just skip step 3.

Professional athlete who previously thought himself invincible gains humility and new perspective on life after near-death experience reminds him of own mortality! News at 11!

Also later tonight: Sky blue. Water wet. Fire hot.

As the ESPN story is from 2004, well before the jump to MMA.

Why are people finding it so hard to accept that he’s human with a wide range of emotions? Like I said in my piece on Friday, it was about a celebration of life and comeback from adversity. He was in a different mindset.

If anything, I think he is refining his character. I’m sure, to some extent, that he’s turned a new leaf, but he really seems to going from Tito Ortiz to Matt Hughes. He still has a streak of confidence bordering on arrogance and a nonchalance that makes it believable.

A) It didn’t hurt his “draw”, it made him more popular

B) He was right back to “heeling” it up after he beat Shamrock

Obviously people run the gamut of emotions. Trying to pigeonhole someone as “the heel” is so pro wrestling where people play characters. These are real people. Carwin went from the “white knight” to Stone Cold Steve Austin dropping F Bombs. Did he do a “heel” turn? Was it a Hitman/Austin from WM? It’s funny how the so-called elites (especially on boards like the UG) look down at wrestling with disdain and scoff when they try and apply it themselves to MMA.

Personality sells, of course. But MMA “journalism” and “internet community” have a LONG way to go in terms of understanding the human “psyche”. When Big George became “the fat dude selling grills”, did he “turn face”? No. He went through a big change in his life.

I can’t believe you’re falling for this slight face turn…

Its obvious that he’s bringing all of you in to believing that he’s a good guy now, but it is obvious that it is a setup to yet another heel turn.

He’s probably going to storm the octogon during the JDS/Roy Nelson match and hit JDS with a chair when Mazzagati isn’t looking causing Roy to win the match.

The storylines are so transparent these days…

All it’s going to take is one guy who says one little thing to disrespect him and then the Old Brock will be back and selling PPVs hand over fist.

I just don’t know who that could be, Nelson? I don’t see JDS or Cain talking trash before their fights.

So after a year off because of a serious health scare Lesnar takes a beating from arguably the biggest hitter in the UFC and survives to pull off his first submission and it’s unimpressive. Instead of acting like a jackass at the end of the fight he’s humble and respectful and now it’s time for him to get back to being the jerk people love to hate.

It’s starting to feel like the National Enquirer around here.

In pro wrestling, every time a monster heel has a legitimate near career ending injury or is off tv for an extended amount of time, they come back as the ultimate babyface. Without fail. Normally it works, once in awhile it doesn’t.

Brock is working an angle here.

Let us not forgot that pro wrestling mastermind Paul Heyman is essentially the 1st MMA pro wrestling style manager and Brocks best friend.

I can picture Heyman sitting Brock down and saying ok, heres the plan. “You’ve been sick. Out of the spotlight. People love to hate you. You have to come back with a new attitude. A humble champion who appreciates life and is no longer the mean bully who nobody can stand up to! People will love you and when the love for you is dying down we can turn you heel again!”

This is a pro wrestling move all day. And the more he polishes his babyface persona (he was never good at it) the more I cant wait for the inevitable big heel turn once more!

You can take Brock out of Pro-wrestling but you will never take the pro-wrestling out of Brock.

This article just goes to show that you can never please everybody and there is no sense in ever trying to. For every ten people who were disgusted with Lesnar post-UFC 100 there was 2 or 3 who thought it was great. Now, for every 25 people that liked NewBrock, there is one or two that will criticize him for not being the ultimate asshole heel.

I personally loved Brock’s port-fight tirade after dismantling Frank. I also loved how respectful he was of Randy as well as the happy to be alive Brock after Saturday night. He could not wipe the smile off of his face after he tapped Shane and I couldn’t have been happier for him. Dude was on his deathbed less than a year ago for God’s sake.

Also, I really don’t give a shit about his personal or political views (A hearty “fuck off” to you Chris Lytle, by the way). I just respect the man as an athlete and an entertainer.

If their is a personal issue between 2 fighters, the fight becomes inherently more interesting to the general public.

The more Joe Public is interested in a fight, the higher the buyrate.

If Joe Public emotionally invests in wanting to see whoever he views as the “heel” get his ass kicked than you have a giant PPV on your hands.

Yes everyone wants to see 2 great fighters fight but the general public really attaches itself to the fight if there is a clear good guy and bad guy.

If there is a clear babyface and a clear heel and they both happen to be 2 of the best in the world? Well then we have a record breaker on our hands.

Pro wrestling 101, meet MMA.

Love it, or lose it.

you are referring was created naturally by him switching from the bright, but very choreographed, lights of the WWE, to the real word of MMA. Significantly, being the first major character and credible athlete of pro wrestling to do so (at least in North America). It was not created by Brock himself; he was already hated by the majority of the MMA hardcore community well before his debut. And this was for the same reason you don’t like him, Jonny Boy, because we’re all old-school fanboys at heart and some super WWE “athlete” with rusty amateur wrestling credentials isn’t supposed to come in and beat the top guys in MMA – those who have trained for years and “paid their dues”. He was/is dislikd because he was/is regarded as a jock bully, who literally waltzed into a sport that we all like to think of as by now “established”, a sport he had no experience in, and looked dangerous in his first fight and won the title two fights later. An example; fans dislike Lesnar in the exact same way they dislike James Toney, or, more specifically, like or dislike – we want them to lose to confirm the legitimacy of this sport we are so fanatical about.

Nobody from the UFC is going to be “whispering in his ear” before his next fight. Why would they? He draws huge numbers anyway, being himself, not being a “heel” or otherwise. That is a ludicrous claim. Did you actually watch UFC 116? Did you hear the fan reaction when he won? They loved it. I loved it, despite not particularly being a Lesnar fan, as I’m sure many other fans did. The personal creation of a “heel” or “face” persona by Lesnar is not very relevant, if at all, as it seems he doesn’t specifically choose to do either. Rather he acts impulsively, and emotionally, depending on how he is feeling at the time. Which is why, consequently, I am questioning the relevance of, and your motives for, writing this article, so close to getting slated for a terribly misguided piece that even the editor of this brilliant site dismissed, basically. You may have written a very comprehensive book on the history of MMA, but I really believe MMA opinion piece-posting is a different world.

You know Snowden, if you didn’t piss so many people off, maybe my fanpost about this same topic would still be in the rec’d area. lol

I’ll still stand by my opinion that Brock’s just being Brock. He’s one of the over the top guys you tell stories about at the bar, that hit the big time. I don’t think anything he’s ever said or done outside of the WWE world was done with intention of effecting the public’s opinion of him in any certain way. He’s not playing a heel, not playing a face, he’s an outspoken, backwoods country boy, he doesn’t like gays, he doesn’t like questions with big words in them, but he does like tits, beer, and fighting. Bada-boom, bada-bing, Brock Lesnar in a nutshell.

It doesn’t beg the question at all. Read this to understand what begging the question actually is:

http://begthequestion.info/

This “new Lesnar” will last all the way until Cain or someone else says something he doesn’t like. The real Brock will come out in no time.