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Brock Lesnar: Heel or Asshole?
By Matt D. | August 12, 2008
Here’s an interesting question: Is Brock Lesnar playing the WWF style heel role, or is he as big of a prick as he lets on? For those who don’t know professional wrestling insider vernacular (shame on you!) a heel is professional wrestler who acts like a villain to incite the crowd. So is this what Lesnar is doing? Is he putting on a show to make the crowd hate him knowing it will sell more PPVs and therefore raise his worth in the eyes of the UFC? Or is he really just that hateable?
I think he has to be putting on an act and intentionally playing the heel role. Even if he isn’t, at worst he is allowing himself to do things he wants to do naturally, but could easily stop if he thought they would have negative consequences on his future in the world of MMA. I don’t blame him for his actions. Fighting is a business, and if acting like a dick makes you more money it’s your right. But his choice to play the heel role when he could let his talent and massive size be his selling points seems a little misguided to me. A mediocre fighter (*cough* Phil Baroni *cough*) can keep themselves on TV by perfecting a heel act, but talented fighters have no need for a such character building exercises.
But what do I know? Maybe he really is just a dick.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I’d be a bit interested to know which of the three it is. (Intentional Acting for Marketing, Unrestrained Behavior for Marketing or Pure Dick). I think I disagree with the assessment that his physical attributes and speed do all the necessary marketing.
If he fights with some frequency and behaves in a controversial manner, he’ll likely get invited to sports shows more often. He’ll have people in message boards buzzing more. There’s more to talk about. His behavior earned a whole article from you after all.
Tito and Hughes (of course Hughes isn’t a Tito-level heel) both made more money because people either thought what they said was funny, or because they were hated and people wanted to see them beaten on.
I condone his unsportsmanlike conduct. Variety is good.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I think one of the things you are forgetting about Phil “I-Want-To-Be-As-Awesome-With-My-Intro-As-Prince-Naseem-Was” Baroni, is that he more than likely studied some old Wrestling tapes as well. He is MMA’s version of WCW’s “Disco Inferno”, a low talent clown who knew how to make people want to see him.
I think as MMA matures we are going to see more good guys (Phil / Disco Inferno) and Bad Guys (Brock) because that sells. It’s good business, and professional sports is in fact a business.
Tito Ortiz tried to be an asshat, but Brock actually got good at it.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I think he may just not be the sharpest tool in the Minnesota shed (not sure if this would fall under option 1,2 or 3). I will come out and say that I quit watching wrestling after the days of Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, so I never saw his act in the WWE.
I would have to rewatch his response to his loss to Mir, but after this fight it looked like he was classy towards Heath at first. But then he did that lasso throw of the “dark horse” and reeled him in. And spewed some stupid thing about falling off the horse and getting back on it.
I really think he just does what ever comes naturally because he is a meathead. And like you said, he has all the physical attributes to sell a ppv. The guy is massive. It certainly doesn’t hurt to run your mouth when you win. Lets see what he does when he catches a straight right to the eye.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:55 am
I’m interested in his academic background. The guys was an established college wrestler, which means he went to college. I can’t find his course of study, or how well he did.
I don’t know what that would tell me, but it could be interesting.
I watched WWE throughout Lesnar’s entire career. From debut to departure. Of course that doesn’t really help me know what ‘the real him’ is like, but he has acted within the bounds of that character so far. A lot of the time the WWE characters are just augmented versions of their real personalities (to aid in the authenticity and make the acting come easier). That would make sense for MMA Lesnar.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:14 am
If you watch the YOUTUBE of Brock’s interview before his first UFC match he actually seems like a pretty well spoken normal dude. I think somehwere between that and now someone got to him and said, “Turn it up a bit.” I am now convinced it is an act and he’s a very smart guy. Like Steven said he did go to college for 4 years, a Big 10 school no less.
August 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Nooge - I watched the interview you’re talking about and you are right. There are actually a few interviews of him where he almost seems soft spoken when he is talking about his career. That leads me to believe that a lot of the disrespectful stuff he does is just an act.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I was looking to see if I could find out what his degree was in. Turns out he never got one. WWE offered him a $250,000 / yr guaranteed contract and he didn’t finish. Here is a really interesting article about Brock and his athletic backgroun. Take a gander.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-102507lesnar&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Talk to you guys later.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Nice link Joey. I guess Lesnar isn’t a total idiot. K-1 paid him $500,000 for a single fight? That beats working 300+ days a year for the WWE and getting $1,000,000.