Okay, I get that Brock Lesnar is a big, nasty boy. Hes a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and killed it in amateur wrestling. The mans not a delicate flower and could seriously beast most people in real life if he wanted. He could certainly do so to me: I have the physique of a man who writes for a living, funnily enough. But this is pro wrestling, and pro wrestling is a work. Brock Lesnar isn't The Beast Incarnate because he's actually an unbeatable demon in real life. He's The Beast because that's how they've written him to be. In point of fact, he was shown to be very fallible indeed in UFC - even discounting the diverticulitis, he lost his first fight for the company when fully healthy to a slightly smaller guy that just outperformed him. He's certainly not made of stone. Pro wrestling is full of genuinely hard men and women, and has been for a hundred years. WWEs insistence on promoting the man since his return as a former UFC champion and dressing him for the Octagon hasnt gone unnoticed: theyve tacitly put MMA over pro wrestling as the more legit avenue for the more legit tough guy, and plenty of wrestling fans not to mention plenty of wrestlers take exception to that. Tonga Fifita, Rick Rude, Lou Thesz, Danny Hodge the list of professional wrestlers who were and are legitimate tough guys is a long one. Lesnar was over as a fearsome monster long before he joined UFC, and the Undertaker was putting him over clean way back in 2002 when Brock was just a rookie pro wrestler with a good amateur background. The constant emphasis on Lesnars fairly recent and quite short MMA experience is unnecessary and buries the real tough guys of pro wrestling. More than that, though, lets look at the stories being told. Pro wrestling is a work. In that context, WWE is a fighting promotion the equal of UFC, which means that the top guys in WWE are (kayfabe) the equal or better to the top guys in UFC. Since this is the case, why is Lesnar booked to manhandle men larger than him with so much ease? It makes no sense to put UFC over WWE in the context of WWEs own storylines, and it makes no sense for Lesnar to be booked as the ultimate fighting machine, no-selling and stomping all opposition, when many of his opponents are bigger and are supposed to be (kayfabe) equally badass.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
