Now Everyone is a Former WWE Superstar
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 17, 2009 12:43 PM EDT
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PrintWith Brock Lesnar skyrocketing to Mixed Martial Arts success and Bobby Lashley serving as one of the most intriguing prospects in the sport, the moniker of "Former WWE Superstar" is a very recognizable one.
Unfortunately, it's getting thrown around rather loosely these days.
While Lesnar and Lashley both held WWE titles and headlined pay-per-views, Daniel Puder won a reality show and did very little of consequence in the eight months he was with World Wrestling Entertainment. The most noteworthy accomplishment Puder had was putting Kurt Angle in a kimura on national television.
The thing is that Puder is actually a pretty decent prospect as a mixed martial artist. Saturday night at "Call to Arms," he ran his record to 6-0. But his talents inside the cage are getting discounted for his 15 minutes of fame inside a WWE ring and is that really what Mixed Martial Arts needs?
Not that Lesnar and Lashley are novelty acts or their aren't a number of former professional wrestlers who are skilled enough as athletes to transition to MMA if they so desired, but promoting fighters based off their WWE experience is like playing with fire.
Besides the generally accepted truth that wrestling is "fake," today's version of wrestling is a far cry from your father's wrestling, with escalated, graphic violence and a heavy reliance on sex to sell the product, wrestling may have it's hardcore fans, but it also has very serious detractors.
Is that the kind of programming you want to be getting into bed with?
The UFC has done well to quickly move from marketing Lesnar as the former WWE superstar to the freakish athlete he is and that is the best direction to take with both Lashley and Puder as well.
I mean, if Daniel Puder is considered a former WWE superstar, so too is The Brooklyn Brawler...
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I could see initially using the WWE moniker to maybe bring over some wrestling fans to MMA in the cases of Lesnar and Lashley, but say after one or two shows it should probably dropped. Being that Puder was a fighter first and had such a short stint in professional wrestling, it really wouldn’t make much sense for any promotion to tout him as a “former WWE superstar”. He wouldn’t really bring any fans over from wrestling IMO.
With the moniker as a whole, the only truly bad thing I see from it is that MMA’s ignorant critics would use the “see, it’s (MMA) not legit if there are pro wrestlers just coming in and getting wins.”
Good take on the subject.
...some call me "el mexicutioner"...
Both Lesnar & Lashley were top guys right? They are iconic and stir up emotions with the “purists” it seems – but people tuning in to see someone get their ass beat is as good as people tuning in for anything else. Doesn’t really work when were talking about low-level jobbers who never held a title or got PPV time, you need poster boys for that.
Bloody hell.
@Felix
You’re bang on about the critics and that is what worries me. Drawing from WWE and wrestling fans in general is fine, but since you don’t get to pick who decides to follow you, you can’t ensure that they’re all intelligent enough to see the difference and intricacies of MMA.
@3PA
Lesnar was World Champion on a couple occasions and headlined Wrestlemania while Lashley held the US title for a period and the ECW title before leaving to focus on MMA.
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 17, 2009 6:48 PM EDT reply actions
I think the UFC is smart about the marketing aspect of this…this goes back to our convo about Lashley the other day…they won’t sign him until they can market him as a legit HW…I don’t see them using the WWE angle anymore…the only reason they did it with Lesnar was because he’s the biggest ‘superstar’ from wrassling to come to MMA…plus he has a huge fanbase. Neither Lashley nor Puder are anywhere near what Lesnar was in regards to that.
http://www.mmaforreal.com
I agree – I just find it funny how after the success of Lesnar, some people want to throw the WWE Superstar angle around to just about anyone… cough Daniel Puder cough…
The kid is a good fighter on his own; let him be promoted that way.
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 17, 2009 7:14 PM EDT reply actions
I don’t get it, really.
Everyone knows that pro wrestling is a performance, a show, ‘fake’ if you will. What Lesnar and Lashley did before the started performing in the WWE should have been enough for people to realize that, if they wouldn’t be outright incredible fighters, that they would at least be competitive. They both were champions in amateur wrestling…which is the base and probably most important aspect of MMA. If you took someone who never had either a submission, boxing, or amateur wrestling background, a SERIOUS background, then no one would believe them to be for real. Someone like Triple H, as big as he is, would never be taken seriously by the UFC. He would have to prove himself over a period of time…like Bobby Lashley has.
Yeah, I want to RNC those goes and watch the fights in peace…
by E. Spencer Kyte on May 19, 2009 4:24 PM EDT reply actions
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