Brock Lesnar: The anti-PG knight here to revive WWE's glory days
There are two types of character development in professional wrestling, the commodification of wrestling’s heroism and organic transformation.
In case you didn’t figure it out, John Cena belongs to the first category. A guy who never gives up, sticks to his ideal and cannot be corrupted, yet, he needs a kid with cancer to get some cheers.
This is because; Cena does not live in a Hollywood film where the stainless superheroes are cheered. He lives is the professional wrestling business where the fans want to see the character develop, where the fans want to see a wrestler go through different scenarios and face different emotions.
With Cena, none of this happens. He come around wearing some colourful dress, kicks out of two from almost every finisher, and makes his young fans happy and their parents angry. To get the facts straight, Cena deserves respect. He is working his ass out every week and he deserves respect for his dedication, but as a character, Cena fails.
So why am I speaking about John Cena when the title of the article says that I should be talking about Brock Lesnar? Well, from the two categories mentioned earlier, Brock Lesnar falls into the second. And it is almost impossible to speak about the second category without shedding some light on the first one.
Lesnar not moulded to become a role model because he is a fighter
Coming to the point, Brock Lesnar is not the ideal role model for our children. He is not someone who lives by mottos such as hustle, loyalty or respect as he simply means business. He does not care about the people around him and nor does he care about the well-being of his opponents.
Have you ever seen Lesnar shake hands after a huge win or loss like Cena?
Lesnar is not Cena and Lesnar is not PG. He is not molded to become a role model, he is a fighter, he is a wrestler and this is what WWE needs, legitimate wrestlers, not fantasy superheroes.
Can you child have a good life in this backstabbing world if he goes by the mottos of Cena or would he/she have a better chance with the Attitude of Brock Lesnar? It is a question that we should ask ourselves every day.
The second thing that makes Lesnar stand out from the crowd is his legitimate fighting ability. He spent some quality time back in UFC and he proved his worth there. Lesnar comes across as someone who could actually break your arm or knock you out.
Obvious question: Why should Lesnar look like a legitimate Wrestler when Wrestling is scripted (or fake as muggles say)?
It might be scripted but does WWE say that it is scripted? In the Kayfabe world, everything that happens is real.
You know that films are scripted but when you are watching it, you tend to believe that films are real, right? So is wrestling. Vince McMahon and his promotion aim at projecting WWE as a soap opera where there is a factor of storytelling. Where there are good people and bad people. It reflects life. And in short, WWE wants us to feel that what we see is real.
Now, tell me, who do you find more believable?
WWE wants to look real? They need guys like Lesnar
John Cena, a man who never gives up. Someone who has no weakness, who wears colorful dresses that would probably get bombed in real life, a fictional fantasy superhero in the age where even Superman is corrupted.
Or do you find Brock Lesnar believable? The man who cares about his business, the man who fights for real, a man who has the devil beside him and has no moral limits just like the average human population?
Hands down, the answer will be Brock Lesnar. This is why Brock is not PG and Brock is not John Cena.
While WWE is trying itself to project itself as a legitimate sports organization where men and women fight for a championship, it’s the believable characters like Brock Lesnar that will help them.
WWE wants to look real? They need guys like Lesnar. They want the fans to stop calling them fake? They need guys like Lesnar.
The conflict here is clear and the answer here is clear. Brock Lesnar is that once in a generation wrestler that comes around and instead of swimming with the tide, he changes it.
He is the hero WWE fans deserve.