Trolling, Clickbait, or Legitimate?
PWI has named Brock Lesnar their 2014 Wrestler of the Year. Of course because of the “W” Word, this award will go largely ignored by the WWE. But should it go largely ignored by us? Okay kids, Biology class is in session. Get out our dissection kit and take a little closer at what this award means and how we should interpret it.
We start with most negative:
TROLLING
Perhaps the writers at PWI are just trolling its readers, or those of us who they KNOW will see this story on countless wrestling news pages. That they see the irony in a man who wrestled four total times, and whose in ring time in said matches was less than an hour. That diehard… WRESTLING fans would be outraged by this pick. That, SURELY, a part timer such as Lesnar could NOT be THE Wrestler of the year (and don’t call me shirley)! But? Outrage, especially out here on the interwebz, is basically religion. It seems that if we’re not griping, bitching, moaning, flaming, or trolling? We’re not TRULY experiencing the World Wide Web. The currency of outrage could have inspired PWI to go ahead and name Lesnar their wrestler of the year, because? Well it got us talking. Got us angry, or debating. It got us to…
CLICK! … (BAIT)
So this really is the bridge between straight trolling and legitimacy. Because we’ll click on an article like this… we’ll give it the attention PWI wants because some of us will interpret this as a troll’s palm to the face. NO WAY Someone of Lesnar’s limited in ring exploits can be the “ANYTHING” of the year. OR? We’ll click because, of COURSE he’s the Wrestler of the Year. Its an evocative stance to take. There are a LOT of wrestlers in the World doing some amazing things. Maybe WWE fans think Seth Rollins should have won this. Maybe NXT fans think should have been Sami Zayn? Maybe AJ Styles? Nakamura? Heath Slater? Clearly whoever you might think deserves an accolade such as this? There is one undeniable… FACT – Brock Lesnar moves the needle. No matter where he is and what he does? He garners attention. If rumors are true the UFC is making a push to get him back, and potentially a bidding war with Bellator will ensue. And the UFC would be wise to do so. Their 2014 saw an increase in product hitting the market, and a severe LACK of star power. Be it retirements, or the seemingly endless parade of injuries messing up almost every card they put together… They want star power, and they’d be foolish to turn Brock away, because one thing he will ensure? A big PPV buy. He’s a name we all recognize, of course. But he’s a name the casual wrestling fan, and the casual SPORTS fan recognizes. So why not? Because ultimately there is a certain level of…
LEGITIMACY
2014 WAS an amazing year for Brock Lesnar. Sure he only spent around an hour of actual match time. Sure he only wrestled at four Pay Per Views. Defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship ONCE, in a DQ Loss to John Cena. Sure he might have the most absurd “hourly rate” of any Sports and/or Entertainment entity in the world (some ambitious sole out there needs to have calculated Lesnar’s hourly rate for his WWE stint, it’d be an interesting read… no… sorry… I’m NOT that ambitious sole. Glad to be someone’s muse in this case) … So yeah, 2014 the YEAR OF THE BEAST. A year in which he dispatched Big Show in dominant fashion at the Royal Rumble. A brutal beat down, Show was fed to Lesnar to make him look strong moving into his impending match at Mania. Where no one thought he had a CHANCE of breaking the streak. He was made to look that good to have a great match against the Undertaker, but c’mon. The Streak is a gimme. Oh… wait… you mean its NOT a gimme? So Lesnar beats the Undertaker. The world is SHOCKED. Main stream news tipped their toes into the world of wrestling. I saw pictures of that big bug eyed reaction everywhere.
Yup that’s the reaction.
It became a meme. A shocking end to the streak led to a well deserved vacation – Lesnar was gone until Summer Slam. Where… he basically performed fifteen minutes of “anti-Cena” porn. I witnessed this from the company I watched Summer Slam with who would have needed to carry a strategically placed book if he was called to the blackboard to solve some algebra. I also had my text inbox flooded. Now, while I land somewhere in the middle of the Cena-Spectrum, I too still enjoyed this dominant, violent affair. It was brutal. It was shocking. It was perfectly executed. The funny thing… if that WAS Daniel Bryan as it was rumored to be? And that’s how the match went down? People wouldn’t have nearly enjoyed it the way they did, and they’d probably be fiending to see Lesnar get his comeuppance. Then? They went out of their way to erase that Summer Slam match and moment. Cena comes back super fast. There is a rematch. Seth Rollins decides to attack LESNAR and tease a cash in.
Side Note Alert: Thankfully the “Architect of the Shield” and a guy who has really established himself to be: smart, conniving, and to be this master strategist wasn’t hindered by what, from a storyline aspect was a RIDICULOUS decision.
Back to the topic at hand! Despite the head scratcher that was his final match of 2014, Lesnar has been named PWI’s wrestler of the year. And truth is? As Jim Ross likes to preach, “its about maximizing your minutes”, and who in 2014 really delivered more “bang for their buck”, so to speak. Two legit jaw dropping matches. Pure dominance in 3 of 4 contests. He also benefits from the best Manager in Wrestling today, and perhaps EVER (no matter how much Paul poo poos that or calls himself an “advocate”.) His 2014 was ridiculous. If you look at what he did? Its borderline unparalleled. STILL… the WRESTLING fan in me can’t look past only plying his trade four times in 2014. Its not a troll, but in some ways its clickbait because its Lesnar. BECAUSE of his work schedule, and because of his year it CAN be seen and argued that its totally legitimate. I disagree, but I don’t disregard the choice. Like the MLB Hall of Fame votes that happened. Just because I’d pick someone else doesn’t mean Lesnar is totally undeserving!
His 2014 was amazing, but wether or not Brock Lesnar deserves to be named 2014 Wrestler of the year? Well… that’s up for debate, and that’s the fun of it!
