David Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Having finally gotten a chance to read Lesnars book I thought I'd see if anyone on here had read it, and if they had any opinion on his chapters on his time in pro wrestling. Â For those who haven't read the book, he basically says that he was involved in wrestling purely for the money. I have a feeling that at least a few wrestlers will have had a bit of a problem with some of the stuff he said; Â His opinion on working Madison Square Garden with Ric Flair; Â I don
dopper Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 He also kept reinforcing the quote Curt Hennig told him which was in his head the whole time: "You get in to get out". Â He started pro-wrestling because he thought he had the ability to make millions of dollars and then he could do pretty much whatever else he fancied trying. He was right.
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 Easy for him to say that now he's made money from legit sports but at one time he must've been a wrestling fan, to slog it out in OVW for no money, working in front of small gates & learning from scratch. Plus, if it weren't for other people putting him over as a monster he wouldn't have made the WWE cash he did. Seems quite narrow minded from those excerpts.
David Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 Easy for him to say that now he's made money from legit sports but at one time he must've been a wrestling fan, to slog it out in OVW for no money, working in front of small gates & learning from scratch. Another few quotes regarding him starting out with WWE;  WWE offered me guaranteed money, including a big signing bonus with no strings attached. I would even get paid a huge salary for the time I was training to be a pro wrestler. My lawyers have told me I can
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 Fair play, that puts my theory to bed then. Seems like someone spotted a freak of a bloke in the amateurs, knew that Vince would have a hard-on for him & hoped he'd be able to pick up pro-wrestling? Seems crazy to sign someone with a huge guarantee when they might look great but be Rob Terry/Mason Ryan in the ring.
Allstar69 Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Im going to have to buy his book now sounds like a interesting read. Wonder how much he deal was for. I wonder what he was like in training cos if he knew he was going to be big was he a dick with the other trainees
jimufctna24 Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 I always admired the likes of Lesnar, Rock and others for not getting caught up in the wrestling business and not being consumed by it. Â I think anyone can understand why a young man in his twenties would look at a banged up Ric Flair embarassing himself or a Kurt Angle pill popping and think "fuck this" the Curt Henning saying is bang on.
Kenny McBride Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 I think it was JR that signed him. He and Gerry Brisco were on a hunt for good amateurs at the time who had the look and personality to be developed into top professionals. Angle was in and starting to look like a great acquisition, so they went out and recruited Lesnar, Benjamin and the Haas boys amongst one or two others. I think they could tell from his amateur credentials, his look and his personality that they'd be able to book Lesnar into some kind of star, if not necessarily the next Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan.
David Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 Im going to have to buy his book now sounds like a interesting read. It's actually not as good as I hoped it would be. It's incredibly short, and he doesn't really go into much detail.
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 Fair play, that puts my theory to bed then. Seems like someone spotted a freak of a bloke in the amateurs, knew that Vince would have a hard-on for him & hoped he'd be able to pick up pro-wrestling? Seems crazy to sign someone with a huge guarantee when they might look great but be Rob Terry/Mason Ryan in the ring. Lesnar is a different beast to those two. Lesnar is an incredible athlete for his size and you can easily see how his natural (and freakish) athleticism can translate well to wrestling. Â Rob Terry/Mason Ryan are body builders, with nowhere near the pedigree of Lesnar. It's hardly the same. Â EDIT: Yeah, what Kenny said.
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 I wasn't doubting his athleticism, just that not everyone who's a good athlete 'gets' pro-wrestling. The promo's, the psychology, how to sell, how to know where the camera's are, working to the audience etc. Hence why I was surprised he got such a large guarantee when all the above was still unknown. A calculated risk but a risk all the same.
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 I wasn't doubting his athleticism, just that not everyone who's a good athlete 'gets' pro-wrestling. The promo's, the psychology, how to sell, how to know where the camera's are, working to the audience etc. Hence why I was surprised he got such a large guarantee when all the above was still unknown. A calculated risk but a risk all the same. Exactly. Mark Henry is a good example of such a risk not paying off. My point is it's not fair to compare Lesnar to the Welsh mob, he had a lot more than 'he looks like a monster'.
wrestlemaniacx Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 haven't bought the book yet but i was planning to 'cause i always was a big fan of brock,he truly was one of a kind imo.  It's a shame that so many of my favorites seem to be, or have been, in the game only for the money, it's not just brock, you can also list goldberg and arguably batista and lashley in that same category....they all seem so perfect for pro wrestling, with their look and power and all, and i truly enjoy watching those big muscleheads if they have charisma which imo all of them had ( some will disagree i know)  I also find it mind boggling that for some of them it supposedly was never fun at all, it never translated on screen to me,he seemed to be having a good time mostly and it's so hard to believe wrestling guys like hogan and flair, meant nothin to him, that's sorta disrespectfull not only to the legend but also to the thousands of aspiring wrestlers who might not ever get that chance.  yet at the same brocks brutal honesty is one of the traits i always admired in him, if tht's how he feels well more power to him i guess..  i always hoped he would come back after reading all this i'm not holding my breath on it,i think we lost him forever sadly  i can tell you this however, whatever he does, i'll be watching, just because he isn't a wrestler anymore doesn't change me being a fan...i couldn't care less for mma but i'm on the edge of my seat when brock has a fight.
David Posted June 27, 2011 Author Posted June 27, 2011 Lesnars lack of real passion for anything he has done thus far has worked against him just as much as it's worked for him in my opinion. Â Take MMA for example. He can make noises about wanting to compete in a "real" sport and so forth, but he wasn't ever interested in MMA until there was money to be made. He alwyas strikes me as the kind of guy who does just enough to get by, which is a real shame as he could have been a great pro wrestler, or a great MMA fighter. Â Chances are, he'll go down in neither sports history books as one of the all-time greats. Â If he had used his financial clout to seriously improve his game from the get-go in MMA he could have been a real great. As it stands he simply isn't dedicated enough to put himself out there and work with the kind of people who can really test him and help him improve. Â Instead, he's happy to train in a converted barn next to his house with his pals so he can go home at night and be a farm boy or something. It's unfortunate, as he's obviously got the physical tools to be one of the very best. Imagine what he could do if he was working with some of the premiere MMA camps in the country, sparring and learning from the very best talent in the sport. Â Imagine if half the guys coming up in the UFC who have to work full-time jobs and train had the financial freedom to just concentrate on improving their game, and had the finance and reputation to train anywhere they wanted? Â It's reasons like the above that he'll most likely always fall short when he comes up against guys with similar physical abilities but the drive & hunger to be the best that he simply doesn't have. Â He's destined to be remembered as someone who made a lot of money in both pro wrestling & MMA, but who made a mark in neither really.
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted June 27, 2011 Paid Members Posted June 27, 2011 Maybe his huge guarantee & PPV bonuses that he got early on his wrestling career were to blame for that? Given he seems completely motivated by money, being set for life after a relatively short amount of time will have removed any motivation to carry on with it. Same with MMA to an extent, he was already financially set & got propelled into a title shot after 2 fights in the UFC purely cause' he was already famous so where's the motivation to carry on? If he can get that far without absolutely dedicating himself to it he can just carry on fishing, hunting & raising his kids until he gets bored again & decides he wants a crack at baseball or whatever he chooses to do.
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