Apr 20, 2009

Is Sherdog.com contributor Jake Rossen a royal elitist?


I know a few elitist who are fans of MMA, but they are not prudes. In fact they are also fans of professional wrestling. This makes me wonder what kind of person Sherdog.com contributor Jake Rossen appears to be or tries to portray. In his latest article, Mr Rossen calls the "TNA Lockdown" PPV slang for "embarrassment to the human race." Rossen was writing about Bobby Lashley and his appearance on the TNA PPV. He continued with "I assume some poorly performed theater for the hygiene-challenged ensued" referring to Lashley's encounter with Kurt Angle. "It's a deranged spectacle, full of drug-addled performers taxing their adrenal glands in a poorly scripted imitation of athletics." is another one of Rossen's knocks on pro wrestling. Rossen finished his rant with a quote from a Woody Allen Film: "Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling?" While reading his column half asleep, I was taken back by Rossen's elitist attitude. I felt insulted and degraded.

My insulted feelings were quickly pushed aside and replaced with anger as I took my cool and refreshing morning shower. As a 19 year pro wrestler myself and as a man who worked with Lashley many times before and after he debuted on WWE TV, I can honestly say I am very proud and honored to be apart of this industry we call pro wrestling and/or sports and entertainment. I have loved pro wrestling for as long as I can remember and I am not alone. Pro wrestling for me is one of the greatest forms of entertainment this planet has ever seen. The incredible feeling one gets as they masterfully take 18 000 plus screaming fans on an emotional roller-coaster ride cannot be duplicated. The exhilarating power to make fans scream, cry, smile, laugh or any other emotion humans feel, is intoxicating. I digress. I could go on and on about how great pro wrestling is, but that's not what I wish to speak about right now.

While pro wrestling has fans from ALL walks of life from the VERY rich to the VERY poor, VERY young to the VERY old, MMA also has the same fan makeup. I am one of those people who happens to be a huge fan of MMA. MMA is NOT pro wrestling. Pro wrestling and MMA are two completely different animals. While performers in both industries must be well conditioned athletes, pro wrestling is more theater of the mind while using physicality to entertain the fans. MMA on the other hand is pure competition. However, even though MMA is of the competitive nature, the casual MMA fan still wants to be entertained. You need look no further than Anderson Silva vs Thales Leites at the UFC PPV in Montreal for that fact to be proven. The reality is both pro wrestling and MMA fans want to be entertained. The overall difference between the two industries is how entertaining the fans is accomplished. MMA entertains the fans with great fighters having great matches while attempting to pull out a REAL victory. Pro wrestling attempts to entertain the fans with great wrestlers telling captivating story lines both in the lead up to the match and another story in the ring. The goal in pro wrestling is not to win the match necessarily, rather to thoroughly entertain and satisfy the audience. Real elitist understand completely the difference between these two beasts. A real elitist likes to have their sense of reality lifted for a couple of very entertaining hours while watching pro wrestlers tell their stories both in and out of the ring. Those same REAL elitist also love to be entertained by MMA as they respect the intricacies of the fight game. So is Jake Rossen the elitist he portrays in his columns?

We could go into what makes the individual an elitist, but that would become a 350 page book. Lets just get to the bottom line. I have met many REAL elitist during the last 19 years of my pro wrestling career. While working for the WWE, I have met countless business/corporate men and women at meet and greets for company sponsors in major cities around the world. Politicians who frequented WWE events and some I became friends with were definitely people I would label elitist. Most REAL elitist love to be entertained. They understand how both MMA and pro wrestling can accomplish this task and are more than willing to let these two industries satisfy their desire to be entertained. Jake Rossen however, will on one hand, hold MMA up on a gold platter(rightfully so) because "IT'S FOR REAL!" On the other hand, he will bury pro wrestling because the outcome is predetermined. Rossen is incapable of seeing wrestling for what it is. If Rossen was a true elitist, he would have the brain power to compute the equation (Demand to be entertained)+(The supply of entertainment)=Very satisfied human beings from all walks of life who just want to be entertained. Rossen however, cannot see past the "predetermined" aspect of pro wrestling and may not be intelligent enough to just relax and let his sense of reality be suspended for just a couple of hours. While REAL elitist continue to be entertained around the world by a variety of options including pro wrestling, Rossen pretends to be an elitist by telling the world that he is too good for pro wrestling. The truth is, he is too dumb to understand it. Perhaps the quote from Woody Allen's film should have been "Can you imagine the level of a mind incapable of understanding REAL entertainment!"


Freetarian Media
Sean Morley

8 comments:

Krymzon said...

Lmfao he quoted a guy that married his sixteen year old step daughter.

Meh, it's best to pay no mind to people like that. Thoughs who feel that they have to bash something to feel more important usually have some self esteem issues.

In this case the issue might reside in how badly prowrestling kills MMA in ratings.

And if he needs the statistics shoved in his face then I will be more than happy to shove them in his face.

Kaliqo~ said...

I am a fan of MMA, however some people consider it a blood sport. I'm sure Rossen would take exception to that description. He should expect fans of pro wrestling to take exception to his statement. I am tired of trying to justify pro wrestling. You either like it or you don't, but don't disparage it.

Unknown said...

Vince from over at Facebook here...

Obviously, Rossen is one of those troglodytes who is incapable of understanding pro wrestling from a storytelling point of view and feels the need to denigrate its fans because of their lack of mental capacity. I understand people just not liking. It isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I find it funny that people who run professional wrestling down will watch movies and television shows where everything is explained outright to them and then can't see the story being told in the ring. I think it takes a smarter and quicker-witted person to appreciate the athleticism, willingness to sacrifice and intelligence level needed to carry off a good match (I'm looking at Undertaker Vs. Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25 as an example).

I also enjoy MMA, but for a completely different reason. To me, it's about watching actual fighting skill and the notion that any person could win at any time. Rossen seems to be trying to make a point of saying that pro wrestling somehow brings MMA down a notch or two. Nonsense! I have 2 words for him on that one: Ken Shamrock. Here's 2 more: Brock Lesnar. Here's 2, even bigger words for him: Dan Severn (who happens to have an MMA record of 86-16-7 and is in the UFC Hall of Fame). It seems to me that Rossen needs to needs to check his facts before he opens his mouth publicly!

Unknown said...

Pro-wrassling is to pro sports, what soap operas are to real life.
A bunch of scripted hacks attempting to mimic real life.
Wrasslers only get injured when they fuck up their ''choreographed'' antics.
(fell the wrong way...accidentally 'really' hit another ''actor''...etc.)
dog & fucking pony show...
The only reason it is popular, is for the same reason the 3-headed cow & the fat lady with a beard at a circus side-show are great attractions. It was, and always will be, the ''freak-factor''

Unknown said...

pro-wrassling is to pro sports, what soap operas are to real life.
a bunch of scripted hacks attempting to mimic real life.
wrasslers only get injured when they fuck up their ''choreographed'' antics.
(fell the wrong way...accidentally 'really' hit another ''actor''...etc.)
dog & fucking pony show...
the only reason it is popular, is for the same reason the 3-headed cow & the fat lady with a beard at a circus side-show are great attractions. It was, and always will be, the ''freak-factor''

Unknown said...

pro-wrassling is to pro sports, what soap operas are to real life.
a bunch of scripted hacks attempting to mimic real life.
wrasslers only get injured when they fuck up their ''choreographed'' antics.
(fell the wrong way...accidentally 'really' hit another ''actor''...etc.)
dog & fucking pony show...
the only reason it is popular, is for the same reason the 3-headed cow & the fat lady with a beard at a circus side-show are great attractions. It was, and always will be, the ''freak-factor''

Anonymous said...

schecky you misspelled wrestling and wrestlers.

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