Saturday's news that Phil "CM Punk" Brooks signed a multifight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship sent the mixed martial arts world into a frenzy.
It is understandable. Brooks has zero athletic experience outside of his tenure as a professional wrestler. Wrestling is a very tough business, and you need plenty of athleticism to do what professional wrestlers do on a daily basis.
You'll never hear me disparage wrestlers for being "fake." I am a longtime professional wrestling fan. Yes, wrestling is scripted entertainment. But movies and television shows are scripted, yet they receive none of the derision wrestling faces.
And wrestling hurts. There is a long list of wrestlers who took copious steroids and pain pills to try and get noticed and to cover up the pain they felt from throwing their bodies on a hard canvas hundreds of times each day. The steroids enlarged their hearts, the narcotics damaged their immune systems and they ended up dying far too young. Until recently, wrestling deaths were an epidemic.
It was in this world that Brooks succeeded. He went through the same abuse as every other wrestler. His daily grind was the same. The only difference is that he refused to mask his pain with narcotics or alcohol, and he never took steroids to get ahead. As a devout follower of the straight edge movement, Brooks has been drug- and alcohol-free his entire life. He is a rarity in the world of professional wrestling.
He also never had the right look for professional wrestling. Wrestling historian Dave Meltzer recalls the first time he saw Punk wrestle:
Source http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2293774-ufcs-signing-of-cm-punk-is-a-good-thing-as-long-as-theyre-honest-about-it
No comments:
Post a Comment