Do you resent Brock Lesnar's deal?

[BigBadMick]

Haven't come across this being discussed here. Personally, I think the fact that he's been able to overcome having the deck stacked so far against wrestlers in favour of management is commendable.

 

I can understand his co-workers resenting it, but I hope there's still a sense of 'good for him' too, and the boys recognising that you get what you can when you can in wrestling. Or is that an 80s/90s mentality long gone in 'grew up loving the business' day and age?

 

Maybe I'm an old Trotskyist at heart.....

[goc]

I don't resent his deal I just think they have done a really poor job of getting their money's worth out of the deal. They haven't booked him very well, although it seems like they are going to really try and build him back up after ending Taker's streak.

[(BP)]

Becoming a viable enough commodity to be offered a lucrative part time deal should be the new brass ring for every guy on the roster. It's actually more attainable than ever becoming "the face of the WWE". Ask CM Punk, he's started the process of getting the deal by blowing them off.

[Petey]

I don't resent the deal and I don't think any fan should. It'd be like resenting Robinson Cano or Alex Rodriguez for getting bloated contracts. Ultimately, who cares? As long as they produce, or in Lesnar's case, are entertaining, I don't care about the contract.

 

You could argue that WWE hasn't done the best job at getting the most out of Lesnar, but that's a WWE problem. It doesn't affect me. I'd prefer them to book him better (although being the guy to break the streak will probably do more for his aura than anything else they could have done leading up to it), but that's irregardless of how much money he's making.

[Steenalized]

I don't resent the guy for getting paid, especially since he freely negotiated a contract with the WWE. If they're dumb enough to grossly overpay him, then he should take it.

[Matt D]

I, for one, resent that school teachers aren't getting paid that sort of money!

 

Though I get why they don't get paid like that in Texas.

[anarchistxx]

No. He is clearly a draw or they wouldn't offer him such money - if he makes them a lot of money he deserves to be paid a lot of money. Also, to use him as more than a special attraction devalues him as an asset, so the argument that he should be working week in and week out to deserve it doesn't wash with me. One look at Batista shows you how quickly the shine wears off when you are working every week and subject to the ineptitude of creative.

 

I used to work in theatre and there would be similar rumblings from the regular troupe of actors when a less talented, less dedicated 'big name' celebrity would come in on a lot more money for a six week run of seasonal shows. And by a 'lot more money' I mean that the regular actors would get maybe £3,000 for the six weeks (three weeks rehearsal, three week run), and the celebrity would be looking at £25-30k. The 'star' would usually be someone from reality television or a famous model, with little acting experience. However, the shows would attract more people, the star would stay a sell/sign merchandise at the end and the theatre would get a cut etc. It was a no brainer for the theatre. Of course, there were occasions where the big name would come in and get paid a lot and the show would bomb - in which case the resentment of others grew and was more justified.

 

This sort of thing just happens in the arts, the same way Robert de Niro can get a million dollars for a cameo on a film when an unknown actor with a big part maybe makes a tenth of that or less.

[artDDP]

I don't resent it at all. I think it's great that he got himself a pretty sweet deal.

[anotherspammer]

I kind of wish there were more guys with schedules like Lesnar's. I think a big problem in WWE is over saturation. When a guy like Sheamus or Del Rio is on tv 2+ times a week, and they're never really doing anything, they become "just another guy." WWE could avoid this by booking the shows better top to bottom, but that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon. They'd be better off leaving guys off tv for a while, if they can't think of anything better for them to do than participate in the occassional multi_man match and job to the champ.

 

As for how much Lesnar makes per appearance, that doesn't matter much to me. It's not like WWE was going to give that money back to the fans.

[Fantastic]

I don't resent it...

 

Brock's deal apparently pales in comparison to the deal The Rock was on. Notably, Brock doesn't seem to be allowed to do anything outside WWE without their express permission or approval, whereas The Rock was getting paid significantly more than Brock and allowed ample space without any interference from the E to continue to pursue his movie career.

 

The only special privilege that seems to be catered for Brock is his sponsorship logos on his trunks.

[Coffey]

Here's what I don't like:

 

Brock Lesnar ended the twenty+ year undefeated Wrestlemania streak of The Undertaker at Wrestlemania. Since then, he's nowhere to be found. They didn't capitalize on it at all, which is a shame since it should have been a big, monumental deal.

 

Cesaro gets put with Paul Heyman on TV & taken away from Jack Swagger & Zeb but Heyman is still trying to keep Brock relevant because he's not there, to the detriment of Cesaro. So when Cesaro is supposed to come out to work, Heyman spends the whole time talking about Brock.

 

So Brock isn't there to capitalize on his big 'Mania win & him being gone has hurt Cesaro in the process.

 

I don't care about what he gets paid but it's hurting the show that he's not there. A lot of that is on the booking but if you know he's not going to be there, why put yourself in this situation?

[anarchistxx]

The ending of the streak is looking more and more like a shotgun decision as time rolls on and they don't follow up in any meaningful way.

[Loss]

I agree with that. I don't like how they just assume everyone knows Lesnar's deal and never even try to explain where he is.

[kjh]

I think it's understandable that they've decided to keep him off Extreme Rules and use him on the September pay-per-view instead. They'll need a big match then to ensure the least amount of people cancel their WWE Network subscription.

[MikeCampbell]

I don't see why any fans would resent Brock's deal. We can look back on how he's been used the past coupe of years and see that they've really done a shitty job of using him. So, they haven't gotten as much for their money as they probably could have, but that's not Brock's fault nor is it his problem.

 

Like everyone else has said, good for him. He left ten years ago because he didn't like all the travel. So, he worked hard and became a huge name in the UFC. And now, he's back, with a big money deal and working the limited dates to account for his dislike of the heavy travel.

[cm funk]

Yeah, to any of the guys who resent him (or resented Rock)......leave. Go make yourself into a bigger, more marketable name outside of WWE and they'll come crawling back to you when they need star power. But not everyone is a freak of nature like Brock who can get an NFL tryout off the street and be a star in UFC, or the Rock who can make himself into a global movie star, or even Jericho who took Fozzy from being a niche vanity project to being a legitimate band that plays to massive festival crowds and is well reviewed in the hard rock/metal community, and got his name out there with reality tv and hosting gigs and all sorts of other things. Simply put, not everyone is created equal, that's life. One thing those three all have in common besides talent is extreme dedication and hard work, and the balls to walk away on their own terms. Guys should be envious of them and think, "how can I get myself in that position"

 

Any fan who resents Brock, or Rock, or Batista, or anyone like that is a moron. It's the same marks who shit on Brock and Rock for years because they didn't "love the business" as if they as fans had been personally betrayed. It was dumb then and it's dumb now. When Piper left in the 80's to do movies did he get the same backlash? Or is this just a product of modern wrestling (smark) fandom?

[Johnny Sorrow]

Why would any fan resent any guy's deal?

It's not like it cost you a chance.

[BigBadMick]

'Love the business' was another phrase I meant to throw in my first post. Criticising someone for seeing wrestling as a way to make money rather than a way of life - always though that sounded petty.

[Petey]

Right? If you're an executive at some company, making good money and have a good job, and then Google or Apple come calling and are willing to triple your money and triple your vacation time, you obviously jump at the deal. No one would question your loyalty or anything like that. But in the wrestling business? They kill you for it.

[tholzerman]

I resent the Triple H feud. Otherwise, Brock's return has been better than I expected, so yeah, he should grab that cash, son.

[Matt Farmer]

It's the same type of person that cries when their favorite home team player takes a better offer in another city. It's the same goofs that chanted "you sold out" to those guys in ECW, or better yet those goofs at Mania who chanted that to Lesnar & Goldberg (think about the logic in that one).

 

Or what about those "Curse of Bambino" folks.

[BigBadMick]

I resent the Triple H feud. Otherwise, Brock's return has been better than I expected, so yeah, he should grab that cash, son.

I liked their matches at SummerSlam and Extreme Rules. The Wrestlemania one was a bit dodgy.

That's coming from a single viewing of each though.

[southofheavy]

Is resenting his deal really a thing? Like, people feel that way?

[WingedEagle]

I'm jealous. I'd love to make that kind of money for that little work. But resent? He didn't hold a gun to anyone's head. He brings certain things to the table that put him in position to get that deal. Isn't that what we all do with varying levels of success?

[evilclown]

I can say this—in the comments of our Bleacher Report articles there is a lot of anger about Brock's deals. They don't like that he's a part timer. In their minds it means he's not really part of the business and is stealing an opportunity from a real wrestler.