An open letter to Brock Lesnar

Respected Beast,

Hello, Mr Brock Lesnar. As a longtime fan of your wrestling prowess since my childhood, I hereby pen this letter.

Your combat skills and athleticism are truly one of a kind — magnanimous in appearance and just as sumptuous in implementation. Be it the sphere of professional wrestling or MMA, you’ve broken barriers and done the unthinkable on several fronts.

However, what saddens me as of this moment, is the knowledge you may bid adieu to the sports-entertainment company you’re currently contracted to, with every self-proclaimed ‘expert’ in the pro-wrestling business caterwauling the hearsay of you leaving the WWE after Wrestlemania 34 as a fact carved in stone. Regardless, I refuse to believe these so-called trade pundits’ banter and honestly opine that Suplex City will be the capital of Monday Night RAW for a long time to come.

As a longtime pro-wrestling watcher, WWE fan, boxer and aspiring amateur wrestler, I’d like to play ‘Advocate’ here and put forth a brief argument — if you will — in order to convince you to refrain from vacating the Mayoral seat of Suplex City.

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King of 2 worlds

Brock Lesnar changed Frank Mir's career forever; with the latter hitting a downward spiral after being brutally knocked out by the Beast

Having followed the sports-entertainment organization for years, my friends and I started following MMA after you made the transition to shoot-fighting in 2007, watching in utter awe as you made mincemeat of Min-Soo Kim at Dynamite!!. Now, we were well aware of your stellar NCAA Division 1 background, but having witnessed several stars such as Bam Bam Bigelow and Akebono fall prey in the realm of the savage science — it brought us a sense of pride and joy to see one of the world’s most famous pro-wrestlers make a statement in MMA.

Your UFC debut impressed us even more; as you knocked down a cocky Frank Mir— who was in his prime back then— but that being your 2nd MMA bout overall, your foe used a bit of veteran savvy and pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Regardless, you silenced all your critics and the hardcore MMA/pro-wrestling fans (mostly keyboard warriors who haven’t been in a real fight their whole lives) by besting highly-regarded Heath Herring and then sending shockwaves throughout the world by landing a straight right and hammer-fists from hell on the legendary Randy Couture.

Which brings me to UFC 100 — to date, one of the best MMA cards/events of all time (and believe me, I’m a huge MMA and boxing fan!)— when you pulled the horseshoe out of Mir’s you-know-what and smacked him over the head with it. To quote you—“Wooo!”

Unfortunately, you suffered a health scare before your fight with Shane Carwin, but returned nonetheless; becoming the first and only man to finish ‘The Engineer’— at a time when he seemed legitimately unstoppable. Besides, despite your battle with the illness, you still stepped up to the plate and faced Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem — a feat that none would’ve dared had they been in the middle of a battle with diverticulitis.

What I’m driving to, is that you’ve proven all there is in the world of Mixed Martial Arts — be it beating the best, to fighting while not at 100% health-wise. The Beast Incarnate’s legacy in the sphere of shoot-fighting and the sport of MMA has long been secure; way before your fight with Mark Hunt went down.

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Modern-day professional wrestling and the snarky ‘smark’ culture

Brock Lesnar looks and acts like a bona fide WWE Universal Champion, and is believable in the role

Now that you’ve accomplished all there is and lambasted your doubters in MMA, let’s turn to the sport you currently compete in, shall we?

I’ve got to confess that after all these years of pro-wrestling and combat sports-fandom, I now find myself to be all by my lonesome as a modern-day sports-entertainment fan. Most ‘smart marks’ patrolling trolling the internet, seem to be pushing their agenda that in-ring work and spot-fests are indeed the end-all-be-all of this sport. Frankly speaking, I DISAGREE!!!

Having grown up on a farm much like you hitting the weights and getting a clue, I believed in strong ring-generalship as a boxer in the amateurs. However, when it comes to professional wrestling, the biggest attraction which drew me to it was, in fact, the characters and storylines rather than the ring-work or ‘flip-flopping’. Paul Heyman’s mordant and aculeate promos and that hilarious backstage segment you had with Kurt Angle, replete with milk and cookies…that is what makes the sport so crazy and entertaining.

The fondest memories I have of this sport generally stem from the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras; not today’s generation of indie darlings engaging in boring spot-fests, with no storylines, zero build-up or substance to their respective characters...you get the point!

But you, Sir (*Cue Paul Heyman’s voice*)… you seem to be the only defiant, immovable, or I’d rather quote your ‘Advocate’ “Unconquerable” object Beast, who refuses to bow down to the modern-day snarky, so-called hardcore fans. In a sport filled with bland characters and flip-floppers whom any decent pugilist at my local gym can KO within minutes, you stand as the true, believable representative of the old-school values that form the very foundation of the professional wrestling/sports-entertainment business.

The old school fans and the casual pro-wrestling audience needs performers like you, to keep us from changing the channel on our remotes. The WWE needs you! To paraphrase a quote from the Dark Knight: "You’re not the hero they want, but the hero they deserve."

As a self-confessed old-school wrestling fan, I hereby request you to keep driving the old tractor down the farm and salvaging the core values of this business by ensuring Suplex City stays in WWE for the years to come.

Yours truly,

Johny Payne.

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