Know Thy Enemy - Brock Returns Home!

Photo Credit: PWInsider

WWE presented their biggest show of the year on Sunday, and as usual it delivered! The main event alone was a spectacle unlike any other, with live musical performances of each superstar's promotional music, and an entertaining match that sent the record breaking crowd home happy. However, what could end up outshining Wrestlemania could well be the return of Brock Lesnar, which occurred at the end of the WWE's flagship show Monday Night Raw.

Lesnar is a former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, and has previously held the WWE championship 3 times. But his rise to mainstream athletic fame came with his 4 year tenure with the UFC, the mixed martial arts promotion, where he twice held the UFC heavyweight title.

His final bout in the UFC was a disappointment for all involved, as Lesnar went in to this match after taking a lot of time off to recover from a stomach illness known as diverticulitis, and it was a simple looking kick to the stomach that eventually shut the door on Lesnar's MMA career.

The thing that i have heard for many years now, is that professional wrestling and MMA simply do not mix. Many professional wrestling fans stopped following wrestling when MMA went mainstream, and Lesnar was a big reason for the rise of UFC. What will they think about Lesnar's return? Can professional wrestling learn anything from Lesnar and his MMA experience? Are MMA and professional wrestling really rivals? I would say that for the 18 - 29 male demographic, they almost certainly compete for the same viewership (although not always at the same time).

This is a stroke of genius from the WWE! They have managed to get back on of their most popular superstars, who like The Rock, became an even bigger name whilst away from the WWE. Where Lesnar and The Rock differ is, that Lesnar is unlikely to ever be able to return to MMA. For the WWE, this is truly a case of know thy enemy, as they will have access to the experiences of Lesnar within the UFC, and more importantly have access to Lesnar to help build some of its up and coming stars with his name value and "real fighter" reputation.

I don't see anything mental about this move from the WWE, as long as Lesnar himself is committed to being there, and performing in the way that WWE expects!

The Personality Clash 1 Year In The Making

Photo Credit: WWE.com

On April 1st, in Miami Florida, The WWE will present it's biggest show of the year, Wrestlemania. The main event will be The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) taking on John Cena. This match was made following the controversial ending of the main event of last years Wrestlemania, when then WWE Champion, The Miz, was able to record a victory against heavy favorite John Cena in part thanks to the interference from The Rock.

The very next night on RAW, on April 4th 2011, Cena and The Rock were in the ring together, verbally sparring. The Rock claimed that him and Cena were complete opposites and that The Rock flat out doesn't like Cena. Cena responded quite simply by asking for a match, there and then! The Rock, then layed down the gauntlet, of having the match at Wrestlemania 28, and it was sealed with a handshake and an obligatory stare down. The main event of WWE's marquee event was made an entire year in advance,  this was unprecedented in the 28 year history of this event.

The WWE had one of its biggest challenges in recent memory. How would they promote this match? On name value alone, both The Rock and Cena would be able to sell out an entire arena, so putting them against each other would seem to be a marketing no brainer, yet what was hook, the substance, the rationale for these two fighting one another. In wrestling terms, what was the angle? Sure, Cena was angry about his Wrestlemania 27 loss, but that momentum could never last a full year.

The Rock is still a Hollywood movie star, and was not returning to the WWE full time. Yet Cena and The Rock were able to continue their verbal sparring for a few months, mostly with the Rock appearing via satellite, much to the chagrin of Cena. The Rock made the occasional (heavily promoted) live appearance, and during the Survivor Series pay per view, The Rock and John Cena were tag team partners (with the tag line, never before, never again!), but again after Survivor Series The Rock would be needed back in Hollywood.

In The Rock's absence, Cena continued being John Cena, rarely changing the act that had made him one of the biggest superstars of this generation. However this act, as The Rock was never shy in pointing out, was getting a little tiresome for the WWE Universe's 18 + demographic. The kids still adored Cena, but the boos outweighed the cheers considerably. The irony here of course being that The Rock made his triumphant return to the WWE, after a 6 year absence, and came back with the exact same act that made him one of the biggest superstars of all time. The only difference was the lure of nostalgia, which continues to work in The Rock's favor.

Now, as we approach Wrestlemania 28, with all the hype and publicity focusing around this match, the angle is perfectly clear to me, and with the help of Sport Psychology, I will explain it. You see, The Rock was wrong on April 4th 2011 when he declared that him and John Cena were complete opposites. They are in fact, far too similar, and this is what makes this match so exciting. In the history of the WWE, this match will go down as one of the most important ever. In sport psychology, we learn about personality types, and how they can often be used to predict behavior. Using a simple personality test such as Eysenck's Personality Inventory (1965), both The Rock and Cena would be described as being extroverted and stable. It should have been obvious that as soon as The Rock cost Cena the main event of Wrestlemania 27, Cena would become obsessed with an adequate response. Both men are extremely talkative, and have at one point in their careers been the leader of the WWE brand. John Cena always elicits a powerful reaction (sometimes cheers, but mostly boos) and The Rock is justified by calling himself "The Most Electrifying man in all of Entertainment", as both men are exceptionally lively in front of a live audience. The similarities are exactly what makes this match so important.

The WWE universe, at various times have both cheered these men to heights never before seen in their respective generations, only now that the WWE universe is having to choose, nostalgia is playing a role. Yet at Wrestlemania 28, The Rock is the hometown hero, and Cena will be revered by the majority of the audience. You will still have your Cena loyalists, but I do not think it would surprise anyone to hear Cena booed louder than ever. I also feel that this is more a reflection of The Rock's mainstream hollywood popularity and nostalgic wrestling return than it is on Cena's legitimate unpopularity. The crux of this main event comes down to a personality clash between two of the biggest superstars in modern day professional wrestling. Can two extroverts share the spotlight? Can two stable men keep their game faces on and focus on the match rather than the spectacle that is Wrestlemania? These are the questions that will define this match, and one year in the making, John Cena Vs The Rock is a mouth watering prospect!

Professional Wrestling Will Always Have Hart

Few professional wrestlers can actually be named by those that don't follow the sport. Sure, many have made the crossover into movies like Hulk Hogan and The Rock, but those who made their career solely on wrestling are less easily identifiable. In my opinion, despite the fact he has not had a movie career like his aforementioned colleagues, one wrestler that should be a household name is Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Bret was born into a wrestling family; in fact, his father (the late Stu Hart) was a major name across North America and went on to own his own promotion known as Stampede Wrestling. Bret was one of 12 children, most of which were in someway involved in professional wrestling. Tragically, his younger brother Owen fell to his death at a live wrestling pay - per - view event at the age of 34. The last name of Hart really means something in the professional wrestling world.

Photo Credit: Brethart.com

Bret has had his fair share of success, including being a multiple time World Champion, the first ever double triple crown winner in wrestling and has even been immortalized by appearing in an episode of "The Simpsons". Yet, despite these achievements, Bret has also faced many setbacks. Bret was involved in the infamous Montreal screw job, which truly blurred the lines of reality for fans and non fans alike. During a World Championship bout against long time nemesis Shawn Michaels, the owner of WWE, Vince McMahon, came to ringside and demanded that the bell was rung and that the bout end and the belt awarded to Michaels. This signaled one of the most difficult times in not only Bret's professional life, as he took his wrestling talents to the rival (but dysfunctional) wrestling company WCW, but also personally, as his support system and family would stay with the WWE. This included his baby brother Owen, brother in law Davey Boy Smith (who later joined WCW) and other close friends. During his time in WCW, Bret also suffered a career ending concussion in the ring. The thing is, during this entire time, Bret remained true to his family values and to the values which he represented to his enormous fan base. He showed up when he had to show up, he performed to the best of his ability every night (highlighted by an emotional bout against the late Chris Benoit in an empty arena), and always found time for his loyal fans. It was always a dream of mine to see Bret Hart live, and be the lucky person in the audience who Bret would signal out and present his own brand of glasses to. To this day, Bret is still passionate about a business that, the way it treated him, would have made a lesser man very bitter.

Eventually, after what could only be some deep soul searching and mediated discussions, Bret and the WWE reconciled, and Bret Hart was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2006. A truly well deserved honor. This meant that the Hart name would forever be linked with professional wrestling, yet it is said that a legacy is something that people have a tangible connection with, and even when Bret was no longer on TV wrestling for either WWE or WCW, the fans were able to connect with the Hart family through his family members such as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart and "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. The Hart legacy was there for all to see, yet in the wings there was a new generation of Harts ready to continue the legacy of Stu, Bret, and Owen.

Enter The Hart Dynasty, a trio consisting of Tyson Kidd (not a Hart but one who trained at the Hart Dungeon), David Hart Smith (son of the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith) and Nattie Neidhart (daughter of Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart). These three superstars spent the best part of a year representing the Hart name in tag team bouts (including mixed gender bouts) and single bouts, and were very successful winning tag team championships and for Nattie, the Divas championship.

Photo Credit: twintalkwrestling

As things stand right now, the three wrestlers have gone their own ways, with Tyson Kidd establishing himself in his own right and leaving the Hart connection behind him for now. DH Smith, was released by the WWE and is appearing all over the world on the independent scene. Nattie Neidhart is perhaps the most visible of the three currently, and much of this visibility has to do with the power of the Hart legacy. She is one of the most dominant divas in the WWE, and uses Bret's own Sharpshooter as one of her finishing moves. She also wears the pink and black colors that became synonymous with the Hart family (including of course her father).

In sport psychology, professional wrestling is rarely talked about (much to my own personal dismay), yet the issue of predisposed talent or hereditary traits is always a hot topic. It is said that there is evidence that genetic factors account for around 50% of variability in human physical performance. What this means in relation to this Sports Are Mental blog is that the Hart family may well of had a head start in their progression to becoming the royal family of wrestling, yet including an outlier such as Tyson Kidd, who has none of the same genes at Neidhart or Hart Smith goes someway to offering an alternative perspective, being that exposure to such traits has much to do with physical performance. The cream always rises, and the old adage that it is not what you know but WHO you know that will get you ahead in life come to mind, yet for Nattie Neidhart, it was not only the fact that she is the daughter of a former WWE tag team champion, and member of the Hart family, but also the fact the she has continually worked to hone and perfect her craft. You truly don't get anywhere in the world of wrestling without hard work.

I would be bereft not to answer the question that is on the lips of any non wrestling fan reading this, and that is about the legitimacy of professional wrestling. I will end with my answers to that question, followed by the answer that I can't lay claim to but have often used. My answers: It is far more real than you think and that I was brought up to never use 4 letter F words. The answer that is THE answer to this question: For those who believe, no explanation is required and for those who do not believe, no explanation will do.