Has MMA Changed Your Wrestling Experience?

[Uncle Sam]

Has for me. Damn near ruined wrestling.

Somebody gets kicked in the gut and sells it for thirty seconds, I sit there just thinking they look foolish. Copy and paste for pretty much any other situation. I'm having trouble enjoying wrestling matches at all.

Then again, that's been the case for about a decade now. Maybe it's not the MMA.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

As oppoosed to MMA where they no sell a kick to the guy and they carry on as if nothing happened?

There are more options in wrestling, but the storylines and frequency in which you see the wrestlers are the real downfall.

 

[Dave]

Since Brock Lesnar joined the UFC, I have found it hard to enjoy wrestling as much in general. I think that UFC especially is just a great source of entertainment and the best thing is, it's not written and set in stone. WWE is. The UFC is so much better now in my opinion. The only thing that annoys me about MMA is the PPV buys. It's greatest strength is also it's weakness. You could wait 6 months for a fight that you want to see and it could be onver in 5 seconds. Wrestling on the other hand gives you the entertainment that you paid for and you know that you are going to get what you paid for.

You are completely orrect though. Since I starte playing UFC on the xbox, I have found it hard to watch wrestling without thinking that Triple H should just use his BJJ to take down Otron and get in the mount position and repeatedly smash his face in with hammer-fists. The two are world apart and I think it should stay that way.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I don't understand how The Miz couldn't get John Cena to pass out to that choke. He should have either passed out or tapped out. No way would he get up after falling down twice, that's just silly. He should have just slammed him.

 

[Marquis]

Hasn't effected my wrestling experience one bit. When I'm watching wrestling i see it as a art form. Some watch for the stories, characters, or whatever else, but i watch mainly for the actual wrestling and grabbing that takes place in ring. I don't watch and think "Hey! why didn't cena tap out to the Miz's RNC?" because i know in my mind this is wrestling, not MMA, so it wouldn't make sense for him to tap out. When I'm watching wrestling i have my wrestling mindset on. When i watch MMA i have my MMA mindset on.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Selling aside, since I firmly believe that wrestling is meant to be more overdramatic theatre than true sports endeavor, there is ONE major difference I see between wrestling and the UFC right now.

Wrestling, as it is currently constituted, is a ritual for me. I have a very set schedule on Monday Nights - return home from the gym at 8:30 pm, shower, turn on channel 738, and cook dinner while listening to the opening montage. Eat while I watch, go to sleep when I lose interest.

The UFC, on the other hand, is what wrestling used to be, and that is an event. A pro wrestling PPV was the ONLY time of year you saw wall to wall PPV quality matches. Weekly TV shows like Superstars and Wrestling Challenge were infinitely missable, because it was the same slate of gimmicky characters beating up "enhancement talents." If you didn't tune in Sunday morning and missed The Berzerker beating down an aged Jim Brunzell, it was whatever. But SummerSlam, Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series were events you had a three month countdown until.

With UFC right now, you can catch "fight nights" and tune in to "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show for a small fix. But PPV's come around maybe every other month, they are always different, and the build up is natural, not forced.

That is where I see the gap. Wrestling is no longer an event. It's something I do because I feel obligated to do it. I feel like if I miss wrestling it leaves a void in my week. In a may, I am psychologically addicted to being a fan, even if it doesn't always give me the high it once did.

 

[jmt225]

This is a great question.

Thankfully, I can sit down and enjoy a Randy Savage wrestling match today as much as I could when I was a kid. I can sit down and watch Bryan Danielson perform and still be completely amazed at what I'm watching. I do have a lot of gripes and complaints about the WWE product, but MMA has nothing to do with my belief that the product sucks, because the fact of the matter is… when WWE does give us a good angle and/or match, I can enjoy it as much as I can any other good entertainment program.

With that said, my passion for MMA has definitely surpassed my passion for professional wrestling. While I can still sit there and appreciation a great match, it doesn't get my heart pounding anymore like it did when I was a kid. I mean, I'm a huge fan of guys like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Cena, Edge, Kendrick, and a couple of others, but when they win a big match, I just feel a little happy for them, and when they lose a big match, I feel it was the wrong choice made by management. But it never gets me up and out of my chair anymore, yelling at the TV for Punk to beat Hardy's ass like I would for Sting to beat Vader’s ass or for Diesel to kill The Undertaker when I was a kid. In fact, the last time I got really nervous and excited during a match was RVD vs. Cena at One Night Stand 2006, and that was only because of two things: 1) I desperately wanted RVD to win the WWE Championship, FINALLY, and 2) I really thought those motherfuckers in the audience were on the verge of rioting, and I was just like, "Oh shit, Cena's going to get killed". That match was fucking intense and nerve-racking as hell, but unfortunately... I highly doubt they'll ever be another wrestling match that I'll get that excited or nervous for while I'm watching.

However, when it comes to MMA, all their needs to be for my heart to be racing is someone I care for to be in the octagon or ring. Every time Nick Diaz, his little brother Nate, Gina Carano, Tito Ortiz, and a couple of others get in there to fight, my heart races. MMA provides you with that adrenaline rush like you're about to enter a fight yourself, and I love it. In basktetball and American football (two sports I'm a huge fan of, don't get me wrong), you don't get that nervousness until the 4th quarter. However, MMA is that rare sport where your heart is pounding right from the very beginning, and it’s impossible not to love. Pro wrestling use to do that for me, but not MMA fills that hole of entertainment for me. WWE is just another television show that can humor me every once and a while, while MMA is my favorite sport, period.

 

[Shocky]

I find myself slowly and slowly following and paying more avid attention to MMA then I am professional wrestling. It's a combination that I simply love the real aspect of it, the fact that I'm beginning to accept the fact that the Wrestling Business has indeed passed me by and the WWE in particular doesn't care about my age bracket so much any more (sans DVD's). Also the fact that I legit mark out for Brock Lesnar and follow him religiously doesn't hurt either.

I love watching the different styles mesh with each otehr in the MMA whether a ring or an octagon. it's what I used to love about wrestling int he mid 90's. You had different divisions that emphasized different styles (cruiserweights, hardcore, regular) and the WWE has gotten away from that type of show, to a very vanilla and bland show where everyone of all shape and size does the same thing.

Like Irish said, I watch the WWE now as a force of habit, probably because I'm afraid I'll miss the next big thing, but the time in between the next big things in wrestling gets further and further apart for me.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Not in the least. Likely becuase I dont watch it. I just see it as being a far different thing though, I guess. Like, I watch boxing just fine, and it doesnt do anything as far as wreslting, I dunno, I think just becuase I look at wrestling as more of a TV show than anything. I mean. ive seen and taken part in, plenty of real life fights, and fucking NONE of them looked anything like a wrestling match, so I dont see how you could be suprised, Sam.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Because people get punched and kicked and shit, and it's for the reals. The only satisfaction I get like that in wrestling is from a CM Punk title reign. Sad, I know.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I watch MMA as an alternative, but to say I watch it for real punches & kicksis wrong.

I'd much rather watch a street fight than any sort of MMA. Especially between girls. What I'm really saying is bring back the UFC as it used to be, hair pulling, and ball shots.

 

[Bottom_Line]

MMA has definetly changed my wrestling experience. When I was younger, I couldn't sleep all week when a ppv was coming up. Now I usually only watch the first few matches, which are usuallly the best, as that is the ECW match or a good feud, such as Jericho/Mysterio.

With MMA, I look forwards to certain ppv's months ahead. I booked UFC 100 off from work monthes ago, mostly because of Brock Lesnar. I also ordered the last fight that Bobby Lashley had, which in wrestling terms would be like ordering an ROH ppv. Even though those two guys are former wrestlers, they are amazing fighters, and I think their only knock is the fact that they came from the WWE. Most people don't even know about their amateur backgrounds.

The biggest way MMA changed my wrestling experience comes from the realism of it. The two examples I have are:

1) Big Show and his knockout punch. Generally speaking, one punch doesn't knock out most people, and when it does, it is lucky punch to an unprepared opponent. Big show has the slowest, most obvious punch I have ever seen, and it is so anti-clamatic to see a wrestling match end with a knockout.

2) Submissions in wrestling. In mma, if a hold is locked in, there is a submission within seconds, or else serious injury occurs. Wrestling has bullshit submissions, that get locked in, and the victim can last for 30+ seconds as he goes for the ropes, or tries a reversal. This kind of situation just ruins a match for me, especially when it is clear to everyone what a real submission hold can do to a person.