http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7882670/john-cena-brock-lesnar-why-winning-wwe-matter
I think he rambles way too much in all his articles, goes on too many tangents and doesn't really use the space to enhance the theme of the articles, it's still decent enough on a relatively mainstream site (ESPN fueled subsite)
Matt
Yeah, the Grantland stuff is usually really well done, and I liked this one too.
I'm with Scott, love The Masked Man's stuff.
ReplyDeleteGrantland is about as mainstream of a site as it gets. I'm a huge fan of the masked man article.
ReplyDeleteI usually really like his articles but felt like that one was too much a "WWE Kool Aid" column. Winning & losing DOES matter. It's not the most important thing but I definitely think it matters. Not so much with Bryan/Sheamus but with Lesnar/Cena because it was Lesnar's first match back, it does.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't say it doesn't matter, he just said it isn't the be all, end all, there are many other important factors.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the e-mailer: I find this guy's writing every bit as pretentious and full of itself as the rest of the content at Grantland. Which is to say, very. That said, I haven't read this column yet. I base my opinion on his previous work.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the Masked Man's stuff, but I've heard good things. I'm a large fan of Grantland in general and read it every day.
ReplyDeleteI really like this guys writing, especially considering the platform its on. I wouldnt consider his work full of tangents, per se, I think he's just trying his best to write for a wrestling fan and a non-fan, and sometimes he has to stop in the middle and explain something, or go on about the history of something. Stuff that, for anyone thats on a site like this one, is pretty obvious and common knowledge.
ReplyDeleteStill in this piece he does seem to underplay the fact that Brock got pinned. Not sure I agree, but still a fun read
Don't get me wrong, I do like his writing because it's usually thoughtful and realistic insight looking at how we as fans view the produc and how the WWE presents it to us. It's just that sometimes I'm reading along with the main point of an article then all of a sudden we're reading about a dead wrestler's cat who's name influenced an unrelated gimmick... or something to that effect. Just makes it hard to stay on track as a reader is all. Otherwise, great stuff.
ReplyDeleteNot Bill Simmons? No buys.
ReplyDeleteThe Masked Man continues to be my favorite in-depth scribe on wrestling (Scott's rants aside). I thought that was a real good article and loved his point about Bryan.
ReplyDeleteLesnar/Cena was probably not booked the way all of us would've booked it, but I would still be ready to "shut up and take my money" for a rematch even with that result. Why? Because I saw that match, and in the mark parts of my brains, Cena won because he got in one good shot with a chain. Lesnar/Cena 2 with no Extreme Rules-esque stip, and I'm interested again, because every time Cena tried to rush Brock with an attack, he got manhandled. So I'm intrigued in how Cena can upend Brock without weapons, with Brock's MMA-based arsenal, grappling prowess, and killer instinct.
I also think there could be something to the Masked Man's opinion that Cena's promo maybe wasn't intended to air, but the cameras stayed with him since they didn't know what he was going to say, and had they did, they probably would've ended the show if Cena indeed was going off-the-cuff. The situation is still rather curious.
I would be much more likely to accept the idea that his comments were not intended to air, or were delivered in a way that was unplanned by WWE, if they had not re-aired them the next night on Raw. I have great trouble seeing a control freak like Vince letting something he did not agree with or approve of being shown on the flagship program to millions of viewers.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole Grantland is a pretty good site but sometimes they try just a little to hard, and Bill Simmons has become such a homer that he's basically a joke at this point. The Masked Man usually deliveres though. I thought his comparison of wrestlers to NBA a players was pretty entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI think this was meant to be a bridge piece, encouraging people who are curious about wrestling, but still apprehensive. This was a great way to give them the basics so they can get over their "don't wrestling fans think its real" bias and see it for what it is.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good column, and it used the DB vs Sheamus example well.
Masked Man used to write for deadspin. He's be doing this for a while. His piece a few years ago on the death of ECW was one of the best wrestling columns I've ever read. He comes across as someone who used to be in the actual industry.
ReplyDelete