Mickey Rourke’s Amazing Performance Highlights ‘The Wrestler’
In The Wrestler Darren Aronofsky creates one of the most amazing films in recent memory. That he does so with pro wrestling as a backdrop validates everything that Robert Evans (who produced a couple of little films you may have heard of called The Godfather and Chinatown among many others) says about the necessity of breaking rules to touch magic.
To understand the enormity of Aronofsky’s cinematic achievement, its important to consider the less than glorious history of pro wrestling in American film. Perhaps the best film ever made until now with a significant pro wrestling component was 1962s Requiem for a Heavyweight. Adapted from Rod Serlings Playhouse 90 broadcast of the same name Requiem starred Anthony Quinn as an aging boxer who is at the end of his career and the end of his rope. After a final devastating knockout (to a young Muhammad Ali”still Cassius Clay at this point–who plays himself) he turns to the worked environment of pro wrestling out of necessity. The strange moral code of pro wrestling confounds Quinns character (I fought 111 fights and never took a dive”) and is at the crux of the films dramatic tension.
While Requiem is a praiseworthy film bolstered by solid performances by Quinn and Jackie Gleason and features a number of prizefighting greats including Muhammad Ali, Willie Pep, Jack Dempsey and Barney Ross it is at its core a boxing film. Pro wrestling is portrayed as the lowest, most humiliating avocation for a boxer. While there are certainly those who share this critical assessment of wrestling, it does little to explain its appeal and enduring popularity.
Pro wrestling has been featured in a lot of other movies, almost all with poor results. With the exception of a few movies with a small pro wrestling component (Jim Carrey’s excellent portrayal of comedian Andy Kauffman in ‘Man In The Moon’) and a half dozen or so documentaries, wrestling and movies have never seen eye to eye.
In the starring role of Randy The Ram Robinson, Rourke turns in a performance that critics have compared to Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, Paul Newman in The Hustler, and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. For a wrestling fan, its even more impressive due to his in-ring work. With the exception of a couple of extremely high risk spots, Rourke did all of his own wrestling and took all of the bumps himself. Its unfortunate that the Oscar voters couldnt see past their disdain for the subject matter to give Rourke the Best Actor award he so obviously deserved.
Aronofsky had a high degree of difficulty in creating an honest portrayal of professional wrestling. On one hand, he had to illustrate the raw and gritty reality of life at the lower levels of the profession. On the other hand, he had to convey to the audience the appeal of pro wrestling”why men like The Ram put themselves through hell to stay involved and why hardcore fans care so much. Miss the balance in one direction and the result is a film that misses the ability of pro wrestling to touch magic in its own way that keeps wrestlers in the ring and fans watching them. Err in the other direction and youve got a film that overly romanticizes a business that is at best tough and unforgiving and at worst barbaric and dehumanizing. Perhaps the most amazing thing about The Wrestler is how well it succeeds on both levels, which likely accounts for the effusive praise it has garnered from film geeks who wouldnt know a headlock from a padlock as well as pro wrestling enthusiasts.
Thats what makes Rourkes performance so amazing and The Wrestler such a great film”it simultaneously depicts pro wrestling at its best and worst and gets them both right. We understand how the business can chew people up and spit them out, but also its appeal and why Rourkes character keeps getting back in the ring despite all of the risks and challenges it has created in his life. Aronofsky and Rourke manage to convey the lure and revulsion that is unique to pro wrestling and simultaneously extrapolate them to much larger truths about human existence.
Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer specializing in travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, flower arranging and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.
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Japanese Pro Wrestling Legend Mitsuharu Misawa Remembered
Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan earlier this year less than a week before his 47th birthday. He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito. Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious. Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Initial reports in the Japanese media suggest that he was pronounced dead at the hospital, but a number of eyewitness accounts have speculated that he may have died in the ring.
There\’s at least a small bit of solace in the fact that he died in the ring doing what he loved, and what he did better than just about anyone on the planet. Misawa\’s last moments were spent working the kind of brutally stiff, athletically realistic match that got a generation hooked on Japanese wrestling.
Misawa was a top level high school wrestler, and that got him noticed by All Japan Pro Wrestling majordomo Shohei Giant Baba. He made his professional debut in\’81, and got his first big break in\’84 when he was chosen as the second Tiger Mask replacing Satoru Sayama. In\’90, he had his longtime tag team partner (and occasional rival) Toshiaki Kawada unmask him.
Misawa would wrestle as himself from then on, and become an even bigger star in the process. In June,\’90 he became one of the top stars in All Japan Pro Wrestling when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta. That match was his first main event appearance at the famous Nippon Budokan. He soon faced Triple Crown Champion Stan Hansen in an unsuccessful challenge for the title, and would become the biggest star in Japanese pro wrestling for the next decade.
Hed have legendary battles against Kawada, Hansen, Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and Steve Dr. Death Williams in singles competition. Hed also become a force on the tag team scene along with Kawada facing Williams and Terry Gordy along with Tsuruta and Akira Taue. Misawa would continue as a mainstay in AJPW until the early part of this decade. After the death of Giant Baba, he left to establish Pro Wrestling NOAH. He would serve as the companys president while wrestling a full time schedule until his death.
Japanese pro wrestling served as an introduction for many American fans into shoot fight sports and MMA. Before the Internet, fans would trade videotapes to stay up on the latest matches from Japan and along with Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Muta Keiji Mutoh it safe to say that Misawa is one of the wrestlers most responsible for getting a generation of American fans hooked on the product.
Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.
UFC 98 Review: Machida, Hughes Big Winners
When golf legend Jack Nicklaus was still a young upstart in the sport and only starting to tear up PGA courses, legend Bobby Jones commented following \’The Golden Bear\’s\’\’65 Masters win that \”he plays a game with which I am not familiar\”. Following Lyoto Machida\’s absolute destruction of Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 98, there\’s likely a few MMA fighters saying the same thing. Machida completely befuddled Evans en route to a 2nd round TKO victory after which \’The Dragon\’ looked as if hed barely worked up a sweat.
The fight started slowly, with each man trying to get a feel for his opponent and wait him out to see who blinked first. Evans, who prefers to counter punch, quickly began to become uncomfortable with facing an adversary who didn\’t come right at him. Late in the first round, Machida went on offense with frightening suddenness, flooring Evans with a nice straight right hand. Evans gamely tried to fight back, but a final right hand from the Shotokan Karate master left him out cold.
After the fight UFC announcer Joe Rogan proclaimed the start of the Machida era and this is not just mere hyperbole. Machida is unlike any fighter before him, rooted in mastery of traditional martial arts but with the versatility of a modern MMA competitor. He\’s essentially a Mortal Kombat character come to life–in a more realistic cross disciplinary comparison he shares many of the same characteristics as boxing great Floyd Mayweather, Jr. as he combines insane handspeed, underrated stopping power and nearly impenetrable defense into an unorthodox and extremely lethal package. Like Mayweather, hes a tough opponent to prepare for as there\’s simply no way to replicate his skill set in sparring. In another similarity with boxing\’s recent pound for pound king, Machida has been bred to fight since birth. His father is a first generation Japanese –Brazilian and a Shotokan Karate legend, Yoshizo Machida. He began training in his fathers discipline at the age of 3 and by the time he was 12 years old had earned a black belt.
The comparisons with the insanely talented but equally insanely arrogant Mayweather end when the final bell sounds. Outside of the cage, Machida is a modest and respectful gentleman who is quick to give credit to his father and his karate teachers for his MMA success. He spent most of his UFC 98 postfight interview not singing his own praises, but imploring others to strive to realize their dreams. In the past, his limited English was seen as a potential marketing liability here in the US but on this occasion he demonstrated vastly improved fluency in the language as a Portuguese translator stood by with his hands in his pockets. Almost overnight hes simply become a marketers dream.
An odd trivia note about Machida serves as further repudiation for MMA neophytes who think that the sports kinship with pro wrestling began with Brock Lesnar: Machida was discovered by Japanese wrestling legend Antonio Inoki, and became something of his protege. He trained for some time at the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in Tokyo and made his MMA debut on a NJPW card in 2003, defeating Pancrase veteran Kengo Watanabe.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about Machida is that hes only now reaching his full potential as an MMA fighter. In other words, hes only going to get better which is a scary prospect for opponents given the fact that hes never lost in MMA competition. Early in his UFC career he had a reputation as a boring fighter, but in his recent bouts hes shown a downright lethal ability to end fights.
Machida will very likely face Quinton \’Rampage\’ Jackson at some point in the future and, with all due respect to the PRIDE/UFC veteran, its difficult to see him faring much differently than Evans did. One thing working in \’Rampage\’s\’ favor is his greater experience and a resume filled with high level opponents of various fighting styles.
In the co-main event of the evening, Matt Hughes defeated Matt Serra by unanimous decision to gain the upperhand in their long running feud. It was a surprisingly entertaining fight, with Serra taking the first round with his power punching before Hughes used his takedown and ground control abilities to win rounds two and three. The two men embraced after the fight so, for now at least, their well known dislike for one another that began during their stint as rival coaches on The Ultimate Fighter may have ebbed. After the fight, Hughes backed off his previous talk of retirement after this matchup and clearly indicated that hed like to keep competing in the UFC.
Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a consulting handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.
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