Does Rourke Being at WM Cheapen "The Wrestler"?

[zappafrank 0]

I figured this deserved its own thread so...

 

I have mixed feelings on Mickey Rourke appearing at WM. On the one hand, Vince getting celebrities to garner mainstream coverage is nothing new, but on the hand, there seemed to be a sincerity about the movie that to me is lessened somewhat by WWE using it for an angle (especially since Vince didn't acknowledge its existence until its positive buzz was too much to ignore).

 

Another reason that it feels cheap is that like so many celebrity appearances, it feels extremely contrived. Why did Rourke call out Jericho anyway, out of the blue? It would have made much more sense for Jericho to bring up the movie on his own, somehow working his "I'm an honest man" character into things. Then, Rourke could have responded, and boom, you go from there.

 

What will REALLY cheapen it is if Rourke shows up as the Ram. Plus, although Vince was one of the 1st ones to break kayfabe, doesn't it seem kind of odd that he's using something that "exposes the business" to further an angle where we're supposed to suspend disbelief all in the name of the show?

 

And why do people think that Rourke being involved with WM would hurt his chances for an Oscar? If it does, is that something else to consider?

[The Truthiness 0]

Rourke is gettng paid.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

I'd prefer if the two didn't cross paths. Not so much that'll cheapen 'The Wrestler', but just generally confuse young fans.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

It has nothing to do with the movie (well it does, but it doesn't make the movie itself anything less), and if he can't win an oscar because of it then it's bullshit that oscars are handed out to people based on their life instead of based on the role they played which should be the only thing looked at.

 

The only real question there should be is, would a Rourke vs Jericho feud interest and entertain me? For me, it would.

[bob_barron 0]

I just think it's funny because The Wrestler makes you hate wrestling if anything- it shows it to be a bleak profession with little upside once they're done with you.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

Another thing is that many actors venture into different outlets such as theatre etc. Wrestling is obviously something that Rourke has become interested in and I don't think there's anything wrong with him wanting to act at the biggest wrestling show since he was given the chance. Money is obviously a motivation as well, but it must be something he wants to do as well.

[dubq 0]

Personally, I'd prefer if this weren't happening. It does cheapen the point of the movie, IMO. I mean, here's Mickey all over the media saying what a reality this is, and wrestling has a seedy undebelly, and Aronofsky with his SAG union talk.. and then suddenly they're in bed with that same seedy underbelly just to make a quick buck.

[The Truthiness 0]

Personally, I'd prefer if this weren't happening. It does cheapen the point of the movie, IMO. I mean, here's Mickey all over the media saying what a reality this is, and wrestling has a seedy undebelly, and Aronofsky with his SAG union talk.. and then suddenly they're in bed with that same seedy underbelly just to make a quick buck.

 

 

Actors are better workers then wrestlers.

 

 

 

 

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

I think it does, and I think it kills Rourke's chance at an Oscar, but I don't think Rourke cares. I think Mickey wants to do it, he seems to get along well with the old timers and given the road he has traveled (at his own doing) they sort of have the same stories to share. I think Mickey wants to see if he could work a real match.

 

I HATE the storyline because in "The Wrestler" wrestling is shown as fake/scripted. Now we all know this to be the cace but Chris Jericho the wrestling character (read not Chris Irvine) is a professional wrestler, his fights in the ring are supposed to be real. Chris Jericho, the scripted character, is acknowledging that wrestling is fake for the sake of the angle. So if wrestling is said to be fake in a storyline, his character is fake - It's a paradox.

[The Truthiness 0]

Well when you look at it that way.

[Annabelle 0]

i think rourke is pretty broke and i bet he's getting at least 1 mil to punch someone out.

[zappafrank 0]

I HATE the storyline because in "The Wrestler" wrestling is shown as fake/scripted. Now we all know this to be the cace but Chris Jericho the wrestling character (read not Chris Irvine) is a professional wrestler, his fights in the ring are supposed to be real. Chris Jericho, the scripted character, is acknowledging that wrestling is fake for the sake of the angle. So if wrestling is said to be fake in a storyline, his character is fake - It's a paradox.

 

Yep, exactly the point I made in my original post.

[dubq 0]

I think it does, and I think it kills Rourke's chance at an Oscar, but I don't think Rourke cares. I think Mickey wants to do it, he seems to get along well with the old timers and given the road he has traveled (at his own doing) they sort of have the same stories to share. I think Mickey wants to see if he could work a real match.

 

I HATE the storyline because in "The Wrestler" wrestling is shown as fake/scripted. Now we all know this to be the cace but Chris Jericho the wrestling character (read not Chris Irvine) is a professional wrestler, his fights in the ring are supposed to be real. Chris Jericho, the scripted character, is acknowledging that wrestling is fake for the sake of the angle. So if wrestling is said to be fake in a storyline, his character is fake - It's a paradox.

 

[Darthtiki 0]

I think it does, and I think it kills Rourke's chance at an Oscar

 

Well other than the fact it's up against Frank Langella as Nixon and Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, I don't think that appearing at WM is the killer of his chances. I think the fact that those two are portraying figures who the "Hollywood Elite" like to villify and glorify, respectively those are indeed the chance killer. This isn't like the situation from 2006 where Eddie Murphy was a lock for "Dreamgirls" and due to the release/negative buzz whathaveyou on "Norbit" tossed the Oscar into Alan Arkin's lap for "Little Miss Sunshine" (which was a good performance, but not as demanding as Eddie's). He was in a movie about wrestling and he's appearing at a wrestling event and he's Mickey Fucking Rourke, so many in Hollywood probably see it for what it is. Do I think that the situation cheapens the movie? No, I think it gives it some great exposure to a wider audience and will generate some better than average DVD sales, that said with both WWE's recent shift towards a younger demo and Vince's supposed hate of the film until the overall buzz got too large puts the WWE in a really bad position in marketing to a demographic that can't actually go see the movie and that they need to glom onto something when it becomes too large in order to generate ratings/buyrate.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I haven't seen The Wrestler, as of yet, so I'm not going to pretend to have some attachment to it at this point. I just think doing a Rourke/Jericho match is a waste. I wouldn't have minded if they had Rourke show up as a guest manager or something like that, but I don't want to see him wrestle a match. I would also rather see Jericho wrestle someone like Cena, Punk, Orton, Triple H, whoever.

[dropkickguy 0]

I think it's a win-win. It's a way of cross promoting and it makes smart business sense. Funny how Vince did an about face. For all those saying this is stupid, it's not anymore stupid than Mayweather beating Big Show last year.

 

Did Rourke really say he's going to "toss him around like salad"?

[dubq 0]

I think it does, and I think it kills Rourke's chance at an Oscar

 

Well other than the fact it's up against Frank Langella as Nixon and Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, I don't think that appearing at WM is the killer of his chances. I think the fact that those two are portraying figures who the "Hollywood Elite" like to villify and glorify, respectively those are indeed the chance killer. This isn't like the situation from 2006 where Eddie Murphy was a lock for "Dreamgirls" and due to the release/negative buzz whathaveyou on "Norbit" tossed the Oscar into Alan Arkin's lap for "Little Miss Sunshine" (which was a good performance, but not as demanding as Eddie's). He was in a movie about wrestling and he's appearing at a wrestling event and he's Mickey Fucking Rourke, so many in Hollywood probably see it for what it is. Do I think that the situation cheapens the movie? No, I think it gives it some great exposure to a wider audience and will generate some better than average DVD sales, that said with both WWE's recent shift towards a younger demo and Vince's supposed hate of the film until the overall buzz got too large puts the WWE in a really bad position in marketing to a demographic that can't actually go see the movie and that they need to glom onto something when it becomes too large in order to generate ratings/buyrate.

 

I honestly don't think it'll do much in the way of that. I mean, there was already a ton of buzz around it. It's now getting a wider release due to the GG win and the Oscar nom. I mean, there's not much more that cross-promoting with the WWE could do.

[King Cucaracha 0]

I think it's a win-win. It's a way of cross promoting and it makes smart business sense. Funny how Vince did an about face.

 

I don't know about this arguement really. Maybe The Wrestler will get a little extra publicity from WWE, maybe people who liked the movie will shell out for WM just to see Rourke. But everybody who has seen the movie, even the non-wrestling fans, already know that WWE exists. So I'd imagine the vast majority of people who'd get turned back onto wrestling by the movie would have done so with or without Rourke at WM.

 

For all those saying this is stupid, it's not anymore stupid than Mayweather beating Big Show last year.

 

Except Mayweather being a legit world class athlete and Rourke being an aging actor you mean?

 

 

I've got no real desire to see Jericho vs. Rourke at all, for various reasons. But I can see why it's being done with the recent success of celebrity angles in Trump and Mayweather. Plus the promos might work out to be entertaining. Just very little interest in seeing the actual match and plenty of trepidation about how they're going to tread the line between real and fake, not to mention Rourke and The Ram.

 

I know this was the talk last year and it never came to fruition, but it might be worth making it a tag match of some kind. Rourke and a wrestler past or present who decides to stand up for him versus Jericho and somebody who's not doing anything else and could use the rub. If Jericho, the guy they've pegged as the 2008 WOTY, is struggling to beat an actor one on one whether said actor played a wrestler, a milkman or whatever, it's not going to be good.

[Twisted Intestine 0]

What if they started the angle by saying "Wrestling legend The Ram is coming to the WWE!", and then Rourke came in in character and they sold him as being an old wrestling legend? The kids wouldn't know the difference. Then everything would be in kyfabe for you guys, and "The Wrestler" could be looked at as a documentary on the guy as other wrestling docs have shown wrestling to be fake as well.

[Thanks for the Fish 0]

The mainstream, and especially Hollywood, thinks pro rasslin' is the drizzling shits and lowest of the low probably ranked just above or just below scat porn.

[Promoter 0]

I think it does, and I think it kills Rourke's chance at an Oscar, but I don't think Rourke cares. I think Mickey wants to do it, he seems to get along well with the old timers and given the road he has traveled (at his own doing) they sort of have the same stories to share. I think Mickey wants to see if he could work a real match.

 

I HATE the storyline because in "The Wrestler" wrestling is shown as fake/scripted. Now we all know this to be the cace but Chris Jericho the wrestling character (read not Chris Irvine) is a professional wrestler, his fights in the ring are supposed to be real. Chris Jericho, the scripted character, is acknowledging that wrestling is fake for the sake of the angle. So if wrestling is said to be fake in a storyline, his character is fake - It's a paradox.

 

This is a reason why I don't like the storyline unless they do something where Jericho calls out the content as being uninformed. Sort of like Dr. Schultz 25 years ago attacking the reporter who was trying to expose wrestling.

 

Let's say they do get mainstream buzz(I doubt they will get that much unless Rourke wins an Oscar for the movie) it could end up backfiring on the wwe when WrestleMania is done. Jericho jobbing(and all history shows that he most likely will) will hurt the character and also the wwe universe. Their universe would be shattered by a non-athlete who was an actor getting a WIN OVER the last reigning world heavyweight champion before John Cena.

 

The argument some would then make is that we know the matches are predetermined and the babyface story is Rourke coming in(we still don't know if it's as Randy The Ram) and showing Jericho that he could hang with the real world of professional wrestling. The whole match and storyline is a paradox.

 

Mayweather/Big Show was not the same as it was still boxer vs. wrestler and there is a history going back into the kayfabe heavy pro wrestling era on matches of these sort.

 

I didn't really like Donald Trump being in WrestleMania either, but at least it wasn't a match(he threw horrible punches on Vince a la his son).

 

Mike Tyson was used perfectly to get both Austin and DX over.

 

Bam Bam vs. LT pretty much ruined Bam Bam Bigelow in the wwf.

 

Mr. T was used perfectly too in the original Mania.

 

This idea? Not so sure, but I'll watch it play out to see how it is executed.

[DMann2003 0]

I actually envisioned Jericho winning the match, even after interference attempts from Flair and Piper to help Rourke, thus maintaining a wrestler come out on top, while Rourke gets the "respect applause for a good try" from the crowd, waves at them, mouths 'I love you' and that's that.

[dubq 0]

What if they started the angle by saying "Wrestling legend The Ram is coming to the WWE!", and then Rourke came in in character and they sold him as being an old wrestling legend? The kids wouldn't know the difference. Then everything would be in kyfabe for you guys, and "The Wrestler" could be looked at as a documentary on the guy as other wrestling docs have shown wrestling to be fake as well.

 

Okay, I know the assumption is that the average hick wrestling fan is pretty dumb.. but come on.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

I just read that Mickey Rourke has pulled out.

 

 

http://defamer.com/5141542/defamer-...of-wrestlemania

 

Quote: When we intuited that Mickey Rourke was having second thoughts about a Wrestlemania appearance that would obliterate both Chris Jericho and his Oscar hopes, we weren't far off the mark. Rourke's publicist just told us:

 

"Mickey was very honored to be asked as he has the greatest respect for WWE however he will not be participating in Wrestle-Mania. He is focusing entirely on his acting career."

 

Crisis averted (consider those staples gingerly plucked out). Now, Rourke is free to get back to his most pressing matters: Oscar Q&As in retirement homes, renegotiating his Iron Man 2 salary, and picking out a suitable strand of dental floss for Bai Ling to wear on the Oscar red carpet.

 

[cd213 0]

Well, now we're going to be back to Vince hating the movie again.

[BifEverchad 0]

Zuh?

[The Niggardly King 0]

I still wanna say this... fuck everybody bitching about celebrity matches and wrestlers jobbing to celebrities. I'm sure Jericho would have rather jobbed to Rourke and pick up a bigger payday, and get the mainstream attention since he wants to be in show business once he's done with wrestling... than say screwing around and losing another MiTB.

[Angles Broken Fricken Neck 0]

Cue Jerichos ego growing cause he punked out Rourke.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

All this means is that Rourke spoiled the surprise a little too early, and now they're playing damage control. He'll still be at Mania.

[DMann2003 0]

Gee, he publicist said he graciously will not appear, does this not scream of just another way of working the media?

 

Like I said, this angle lays low until after NWO/Oscars, then it picks right up.