Why Pro Wrestling Fans Should Be Cool With Richard Sherman

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Why Pro-Wrestling Fans Should Be Cool With Richard Sherman

richard-sherman-erin-andrews-seahawks-49ers

We all know the story.  In this beautiful new year of 2014, the age of the interwebs, Seattle Seahawks corner Richard Sherman got all excited, acted like a “thug” and scared poor little Erin Andrews and blah, blah, blah.  Who cares, right?  Well, if you’re a fan of pro-wrestling you might just be alright with it the “thuggish” ways of the previously mentioned member of the Legion of Boom.

You might say, “Ah, c’mon, man, we sports entertainment lovers get a bad enough wrap as it is.  Please don’t lump us into this mess.  We just want to sit quietly and watch the Royal Rumble.”

We’re okay with it because Richard Sherman was just cutting a pretty decent promo.

Projected twitter backlash:
“@CenaSucks69: bro, the Sherman post-game interview was a work.  U Suck!!!1  #StopWriting”

Look, I mean no disrespect to my fellow pro-wrestling fans, but Sherman cut a heartfelt and intense promo.  He was pretty well near the peak of intensity.  He was still riding high on walking the walk, so to speak. There are times when professional athletes and performers get lost in the heat of their victory speech.  Many times it is actually way less intense than it seems, but when you’re in that moment, when the adrenaline is still pumping and you’ve got everyone’s attention you just want to crush it…with words that might make you sound a little crazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q46l70mNmCw

Or, you’re just happy for a dear friend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTp5XfALNak

Sherman got excited and he went off on Michael Crabtree of the San Francisco 49ers.  Apparently Crabtree said some derogatory stuff and Richard didn’t like it.  This made Ol’ number 25 pretty mad.  He felt wronged.  Sherman got revenge out on the field but that just wasn’t enough.  He wasn’t going to feel vindicated until he told the world how and why he played so darn well.  Words are powerful, and the more full of physical energy you are when you deliver them, the more unnerving those words seem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PJZdeJfx4E

Folks who have seen the clip of Sherman “losing it” on Erin Andrews might say he was airing his grievances with Crabtree.  As a WWE fan, I’ve found that there’s nothing wrong with airing one’s grievances on live television.  In fact, it makes memorable TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ms0DFxpptk

I tweeted about how Erin Andrews was a champ in her professionalism, but she still looked petrified. I could tell she would have been fine if Sherman would have let her know he was sorry and that the adrenaline and anger took over.  Sure, he could have cut his “promo” a little differently, but I don’t find fault in what Richard Sherman did.  Hell, I found it downright entertaining.

Please don’t forget, folks, that when we watch the NFL, WWE, NBA, Drunk Housewives of (Insert overpopulated U.S. city),  we’re watching to be entertained.  There are very few exceptions to this.  If you’re not currently and gainfully employed by the company that produces the program that you regularly watch on television, you’re watching for entertainment purposes.

At least Sherman kept it PG!  I can just picture Vince McMahon knocking over two interns and a writer just to get to the phone so he could ask Richard Sherman to cut a promo on Raw.

If you were even a little amused by Richard Sherman’s “promo” and then maybe later ranted about how Sherman was a “thug”, you were still being entertained.  Guess what?  He won.  Fox Sports won.  The NFL won.  People are still talking about it.  It will be continuously brought up until the next great “promo” comes along and even then it will be a ghost in the machine.

To Richard Sherman and every other professional wrestler, athlete and entertainer out there, if you cut a memorable promo, everybody who watches is going to remember and talk about it for a long time.  Keep cutting them.  The fans love pipe-bombs.

One last thing, has anyone in the history of anything with a name like Richard Sherman ever been called a “thug” before?

I like to talk about pro-wrestling. I love comic books and movies. I used to work in a popular video rental store chain. These are things that are facts. My column talks about the past, present and future of pro-wrestling. That sounded too prolific...I...I just like talking about pro-wrestling and stuff.