Sunday, March 30, 2008 Quijano: Mayweather makes more money on the side By Jingo Quijano Last Round
MANNY Pacquiao was thought of as being a bit rash and reckless for playing hoops with a bunch of harmless media guys. He could twist his ankle or get hit by a wayward elbow, we all pointed out.
Don’t look now, but Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather makes Manny look like an altar boy when he takes part in WrestleMania 24 today.
Always one to never shun the spotlight and eager to be the big show, Floyd’s opponent today will be none other than the 7-foot tall, 400-pound Paul “Big Show” Wright himself, in a match billed as “The biggest battles the best”.
And for the occasion (and possibly for future use), he has ditched his boxing moniker “Pretty Boy” in favor of the more WWE-ish epithet “Money.”
A FIX. If, after all this time, you didn’t know that professional wrestling was a work, then you are probably one of those schmucks that honestly believe our senators summon witnesses for a televised hearing all “in aid of legislation”.
In wrestling jargon, a work means a dance, a pre-conceived routine with a predetermined ending.
Back in high school, I remember having a pretty good running argument with my bro Ramsey about how real pro-wrestling was.
But in the past decade or so, the wrestling people broke the stride, let the guard down and became more open about the fact that it’s not really a sport in the strict sense of the word, but “sports entertainment” with more emphasis on the latter.
Turns out, I was only partially correct. The blood and the blows are real (although they are experts in hitting them at certain places that hurt less), but the plots are about as real as the tooth fairy.
ROCKY VS. THUNDERLIPS. Just the other week, as part of the buildup for the big pay-per-view event, the Big Show picked up “Money” and threw him out of the ring onto a waiting group of stuntmen.
Afterwards he sported a bandaged elbow as part of the act.
So how much danger is Money really in? He has no fight scheduled yet, so it must be okay to waltz around with a 400-pound monster in a “work.”
Well, let me share with you a few verses from Hulk Hogan’s self-written autobiography “Hollywood Hulk Hogan” (Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster Inc., 2003).
Hogan, arguably the most successful and most popular wrestler of all time, shares how they went about the scene in Rocky 3 where Stallone was “fighting” the wrestler known as Thunderlips.
“Then we got to the powerslam, and that wasn’t going to be easy no matter what. When you powerslam somebody, you end up landing on top of them—in my case, with 330 pounds of bone and muscle—and there’s really no way to break that fall. ..
I remember we saved that move for last. When the time came, I picked him up and ran corner to corner, then dove in the middle of the ring. When Stallone hit the canvas and my chest landed on top of his chest, blood squirted out of his mouth.
But he didn’t bitch about it. He just got up and looked at the camera man and said, “Camera A, did you get it? Camera B, did you get it?” They both said, “Yeah, I got it.”So Stallone said, ‘Print. Good enough. Move on.’ Then he went back to his trailer and spit up blood for a while.”
20 MILLION REASONS. Boxing fans, let’s hope there are no powerslams in their routine as it would be shame for Mayweather to be spitting blood not brought about by a Miguel Cotto left hook.
Mayweather may be risking a lot but $20 million can make people do strange things, brother. Hell, for half that amount of money, this writer would wrestle the Big Show and box with Mayweather on the same day.
THE LAST ROUND. It’s on my brilliant inaanak, Aia Cervera who turned a year older and wiser last March 27. Cheers!
