Wade Barrett Bare Knuckle Street Fighter

Believe it or not! An asshole complained about the above vignette.

A complainant alerted Ofcom to content in a pre-recorded sequence featuring English WWE wrestler Wade Barrett, aired on Sky1 on November 10, 2012 at 9.20am.

The sequence depicted Barrett – who was raised “on the mean streets of Preston” – in underground wrestling and bare-knuckle fights, with people betting money on the outcome.

Lasting around one and a half minutes, the package included several close-up shots of punches and kicks to the head and chest in slow motion, with one competitor getting a bloody bruise on their chest.

The voiceover said: “Where I come from, the grim realities of life smack you in the face at every turn. An onslaught of fury is the only way to survive. I am Wade Barrett and my barrage has just begun.”

After being contacted by Ofcom, UK WWE broadcaster Sky said that the sequence was intended to portray Barrett “as a dark and dangerous character”.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/268925-sky-sports-criticized-for-airing-wade-barretts-bare-knuckle-fight-on-superstars
http://www.digitalspy.ca/media/s216/wwe/news/a463023/sky-rebuked-by-ofcom-over-wwe-bare-knuckle-fight.html#~oB0nkn8TtredwM

In our stupid world, just one single complaint by a single citizen with too much time to waste is enough to ban a program?!!? Sound silly don’t you!?

The below vignette is the “censored” one. Just because one sorry ass asshole complained???!!!???

Bare-knuckle boxing

While living in Liverpool in his early twenties, Bennett became a champion bare-knuckle boxer, going on to fight in various locations throughout Europe. He competed in a match dubbed by the bare knuckle underworld as “The Battle of Buda”, in which he defeated a reputable opponent for a big cash prize. Afterwards, as he walked through an alleyway in search of a taxi to the airport, Bennett was stabbed with an eight-inch blade by someone who attempted to steal the cash. He has refused to elaborate on the incident for legal reasons, but the assailant incurred serious injuries, and Bennett escaped with the cash despite significant blood loss. The attack left him with a 12-inch scar that stretches from his upper back to halfway down his right triceps, and the punches he took during his bare-knuckle career left him with a disfigured nose, but he has expressed no regret over that period of his life.

He incorporated his bare-knuckle career into his WWE gimmick at the request of Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes,being introduced to the WWE crowd as a European bare-knuckle champion who had fought on the streets of Europe. His Wasteland move is named after the site of many of his fights.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade_Barrett

It seem really legit to me.

Wrestler: WADE BARRETT
Character: THE BARE KNUCKLE STREET FIGHTER
Alignment: HEEL

Wade Barrett could of been the special ‘niche’ character (above, right) that UFC/MMA fans could tune back into the product to see while blurring the lines between Pro Wrestling and UFC/MMA

As mentioned in my “WWE Missed Opportunity Wade Barrett” blog entry i was very disappointed that Wade Barrett returned in a very mediocre fashion with no image or character change at all after the WWE wasted money on impressive looking Vignettes that were apparently alluding to Wade Barrett returning with a ‘Bare Knuckle Street Fighter’ gimmick.

Why WWE did not go through with this gimmick just totally blows my mind as it would of been a ‘tailored fit’ for Barrett who has a real life background of amateur street boxing. The character would of also been representative of popular ‘legitimate’ fighting companies like the UFC and MMA (that took away WWE’s main fanbase might i add) someone that the hardcore mature fan that likes his or her fights to look real could relate to and tune into the product for to see Barrett defeat his opponents with realistic looking ‘Knockouts’ and ‘TKO’s’ instead of the conventional 1-2-3 pin.

But no. The WWE decide to bestow the whole ‘Knockout’ gimmick on the (boring) Big Show a superstar in his twilight years in the company.

http://sayberv1.blogspot.ca/2013/01/blogtastic-wrestling-talk-wwe-character.html
http://sayberv1.blogspot.ca/2013_01_01_archive.html

Very interesting point of view.