Well this is......trash. Utter and complete garbage. Paul Heyman is a creative guy. He's come up with some of the most brilliant storylines in the history of the pro wrestling business. He was hired by EA Sports to come up with 5 promos in the build up to the release of their MMA video game. The first one, featuring Nick Diaz, was actually pretty good. Nothing that was going to set the internet on fire, but it wasn't bad and it made me chuckle. This on the other hand, is painful to watch. There are a few reasons for that.
- Frank Shamrock is a horrible actor. If I see a movie or a commercial or a promo for an EA Sports video game that features poor acting like this, I'll immediately think less of it and focus on that instead of what I should be focusing on. Once Heyman realized he can't act he should have found a better way to go about it.
- EA Sports Presents - Retirement Sucks. Really? The angle that Shamrock is retired and can't fight anymore in real life but can still do so in the game is a nice touch, I'll say that. But they couldn't come up with a better title? That just makes it look juvenile.
- The music. You want me to buy into the idea of playing a mixed martial arts video game featuring Frank Shamrock while listening to music that makes me, and countless others I'm sure, think of a movie about boxing? Probably not the best choice. I get it that it brings across the mood you're looking for but it was a bad decision.
- "I miss the smell of another man.....crumbling underneath me". That pause he does for that very short period of time is all the opening needed for idiot, immature MMA fans to exploit endlessly. They already are. Comment sections everywhere are only focusing on this part of the video. They don't care about purchasing the game. They care about making fun of Frank Shamrock saying he misses the smell of another man. And really, what smell is there to making a man crumble underneath you? It's a stupid line that doesn't work in the context of what he is talking about. The word feel would have worked much better. How that escaped everyone involved in the project is beyond me.
- Drawing the comparison between Cain and Able to Ken and Frank. He even went so far as to emphasize that they are blood brothers. Which would be perfectly fine if they were actually blood brothers. Fudging information like that works fine in the world of pro wrestling because it's scripted and fans will be nice and overlook it. That's not the case when you are pushing something that's supposed to be legitimate.
Heyman was brought in solely for his ability to promote a brand with creative content. That's not what this video does. Honestly, do you feel any more like going out and buying the game after seeing that? If you are anything like me, then the answer is a resounding no. He better knock it out of the park with the next 3 or his first foray into the world of MMA will be an unequivocal failure.