When Cricketers are compared to WWE Superstars — Part 2
When Cricketers are compared to WWE Superstars — Part 2
As the game of cricket continues to enthral the cricketing fans and crowds all over the world, it’s the cricketing superstars, who have the crucial job of performing at their best in order to not only keep the fan base of the game alive but also increase its popularity. The same stands for the superstars in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as they too come out week after week and perform to keep the enthusiasm alive among the WWE Universe (fans). Bearing this similarity in trade in mind, it is an interesting idea to compare stars from the gentleman’s sport and WWE. Ayush Gupta makes an attempt to draw legit parallel’s between the two.
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Sourav Ganguly – Triple H (The True Leader)
Be it any team in any sport, a true leader is a must-asset for any team or entity to be led in the right direction, and both these men are perfect examples of astute leadership in their respective trades. When it comes to cricket, India’s former skipper Sourav Ganguly has undoubtedly been one of the greatest leaders and skippers of the modern game, the present skipper MS Dhoni probably learnt the essentials of captaincy by following his footsteps. The same stands for Triple H in the WWE, as he has been the undisputed leader of two of the most decorated teams in the industry, namely D-Generation-X (DX) and Evolutuion. Both the teams were considered among a few of the most dangerous teams in the industry, who dominated for quite a long period of time. Such is the legacy they left, fans cheer for them even now.
S Sreesanth – Dean Ambrose (Lunatic)
Craziness is a part of any sport. Although it’s relatively hard to find crazy things in the field of cricket, craziness probably defines WWE. Nevertheless, some of the cricketers have matched and even surpassed their WWE counterparts in craziness, and one perfect example of such an individual is India’s discarded pacer S Sreesanth. His actions got him to pay a price, as he was once slapped by his own national teammate Harbhajan Singh. Later, he was also charged for match-fixing issues in the Indian Premier League (IPL), although he was cleared of the charges later. Overall, he is indeed the ‘lunatic fringe’ of cricket. And speaking of lunatic, one can of course, remember WWE’s Dean Ambrose, who indeed is called the ‘lunatic fringe’ owing to his unstable nature who can cross any limit when he starts ticking. He can make things torrid for his opponent and can even irritate and make the opponent go mad.
Shoaib Akhtar – Undertaker (Scariest)
In cricket, Pakistan’s former spearhead Shoaib Akhtar is regarded as one of the scariest fast-bowlers till date. He terrified most of the batsmen with his fierce bowling deliveries, and there were a few of the batsmen who faced him without fear. He also holds the world record, currently, for the fastest bowling delivery at a speed of 161.9 kmph. And speaking of the scariest wrestler in the WWE, it’s undoubtedly The Undertaker, who is also referred to as ‘The Dead Man’, due to a storyline involving him returning from the dead after being buried alive. He is renowned for his frightening gimmicks; he instills fear in the mind and ultimately scares them to the bone. His dark-themed entrance is one of the scariest entrances in the history and his demonic eyes says it all. Both Akhtar and Taker match in their respective fields. Perhaps they could form an alternate ‘Brothers of Fear’ tag team.
Graeme Smith – Randy Orton (Youngest champion)
Perhaps the most exciting elements of spectator games are the young champions; they bring an extra enthusiasm in the game owing to their youthful and fresh, athletic skills and their ability to rise up to the occasion to every new challenge. As for cricket, it is South Africa’s former skipper Graeme Smith, who was not just their youngest player in the side, but also the youngest player to have ever played the grandest tournament of the sport, the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2003. Similarly, in WWE, Randy Orton is considered a sensation after he became the youngest superstar in the history to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Truly inspired by both these superstars, it’s a message to all the young guns out there that if there is a will, one can make things happen.
Don Bradman – Goldberg (Undisputed champion)
Every sport has witnessed an era when, a team or a particular player has ruled as the most dominant and undisputed champion of all time. When it comes to cricket, one can only think about the legendary Australian batsman Don Bradman, who is definitely the undisputed champion and the greatest legend played the game. With a world record average in Test cricket of 99.94 rivalled by none. He was known for his ability to keep bowlers at bay for days on end. Similarly, WWE’s Goldberg is one such wrestler who had the longest undefeated reign in the industry. With an official count of undefeated streak of 173-0 (debatable) in just a year, he was never beaten cleanly in his career, and the one’s he lost were mostly due to the outside interferences. Thus, both the superstars perfectly resemble each other as the ‘undisputed champion’.
Hansie Cronje – Seth Rollins (Sell-out)
Speaking about controversies, every sport has seen quite a few, and people do hate it, especially when it comes to match fixing or helping somebody out either for money or to gain undue advantage for himself. The biggest controversy came in cricket when South Africa’s late all-rounder Hansie Cronje was charged with match-fixing in April 2000 in a match against India at Delhi, owing to which he was subsequently banned from the game for life, which clearly meant he sold himself out to a bookie over money, thus destroying his career and losing most of his fan base. Similarly, in WWE, in one of the biggest twists and turns and, possibly the most hated betrayals in the WWE, Seth Rollins turned against his teammates of ‘The Shield’, comprising of his then so-called brothers Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, in order to sell himself out to ‘The Authority’ (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) and became their puppet to gain undue advantage over everything in the industry. He eventually went on to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, mostly owing to the undue advantages gained by The Authority, before being stripped of it prematurely, owing to an injury. No doubt he is one of the most controversial superstars in the WWE at present and clearly proves that being a ‘sell-out’ is the worst thing a person can ever do to himself as it just destroys your self-respect.
Mohammad Irfan – Khali (Tallest)
Well, you may not find this often, but there are a lot of sports, in which being tall matters a lot. Although it doesn’t matter much in either of cricket or WWE, it still is one of the rarest comparisons one can ever make. In cricket, it is Pakistan fast-bowler Mohammad Irfan, who is undoubtedly one of the tallest players in history. As said earlier, being tall is not a talent in cricket, however, it allows bowlers to generate extra. Similarly, India’s ‘The Great Khali’ has been certainly the tallest ever wrestler to feature in WWE and in all pro-wrestling. Although his height initially looked scary as compared to his physique, after he defeated the Undertaker in his debut match in WWE, he soon faded out due to his lack of proper wrestling skill, but continued to enthral the crowd owing to his tall physique. The only advantage of him being tall was he was not easy to be taken down or being lifted, but few superstars managed to do it owing to the use of some extra strength. Nevertheless, both these superstars perfectly match each other. However, it would be interesting to see both of them go against each other in any field, and the traditional Indo-Pak rivalry would also add taste to the contest.
Herschelle Gibbs – Eddie Guerrero (Cheat/Drugs)
The field of sports is all about the strength and ability to perform on one’s own strength to come out on top and be proclaimed as the champion. However, a few sportspersons don’t seem to get the essence of it and end up doing the wrong things. South African hard-hitting batsman Herschelle Gibbs is one such example in cricket, who used unfair means to win the game, and also made himself dependent on drugs and other performance enhancing drugs to come up with extra-ordinary performance to proclaim himself as one of the best in the world. He was also involved in the match-fixing row along with his late national teammate Cronje, as explained above. Although he was a talented cricketer, the drugs just made him nothing. Similarly, in the WWE, it was the late great Eddie Guerrero, who too faced similar issues in the industry. Although he used to lie, cheat and steal to win matches, it was mostly because of his catchphrase in the storyline script and his character. He too was involved in various substance abuses like alcohol and was also addicted to painkillers, which ultimately led to the deterioration of his health and eventually died as a result of the steroid – stanozolol.
Matthew Hayden – Stone Cold (Bold character)
A player with a strong character in any sport is a boon for any team or any future and young player. However, the strong character, not just means being arrogant, or having good leadership skills, but the ability to lead from the front, and take added responsibility, as well as to play fearlessly, is what a strong or bold character is all about. In cricket, it’s former Australia opening batsman Matthew Hayden, who is more or less termed as the boldest player till date, owing to his bold attitude to come out strong and give his 100 percent in each and every game, as well as leading from the front to help his team to a win.In WWE, it’s the charismatic bold character of Stone Cold Steve Austin that allowed fans to accept him whole-heartedly. His attitude to step-in every time against any wrongdoing and also go against the management, proved his bold character, and also made him one of the best wrestlers of all time, before he retired prematurely due to injury. Thus, a bold character definitely helps one to gain fame and recognition, but only for a good cause.
Hussey Brothers – Hardys (Most impactful team)
A team game always needs the right combination of players and partnerships. And it cannot be better than, when a whole family is involved, especially brothers, as they indeed have the best understanding and co-ordination that produces a great partnership in any game. In cricket, it’s the Australian pair of two brothers in the form of Michael Hussey and David Hussey, who are renowned for their great partnership on the field and together playing some great innings to lead their team to victory. Similarly, in the WWE, it was the pair of Jeff Hardy and Matt hardy, which is considered as one of the most dominant tag teams in the history indeed, as their pair was undoubtedly one of the best pairs and the opposing team had to sweat it out hard to break the partnership and defeat them. Having won the tag team championship multiple times, it proves their dominance, combination and partnership in the industry. Although, brothers tend to fight over small personal things quite often, but when it comes to being a team, their opponents will have to watch out for them.
(Ayush Gupta is a reporter at CricketCountry. A passionate supporter of Manchester United, he idolises Roger Federer and is also a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) maniac. He can be followed on Twitter @Ayush24x7)