You know, for the people who hate pro wrestling, and resent it's connections to MMA, Lesnar is actually the best thing that could have happened to them.
For those who don't understand the history of MMA in Japan, it all really started with pro wrestler Antonio Inoki, who promoted shoot fights on his NJPW wrestling cards. What followed was the worked/shoot groups like UWFI (worked), Pancrease (shoot, but sometimes worked), the second UWFI (who knows, mostly worked), etc.
Many of the original professional MMA fights took place on wrestling shows. This led to a giant boom in business, but what Inoki failed to see was that his fans would inevitably start to compare the shoot matches to the more established worked matches, and the main core of his business would be exposed. (sidenote-pro wrestling is worked in a much stiffer style in Japan, unlike the cartoonish American style, and pre MMA, pro wrestlers were viewed as the toughest men alive in that culture)
The Japan MMA boom ultimately nearly killed pro wrestling in Japan. PRIDE took over, Bob Sapp emerged as a cultural icon, and the rest in history. Pro wrestling still exitst, and is somewhat popular, but has never been able to get back to pre MMA levels.
If Lesnar & Lashley (and more will follow as the money and notoriety becomes greater every day) capture the imagination of wrestling fans, and draw them to MMA, who knows? Maybe something similar will happen here.
I doubt it though, because in Japan, MMA to wrestling fans was like finding out Santa didnt exist. Americans already went through that phase 50 years ago.
