BAS
RUTTEN - Quits Pride!
12-20-20065
Denver/Broomfield/Boulder,
CO
I quit Pride! I know, quite a shocker
hey?
Why would people say, it’s a dream job! You are absolutely right, it IS a dream job, and the Company is great, they have unbelievable fighters and unbelievable shows!
Of course this is not without a good reason, and just to make sure that there are NO misunderstandings, I am going to tell you a little bit of what happened. (Pay attention to the “little bit part”) If I don’t do this, people start speculating and rumors will get started and this way you hear it straight from me and not some gossip that people are going to make up.
First of all, I deal with people here in the States that work for Pride, so it’s NOT the fault of the people that work for Pride in Japan. The people in Japan are great people and the President Mr. Sakikabara is a very nice person and he and his staff has always been very good to me.
I came to the States to try to become an actor so I asked them if I could only do the Pride shows for next year, no more Bushido shows, because I already had said “NO” to three movies, all leads, and the reason for that was that I had to go to Japan all the time.
So I asked to do only the Pride shows and because the company grew so much, PLUS I really think that I did a good job and a lot of good work for Pride, I thought it was time for me, after 6 years of working for them, to ask for a raise. Well, here we go, the “very short version” out of respect that I have for the Company. The negotiations started, going back and forward, saying this, saying that, you know, the usual negotiations drills, and it resulted in me finding out that Frank Trigg is co-hosting the next “Pride FSN show”.
Wow!! Now NOT telling me that this was going to happen after everything that I did for them in the last 6 years?? That was something just unbelievable and that was right away the motivation behind my decision to quit. (Of course this is not the only reason, that’s why I said the “little bit”) If they would have at least called or emailed me to inform me that Frank was going to do it, I would have been OK with that, because there are many reasons that they can come up with for that. But doing this behind my back, I mean, don’t these same people here call me “The face of Pride?” No thank you! This is just NOT the way you tread people and trust me, surely not me!
That’s it! It’s also not a thing that I can turn back because once I know that people don’t respect me for what I do for them, it’s irreversible. That’s just my character and I can’t change that, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror anymore if I did stay with them and still have to work with the people here in the US who don’t respect me.
I feel VERY bad about all this and I am sure that I am going to miss this job tremendously, the fighters, their trainers and friends, the staff in Japan, the friends that I made over there and of course the wonderful reactions from you guys that I always received!!
Understand that I won’t go into details (this is for the people who want to interview me, this is it, I won’t say anything more). First of all because I am not that kind of person and second, because I had a great and outstanding 6 years with Pride and like I said before, Mr. Sakikabara and the Japanese staff always have been treating me with respect and have been very good to me.
I wish Frank Trigg all the best of luck and I hope that he will do a great job! Together with the one and only Mauro Ranallo, who’s the best play-by-play guy in the business I truly believe, it should be no problem!
No worry though, because I am pretty sure that “El Guapo” is not out of the picture and will “pop up” somewhere else, because this is in my blood and you simply can’t get that out just like that!
The one thing that’s good about it, this will be the first time in 6 years that I am home with New Years Eve with my family and I love that!
Happy Holidays everybody, and I really hope that you understand my decision.
Best wishes,
Bas Rutten
