If WWE Was Being Honest About Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar is, at his best, at his most motivated, a phenomenal attraction. He is capable of crafting a gut-punching spectacle like no other; the drama and ugly realism of his best matches is unparalleled in the company. His head-splattering war against AJ Styles at Survivor Series 2017 elevated AJ’s newly-won WWE Title, or at least removed the decomposition odour of Jinder Mahal’s run. One year later, his meta masterpiece opposite Daniel Bryan solidified his new heel character as a drastic, awesome departure from his fading babyface act.
Brock Lesnar cleanly won both matches.
Brock Lesnar also cleanly defeated Finn Bálor at this year’s Royal Rumble in a match that deviated from Bálor’s less-than-extraordinary selling-heavy, inexpressive formula. Bálor intelligently and ferociously exploited Lesnar’s weak spot in a very good match a few minutes shy of great. It was, by some distance, Bálor’s best nine minutes of 2019.
Brock Lesnar, at his best, at his most motivated, elevates WWE’s full-time roster as major match players—but the best any of that roster manages is a narrow defeat that doesn’t really affect their trajectory one way or the other. Those matches are simply great moments within WWE’s terminal moment-driven booking.
We’ve reached a point at which, hypothetically, if any WWE performer were to cleanly slay the Beast, the reaction would be one of abject shock. The fans cannot get behind an underdog challenge in the intended spirit because they have been conditioned to expect total omni-slaughter from the stupidly over-powered final boss.
Funnily enough, fewer and fewer fans are inserting a coin to continue.
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