Why Brock Lesnar Is Working Japan's WWE Live Event July 4

Brock Lesnar is wrestling at a WWE live event at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4, 2015 in a match against Kofi Kingston. When the match was announced it surprised people because he hasn't worked a WWE live event since 2004 and WWE are so selective on the dates he works because of how expensive/limited they are. As it turns out, the reason he wants to go to the show is so that he could go with a friend to visit a friend in Japan and he figured he might as well go when WWE is headed there. According to Dave Meltzer on the F4WOnline message board, Lesnar and his friend Brad Rheingans wanted to go to Japan to see Masa Saito, who is a retired Japanese wrestler in his 70s. Rheingans is a retired freestyle Olympic wrestler from the state of Minnesota who wrestled professionally and helped train Lesnar, Vader, JBL and others. Lesnar figured that since he was planning on going to Japan anyway, he might as well make it tax deductible, get his transportation paid for by WWE (first class of course) and work the show. Lesnar's only working that one show and not any of the other shows on that tour, which includes a July 2 event in event as well as another show in Tokyo on July 3. It's a smart move by Lesnar because even though he's a millionaire that could afford the trip to Japan no problem, he's actually helping out WWE by going because his presence will likely lead to a sellout at the famed Sumo Hall because Lesnar is the definition of a special attraction. When Lesnar left WWE in 2004, he wrestled in Japan eight times from 2005 to 2007 and won the New Japan IWGP Heavyweight Title. He lost the title to TNA's Kurt Angle, who is arguably Lesnar's best opponent, in the last match they had in 2007. In another post in the Observer forum, Meltzer noted that Lesnar got a raise on his new WWE deal that he signed in March and that means he'll be working more dates although the live event is a unique situation. We don't know the specifics of how many matches Lesnar will wrestle, but it's nice to know that he will have more bookings in the coming year. Why did WWE pick a midcard tag team wrestler like Kofi Kingston as the opponent? That isn't known although it's likely going to be a short match that Lesnar will likely win easily, so they probably just wanted to pick a smaller guy that can bump well and make Lesnar look like the beast that he is. Apparently Kingston has no problem visiting Suplex City, either. As we have reported previously, Lesnar's return to television will take place on Raw in Indianapolis on June 22. The Japanese event likely won't be filmed although in today's world you never know if it somebody will film it and leak it online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrvQhQTDJs