10 Great Wrestling Matches You Didn’t Know You Wanted
8. Brock Lesnar Vs. The Big Show - WWE Survivor Series 2002
Very much in the “get it the f*ck over with” vein—pitting a huge, limited star against the next big babyface prospect is just something Vince McMahon does, despite this trope only proving incidental to getting that prospect over—we arrive at Brock Lesnar Vs. The Big Show from Survivor Series 2002.
Humanised through injury, the Next Big Thing’s plight galvanised even the cut-throat Madison Square Garden crowd, who received, without regurgitating, this massively-pushed act as a megastar babyface in waiting.
Exploiting that injury with hip tosses of Olympian distance—and this was Brock B*stard Lesnar Show was throwing about, not a javelin—Lesnar roared back with rapid-fire pelts to the face. Edited through injury, WWE cut out the fat entirely. Gone was the methodical stalling, the rest holds, the boring WWE bullsh*t; Lesnar instead, aware that he couldn’t complete the marathon, sprinted through a series of awesome suplexes through gritted teeth. An audience aware of his fortitude respected it with a standing ovation, but there was nothing patronising about it; the feats of strength were jaw-dropping.
As was the swerve turn finish, in which Paul Heyman betrayed his client. Lesnar didn’t just fight a giant in a ho-hum pairing; the giant went over, and it was still thrilling.