10 Ridiculous Wrestling Booking Decisions Nobody Can Explain
5. Brock Lesnar Vs. John Cena, Extreme Rules 2012
Brock Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 equipped with an aura no wrestling promotor on earth, ever, could engineer. Not Vince McMahon in his 1980s pomp. Not Giant Baba in his 1990s heyday. Not Paul Heyman, a man with a ridiculous ability to make Shinola from sh*t, in that same decade. Not Gedo right now.
Lesnar commanded that aura by dominating an unfamiliar, legit combat sport to the tune of record-breaking PPV revenue. He p*ssed credibility, and, in a superbly stripped-back pre-match promo, accused Cena of p*ssing his pants in fear at the prospect of facing him. Turning the airwaves blue was not the only otherwise prohibited means Lesnar was permitted to get himself over; in a wild angle, Lesnar bloodied Cena the hard way to drive PPV buys. On the night of the PPV itself, Lesnar was just as dominant, bloodying and brutalising Cena in a disturbing, ultra-stiff spectacle of a match...
...from which Cena emerged victorious, for reasons absolutely moronic both on the face of it - and because Cena's character arc throughout 2012 necessitated a crisis of confidence in order to justify his WrestleMania 29 "chance for redemption". Instead, he defeated Brock B*stard Lesnar and had a grand old time bullying John Laurinaitis. In the meantime, Lesnar plumbed the depths in a dire series with Triple H nobody, audibly, was interested in.
Lesnar had to break the Undertaker's WrestleMania Streak in order for WWE to maximise their massive investment.