10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2002
4. 2 Brock Lesnar Matches Worth Cherry Picking
...check out some rookie Brock Lesnar stuff too.
Generally speaking, making sure Brock had top quality matches wasn't the main priority in Vince McMahon's mind. He pushed the look, the intensity and the youth of Lesnar onto TV and marketed him as the future of the industry. That was more important to the then-boss than how many stars Brocky boy was getting from the critics. It didn't, however, mean that Lesnar was stinking up the place in-ring.
In September 2002, he wrestled a young Randy Orton on the 5 September SmackDown. A few weeks later on the 19 September show, Lesnar was standing across the ring from none other than John Cena. Yep, in the same calendar months, Brock worked with 2 future greats who'd go on to become every bit as iconic as him. In fact, certainly in the case of Cena, even more so.
Go out of your way to source both bouts if you've never had the pleasure or had totally forgotten about them. Both only lasted a shade over 5 minutes each, but they're well worth checking out just for historical context. After all, you don't hear WWE bring these September '02 matches up a whole lot in the modern era. They were 'blink and you'll miss it'.
It's even more fascinating to see how crowds responded to these guys back then. Brock was already established as a star and had become WWE Champion. Meanwhile, Orton and Cena were both still trying to find their way. Honestly, if anything, John was fearing that he'd be cut loose sooner rather than later.