10 Wrestlers Who Stopped Trying (But WWE Pushed Anyway)
1. Brock Lesnar - 2018
In 2016, Brock Lesnar stopped trying because his attention was elsewhere. Two years later, he stopped trying because he was told to in his role of uncaring mercenary. You can just imagine how that meeting went.
Vince: Brock. I need you to stop caring. It’ll get Roman over as the avatar for the working man. Brock: Vince, I don’t care now.
He put a shift in at SummerSlam ’17, there’s no denying that. And he seemed to relish working with AJ Styles at Survivor Series. Beyond that, in order to get the F5 over to get Roman over for kicking out of it, Lesnar full-on Ambrosed Braun Strowman and did only slightly more for Samoa Joe, in that he moved at a pace becoming of the decade. And naturally, because Vince, Roman kicked out of the move five bloody times. He didn’t look like a badass; he looked like the golden boy.
Lesnar attracted casual eyes to the product, if you consider incremental ratings spikes a gauge of interest, but—by design(!)—alienated the hardcore audience and in doing so shaped the narrative forevermore. WWE paid Lesnar to take the money and run, and boy did he ever, particularly at the 2018 Royal Rumble.
Guy Who Doesn’t Care Vs. Guy He Already Comprehensively Defeated Vs. “Safe Pair Of Hands” Kane was painfully average fare.