11 Most Important Wrestlers Of The Ruthless Aggression Era

When Brock Lesnar debuted in 2002, he was presented as different. Carved out of stone and having the poise of a true wrestling great, Lesnar had a huge upside. To complete the package, WWE management paired Brock with the greatest talker of the 21st Century, Paul Heyman.

The Heyman-Lesnar connection completed the package of The Next Big Thing, and he quickly went on to become the top guy in WWE from 2002 until his departure in 2004.

Containing the physical presence of a god, the wrestling arsenal of a natural disaster, and a spokesman with the ability to sell snow to Inuits, Brock Lesnar was incredibly significant and helped fans forget that the top stars of the Attitude Era were long gone. Brock rising to prominence in 2002 helped delay the stagnation period of WWE. When he left in 2004, there was a noticeable lack of top tier stars, and WWE management had to go to the well to create new main-eventers.

Not only was Brock an immovable object in the ring, when he put wrestlers over, it legitimately elevated them as higher stars. Lesnar had given a lot of himself to elevate the stock in Big Show, Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero.

The Next Big Thing remains an undeniable presence in WWE programming to this day, and he is one of the greatest success stories in wrestling.