6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (3 Aug - Results & Review)
1. More Brock Worship
When Brock Lesnar removed his gear after getting wiped out at WrestleMania 42, many speculated that he was finished as a performer. WWE invited and joined in the speculation, and Lesnar’s career was discussed as though it was over.
That obviously didn’t come to pass, and Brock returned to face Oba Femi twice more, losing the rubber match at SummerSlam on Saturday.
Monday, WWE resumed its speculation that Lesnar had wrestled his last match by producing a lengthy video tracing his career, interspersed with comments from various legends and Hall-of-Famers. It very easily could have served as Brock’s own Hall of Fame induction video.
We don’t need to get back into why Lesnar essentially was barred from WWE for a year-and-a-half and how a dark cloud still hangs over him, but every time he’s appeared since returning in 2025, the specter of the Janel Grant sex trafficking suit has hung over Brock (who was named 44 times in the suit) and WWE as a whole.
Truthfully, the hero worship of Lesnar is overblown even if you completely ignore that situation. He really hasn’t been a needle-mover in any way since the Cody Rhodes feud in 2023 – and even then, that was more of a last gasp of relevance. Brock has offered WWE diminishing returns for several years prior, perhaps topping out at Royal Rumble 2020. Can you name a great Brock match (other than against Cody) since then?
The past several years, Lesnar has wrestled a formulaic match that bears Paul Heyman’s fingerprints. In the first few years after his 2012 return, this formula served him incredibly well because it was so new and fresh. But by 2019, it had become stale and predictable. By 2022, it was beyond tired, and in 2025, it felt more like an old-timer act playing the hits.
But hey, WWE has backed a Brinks truck up to Lesnar’s compound several times, and he’s come back to deliver that same suplex-heavy performance repeatedly, so, if the company wants to celebrate him, fine. But don’t expect everyone to fawn over him like he was the most industry-changing performer in history.