Coming before John Cena, Batista or Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar was installed as the next breakout star in WWE. Chosen as the man to lead the company into the future, Lesnar had every single attribute to be a main event player, with his only weakness being on the microphone. Thankfully, Brock was buddies with Paul Heyman, one of the best talkers in grappling history, and Lesnar was thus en route to to the top. Along the way, it was decided that the guy needed to beat some huge names if fans were going to take him seriously. Steve Austin was one of the first, but he didn't agree with losing to Lesnar on a throwaway episode of Raw, and had quite the falling out with Vince McMahon as a result. Ric Flair was one who was conquered by WWE's new beast, and it wasn't long before Hulk Hogan would join him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvRvcLtQ37E What followed was a perfect lesson in how to get your latest sensation over as a monster heel, and a rather generous exhibition from Hogan himself, who was mercilessly beaten by Brock Lesnar, putting him over mightily. Busting Hulk open and completely running roughshod over him, Lesnar came across as a callous monster, and it made for fantastic television. No doubt about it, this was the ideal way to put Brock over before he met The Rock for the Undisputed Title at Summerslam 2002.
