Ranking Who Was Really The Man In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020
19. 2002 - Brock Lesnar
Sweating over the line powered largely by the near-unprecedented strength of his storyline push, Brock Lesnar was the man in 2002 because Vince McMahon told you he was.
A lime-green 'Beast' won - but did not star at - King Of The Ring; what was a predictable vehicle for an obvious mega-push drew its worst rating on pay-per-view since 1998. He fared better at SummerSlam where, helped by the mega-card feel that would later become the norm, his successful challenge of the Rock's WWE Championship drew closer to the Attitude Era peak than its respective Big Five counterparts.
His autumn series with the Undertaker made him; he better put over his viscerally amazing brute strength through great work that, in a very short amount of time, almost matched the booking.
If this reads as faint praise - and it should, because it's an accurate measure of his transparent positioning and an industry in decline - there would be no caveat over a decade later...