When Brock Lesnar first appeared on WWE television in March of 2002, the night after WrestleMania X8, it was to interrupt a hardcore match between Al Snow, Maven and Spike Dudley. With Paul Heyman at his side, Lesnar entered the ring and dished out punishment with gleeful brutality. The crowd sat silent at first, not sure how to react to the newcomer, but was soon responding with awe at the way he manhandled the three midcarders. Snow was given a spinebuster onto a trash can, Maven became the first victim of the F5 and Spike ate a vicious clothesline before being deadlifted into a triple powerbomb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nETm-odrpWk It was quite the first impression on WWE fans and instantly established Brock as a force to be reckoned with. This led to a feud with The Hardy Boyz in which one of the highlights was The Next Big Thing taking two HARD shots to the head from chairs and shrugging it off like they were flyswatters. He dominated the popular brothers in convincing fashion in the subsequent weeks. Contrast this to the way WWE has brought along Alexander Rusev, a similar type brute who they seemingly have high hopes for. He's been given a handful of uninspired squash matches against guys the crowd have no investment in and the response to him has been lukewarm at best. It makes one long for the days when WWE's Dr. Frankenstein still knew how to create a monster.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
