WWE SummerSlam 2002: 5 Awesome Things And 5 Things That Sucked

2. Brock Lesnar Showed He Was The Next Big Thing

The build for this match wasn't that great in terms of promos or building up a heated rivalry. The Rock only became WWE Champion one month before this just so he could put over Lesnar. Since they didn't do a lot of promos or segments to hype the match, they had to do other things. What WWE did instead was push the idea that these were two athletes that were treating this like the biggest battle of their lives. They were filmed working out in preparation for the match and it was shown in an excellent video package. When they had their match the awesome crowd in New York could tell something was going on here. Even though The Rock wasn't some old guy (he was only 30 at the time of this match), he was an established main eventer that was there with a guy that was seen as the future of the company. There were plenty of "Let's Go Lesnar" chants from the crowd even though he was a heel. It wasn't the best match of either man's career. Maybe not even in the top ten. However, what they did was tell a great story. They put their bodies on the line to put on an entertaining main event level match. It was about two proud men wanting to be the best. It was simple and it worked. What was so great about the match is that Lesnar won clean. There was no sneaky finish. He dismantled Rock. That clothesline he hit before the finish was impressive. Rock couldn't fight back from that. Maybe in the past you would expect him to, but it put over Lesnar as a beast as it should have. Lesnar ended up hitting the F5, Rock stayed down and Lesnar became the youngest WWE Champion in company history. The Rock was out of WWE for six months after this. He returned in early 2003 as a heel that feuded with Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin and Bill Goldberg. Lesnar went on to have a nearly two year run as a top guy. The torch was passed in this match.