411’s WWE Ruthless Aggression (Episode 4) Report: ‘The Next Big Thing’

-Air Date: 03/02/20
-Run Time: 41:45

-Episode 4 is here as we are nearing the end of this series. This week it’s all about Brock Lesnar and his two year run when he was given the keys to the castle in record time. Let’s get to it!

-We start with Heyman who says people need to understand that Brock was only here for 2 years. He started the day after Mania 2002 and was done at Mania 2004. His contributions in that time were enormous. We get highlights of the moments that Brock offered in that two year span and it is quite impressive.

-Show opening! As a reminder, Michael Rapaport is the narrator for this series.

-Video of Brock as an 11 year old dominating in amateur wrestling and it continues from middle school to high school to winning the NCAA Title at Minnesota. I love that they can get video like this to include. JR talks about spotting Brock in college and they started recruiting him. They sent him to Louisville for development.

-Cornette talks about being excited when he heard they were sending him the NCAA Heavyweight Champion. Batista calls him a stud and that there was nothing he couldn’t do. Cornette: “you couldn’t hurt him if you ran over him with a car.” Awesome! The others in that OVW class put over Brock for being a freak athlete. Cornette talks about Brock doing a shooting star press just because he saw someone do it on TV. He says it isn’t good for a big guy to do all the time, but it is great for the big shows.

-Brock grew impatient with the developmental product and was tired of developmental money. He told them to move him up to the main roster or kiss his ass goodbye. They put him in dark matches because they didn’t want to lose him. We see some of those dark matches and Heyman talks about Brock getting horrible advice from producers that were too old school. They would tell him he was moving too fast and not playing the typical monster. Heyman pulled him aside and gave him different advice. He then told Vince to watch Brock’s match and Vince loved it. Vince told Heyman that he wanted the two of them together on screen.

-Brock makes his RAW debut by interrupting a Hardcore Title match and destroying everyone involved. Gerwitz talks about talent rosters and they would pick 3 people each year to get over as stars. Brock was an easy choice just by looking at him. The Miz says that once you see Brock you know exactly what he is: an ass kicker. Matt Hardy mentions it is intimidating wrestling Brock because he is real and could kill you if he wanted to. Sadly they don’t include Brock taking a chair shot to the face while JR screamed “they just pissed him off” during the video footage rolling. Paul was the perfect mouth piece as he could flap his gums and do what he does best, while Brock just destroyed everyone. Paul believed in his heart and soul that Brock was legitimately the next big thing in pro-wrestling.

-King of the Ring 2002: Brock steamrolls his way to the crown and beats RVD in the finals. He was given a shot at the WWE Title at SummerSlam with the win. It was clear that he was getting the rocket push in record time and really, you can’t blame them.

-To build to SummerSlam, Brock was given a short program with Hulk Hogan on SmackDown. Heyman says that program was an opportunity for Brock to be minted a long term Main Event player. Hogan calls him built to go and an animal. Those two would have drawn so much money doing the loop in the 80s and then blowing it off at a WrestleMania. I also wonder if this was kind of a subtle shot at Austin in that Hogan had no issue losing to Lesnar on an episode of SmackDown with little build, while Austin walked out on the company when faced with the same situation. Though to be fair, Austin was in a better position than Hogan to refuse the match. Brock runs through Hogan and wins with a bear hug as Hogan passes out with blood pouring form his mouth. Brock rubs Hogan’s blood on his chest after the match. You can’t say Hogan didn’t help put over Lesnar as a killer there.

-Gerwitz talks about all the talk in production was about if Brock was ready. Prichard says if it wasn’t Brock then who was it going to be? They needed someone new and nobody else was as ready as Brock was. They start the build to Rock/Brock for SummerSlam for the WWE Title. Rollins talks about how everyone saw the potential in Brock and Prichard says The Rock was a fan of Lesnar’s and told them they need to run with the kid.

-SummerSlam 2002: This was an amazing show by the way. As much as Hogan did for Brock in their TV match, the Rock went even a step further in making Lesnar into a star with this match. Man, I want to go watch this show again. The crowd turned on The Rock (as normal for this time) as the fans in NY love their ass kicking beasts. Brock wins clean in the middle of the ring to a massive reaction from the crowd and is set for life as a made man now. Brock won KOR, beat Hogan, and then the Rock for the WWE Title only 5 months after his debut.

-SummerSlam was a turning point for The Rock as he was heading to Hollywood full time and now Brock was the top star in the company. They discuss how Brock was still young and it was a lot for him to take in. Prichard isn’t sure if Brock took it all in as he looked at it as a business. He just wanted to show up, do what he was asked, and then head back to his farm. The talking heads discuss how Brock likes to be intimidating because he is a private person. Angle says to a certain extent Brock doesn’t like people. He sees wrestling as a way to afford the life he wants to have.

-Brock runs over everyone on SmackDown during his title reign including winning a bloody war against Taker at Hell in a Cell. At Survivor Series he loses the title to The Big Show because Heyman turned on him. Lesnar was now being booked as the top face in the company and won The Royal Rumble to get his Main Event spot at his first WrestleMania.

-Angle says that he knew once Brock came up it was going to be about the two of them at some point. They were both Main Event stars in quick order and come from similar backgrounds. They were the two most accomplished amateur athletes in WWE history.

-WrestleMania XIX: Angle says everything was aligned for them to have the match of the night. Heyman says this was Brock’s first Mania and it minted him as a WrestleMania Main Event guy and they would build the next 10 Manias around him. Angle came up with the idea for Brock to hit the Shooting Star Press. This was the perfect time and then it just went horribly wrong. Gerwitz says that everyone freaked out backstage as you would assume. They weren’t sure if Brock broke his neck and somehow they were able to improvise a finish. Credit to Angle on that one for not getting lost and getting control back. Brock was out on his feet and the look in his eyes is kind of scary. Heyman says it was a classic example of Brock being given advice and it nearly cost him his entire career. Backstage they try to check on Brock and he is rather pissed. He doesn’t want anyone around him and just walks off. He escaped with just minor injuries.

-Brock was the man and he didn’t want to do everything that was asked of the guy in that spot. He wanted his load lightened and they just told him he would get used to it. They realized that some people don’t want to get used to it. Brock realized he didn’t sign up for that kind of life. Rollins and Miz talk about the pressure of being the guy with the ball and rocket ship. Angle mentions he and Brock were doing shows all over the country and they don’t know how to take it easy against each other. The talking heads discuss how hard the grind is and Bischoff says that Brock told him many times how much he hated the travel. Brock bought his own private plane to get him to shows quicker and make travel easier.

-Everyone could tell that he was becoming miserable and he had no problem letting everyone know. Paul knew that Brock needed to get out because a miserable Brock isn’t safe for himself or anyone else. In 2004 Brock finally hit his breaking point and informed the WWE that he was quitting. He pulled Prichard aside and just said that he was quitting. He would do whatever they wanted him to do, but they weren’t going to be able to talk him out of it. Gerwitz talks about the resentment as they did everything for Brock and this is how he paid them back, but at the same time the signs were there that he was miserable.

-WrestleMania XX: Goldberg vs Brock with both men heading out of the company at the same time. The crowd hijacked the match in epic fashion. Gerwitz was surprised how the internet reports had gotten to the crowd. Rollins talks about how that was one of the first matches were the internet crowd was on to what was happening. He had heard about the same rumors and talks about how disgusted the crowd was with both guys. Matt Hardy talks about the NY fans being the smartest of the smartest fans and they let both guys have it. Goldberg wins with the jackhammer as if both guys are leaving, it’s best to at least put the face over. Brock flips off the crowd and then Austin, who hits him with a stunner to pop the crowd. JR: “Austin just stunned Lesnar right out of the WWE ring.”

-Miz talks about being a fan and watching Lesnar walking away was unbelievable. Some understood Brock as if his heart wasn’t into it, then he needed to leave. We get an interview with a young Brock talking about how he doesn’t care about the past and always looks towards the future.

-Brock tries out for the NFL and gets invited to Vikings camp. He was the last person cut which is rather impressive for someone who hasn’t played since high school. He didn’t want to go to NFL Europe so his next challenge was MMA. This was right up his alley as he could train for one or two matches a year and the rest of the time he could be at home. He became the UFC Heavyweight Champion within a year of starting. Dana White pops up which is pretty sweet and talks about how impossible it was for Brock to climb that mountain so quickly. Dana laughs when talking about dealing with Brock and says he has a unique personality.

-After his UFC run was over, it was on to the next challenge and that was a return to the WWE. Brock shows up the RAW after Mania XXVIII and destroys John Cena to the enjoyment of everyone in the building. Brock then dominates once again including ending The Streak and dominating John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Title in epic fashion.

-Brock was someone brand new that came along during the Ruthless Aggression Era. JBL calls him a once in a generation, at best, athlete. He was a home grown talent the likes of which nobody had ever seen before or since. Batista calls him Ivan Drago and that is a pretty fantastic end note to this one.

-Not as good as last week’s Evolution episode, but still pretty good. Obviously Brock wasn’t going to open up about all this so everything had to come from those around him at the time. There was nothing new covered here and really just a recap of everything everyone knows about his two year run. At only 42 minutes it’s a breeze to watch and the fun is in seeing those early days in 2002 when he was given license to run over and through everyone on the roster. Thanks for reading!