All Hail Brock Lesnar

“BRRRRROCK LESNARRRRRR”

-Paul Heyman, the advocate 

When Brock Lesnar came to the WWE in 2002, he was dubbed “The Next Big Thing”, a hype that Lesnar not only lived up to but exceeded. Fast forward fifteen years and Brock Lesnar has accomplished everything; he won real fights and titles in the UFC, came back to the WWE eight years after leaving and proved he was the man, in case you didn’t think he was already. He’s the closest thing to reality that Vince McMahon’s fake universe has ever seen. Lesnar is a national treasure, that we need to appreciate while we still have him.

Last week, Forbes discussed (the possibility of) Brock Lesnar returning to UFC and subsequently dropping the Universal title at SummerSlam. According to a couple of MMA sources, Lesnar has returned to the USADA testing pool, so that he can make a return to the UFC either later this year or in 2018. Other sources have said that Brock Lesnar has not returned to the testing pool. Who do we believe? Dana White has denied any talks with Lesnar but he’s denied that before and was lying. Earlier this week, Jon Jones, who is a popular UFC fighter came out and challenged Brock Lesnar to a fight. To which Lesnar responded, in typical Lesnar fashion, ‘anytime, anywhere’. I feel like I’m locked in a horrible nightmare that I can’t wake up from. The pro wrestling business can’t afford to Brock Lesnar yet.

Brock Lesnar was not the first “legit” athlete to become a pro wrestler. In the last twenty-five years, Kurt Angle, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock are just the first three that come to mind. However, Brock Lesnar is the biggest to do it, and I’m not talking his size, but that also applies. Lesnar’s box office success with UFC partnered with his winning success makes him one of the most successful UFC fighters of all-time in a short amount of time. I know that pains MMA junkies because Lesnar is an outsider but the facts are facts. Lesnar had great success in the UFC and he suffered from a bout of diverticulitis, which almost killed him, right in the middle of his run. He could have accomplished so much more in the UFC. It’s a shame we’ll never know what an in his prime healthy Lesnar could’ve done. The success Lesnar had makes him the biggest crossover, legit athlete of all-time.

In baseball, the guy who can do it all is called a “5-tool player”, well Lesnar is a 5-tool player. He can do it all. Lesnar can take a beating and have you believe it (see how he made Samoa Joe look in the build-up to “Great Balls of Fire”). He can deliver a beating (everything he’s done). He looks the part (6’3 285). The most underrated aspect of Brock Lesnar is his promo ability. Does having Paul Heyman help? Sure, of course, it does. However, Lesnar can talk. He cuts these no nonsense promos and it comes across on TV as a shoot, it comes across real. The RAW after GBOF where Lesnar exchanged words with Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe was great. There were emotions and it came across on TV as if the three of them were going to go at it. Lesnar didn’t talk better than Joe but he out-talked Reigns. But because Heyman does the majority of the talking for Lesnar, people forget that he can cut good promos. Sadly, if we lose Lesnar to UFC, we probably lose Heyman, so there’s that.

Brock Lesnar is the rare case where his shoot legacy (college wrestler, UFC success) and his kayfabe legacy (WWE, NJPW) are both unmatched. Although Lesnar does not have the title history to match guys like Randy Orton or John Cena, he does have NJPW success that neither of them has. However, he has big victories against both of those guys; including the most lopsided main event for a WWE PPV ever when he destroyed Cena at SummerSlam. The argument can be made that if Lesnar doesn’t leave (in 2004) then Cena probably doesn’t win sixteen world titles, nor would Orton win thirteen. The biggest notch on Lesnar’s kayfabe belt; he was the first to beat Undertaker at WrestleMania. Which goes down as the most shocking win in a pro wrestling match in the last 30 years, maybe even ever?

I’m aware that Brock Lesnar doesn’t work a full schedule and when he’s champion, the Internet loves to complain that the champ isn’t there every week. The argument can be made that not having the champ there keeps the belt fresh. Makes the times when the belt and the champ are on TV important. Another knock against Lesnar is that people think his matches are “boring”. However, if you look back at his first WWE run, his matches were not boring (see his main event match vs Angle at WrestleMania). He works a more MMA, ground & pound style nowadays and it some that might be boring. It fits the character that Brock Lesnar portrays on TV if that’s even a character. Lesnar’s matches seem more like real fights. Look at what he got out of Samoa Joe at GBOF. That was one of Joe’s better matches in WWE and it was only 7 minutes long. If you want realism in your pro wrestling matches, Brock Lesnar is real.

Brock Lesnar wasn’t just a monster at the box office for the UFC. In 2015 alone, while the WWE Network is offered for $9.99, Brock Lesnar sold 692,000 PPVs at full price ($59?), where he was in the main event, which was five total shows. That’s why he works a limited schedule and gets paid like he does ($5 million? $6 million?). Because he makes McMahon money. The sport of pro wrestling will miss this guy if it loses him to UFC. I had been hoping that Lesnar would just keep resigning three-year deals until he was 45. Feeling that Lesnar could go into his mid-forties because he works the limited schedule. At least, that was my hope. If the itch is definitely too much and Lesnar heads back to UFC (which at forty he needs to do sooner than later), the WWE, Vince McMahon and pro wrestling are going to miss the most legit guy it’s ever had, even if some don’t see it now. I miss him already.

(Feel free to follow Brian on Twitter @bdenny411 and let him know what you think)