Naughty Or Nice: Brock Lesnar In 2017

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Backstory

This will be the final edition of “Naughty Or Nice?” from yours truly. I had a lot more planned but had real life stuff here in Wisconsin pop up during the past week. Oh well, it happens. Let’s get to it.

Brock Lesnar: Naughty Or Nice?

Royal Rumble 2017 – For those of you who don’t recall, Brock Lesnar did very little at the 2017 Royal Rumble event. Makes your jokes now about him doing ‘very little’ at a pay-per-view event. Just remember that it is not always quantity of time but quality. For instance, if a bum is in the Rumble for 45 minutes and does nothing…who cares? Really, it doesn’t matter. Lesnar spent a few minutes in the bout and did some memorable stuff. He had the usual fun staredowns, destroyed Enzo Amore in an epic moment that made Corey Graves smile. Then of course was the big showdown with Bill Goldberg, which saw him get tossed over the top rope within seconds. Ouch! A shocking turn of events indeed but one that was needed for the full story to be told. Certainly a NAUGHTY bit in terms of kayfabe but enjoyable to watch from a fan’s point of view.

WrestleMania 33 – I admit bias because I was live in Orlando. His inevitable (final?) clash with Goldberg was just as great as I suspected and more than made up for the WrestleMania XX debacle 13 years ago. With the RAW Universal Championship on the line, these two stuck to what worked and had the live crowd loving every single move. Sure, it was only a couple of different moves but hey! That is where the money is made, and nobody can argue otherwise against Lesnar/Goldberg. This time, kayfabe was also along for the ride in that Lesnar beat Goldberg clean, avenged his harshest defeat and stood on top of the Raw mountain.

Live Events/Raw Shows – I will call this a DRAW. In my opinion, Brock does too many live events. I know others will disagree, but pop quiz – who has he wrestled this year at non-televised shows? Anybody know? No? Exactly. Big Show, Kevin Owens, and others got to take a trip to Suplex City. Heck, he has even locked up with Sheamus and Rusev before. Yet, none of it made headlines or even caused a ripple effect within the industry. Shame. Every single time The Beast enters the squared circle it should be a MAJOR deal, but it isn’t. His Raw appearances? No matches. I think WWE will use that ‘ratings ploy’ on the Road to WrestleMania in March-April 2018, especially if his contract is officially set to expire. Raw bout featuring Brock (Universal Title holder) is big. We got absolutely zero TV bouts from him in 2017. Understandable but not exactly nice.

Great Balls Of Fire – While Finn Balor was the popular pick to face Lesnar for the belt in July, that honor went to Samoa Joe. A heel/heel bout was unexpected and a fresh feud for the red brand. I liked it. Obviously, we knew the outcome. However, it was everything else that matter. How, who, when, and why. WWE did a great job making Lesnar/Joe feel like a monstrous first time ever dream match. It also delivered. No pointless July PPV main event here for the wacky named event.

Summerslam – Back to back months for the part-time champ. Brock Lesnar defended his title against Joe, Braun Strowman, and Roman Reigns in a No Hold Barred Anything Goes Fatal Four Way. A main event with a lot of hype and false assumptions Lesnar was heading to UFC soon. I never bought it, nor did many others. A match of the year candidate for 2017 and certainly worthy of the spotlight for Raw. Anybody could have conceivably taken the victory that evening. Again though, the result was never in much doubt with sound logic and common sense. Brock won, reigned supreme over the above ‘Average Joes’ but had another monster to dethrone come September.

No Mercy – Brock versus Braun. Joe was not the man to defeat Lesnar. Nor was Roman in August at Summerslam…there is still time for that moment in a one on one meeting. That left the other beast on Raw – Braun Strowman! An absolute stud who had been on a roll and was absolutely built up for a pay-per-view main event with Lesnar. Unfortunately, the time was not right then nor will it be for awhile yet. Brock is just worth too much to the company and his much bigger fish to fry come WrestleMania season. Those plans do not include Strowman. Fans may not entirely agree with that, but here is the kicker…the match stunk. I’m glad the finish was Brock retains. If the plan was the opposite, what a flat way to crown a new champion and what a stinker of a match. Seriously, I argued at the time it was Lesnar’s worst match ever. That may seem a tad bit extreme. Still, not too far fetched in hindsight. You can decide who you want to blame for that. Three months in a row for Lesnar, the supposed bum who never works. A break in October, followed up by…

Survivor Series – Another match of the year candidate for Brock Lesnar. A bout against AJ Styles. Originally going to be versus Jinder Mahal, but WWE finally got wise to his act failing as a main eventer. In a last minute change, the Raw/Smackdown theme flipped from Universal Champion Brock Lesnar VS. WWE Champion Jinder Mahal to the ultimate dream match Universal Champion Brock Lesnar VS. WWE Champion AJ Styles. I think everybody agreed with that and was more than willing to accept the inevitable result. Brock was always going to win. Whether against AJ or Jinder. The best part is we were surprised with an actual bout. This was more than just suplexes on repeat. This was a reminder to fan that “Yes, Brock is still really good in the ring.” I loved the match and would enjoy a rematch down the road. Raw, Smackdown, PPV, whatever – Lesnar/Styles Part II is a phenomenal idea.

SUMMARY: Look, Brock Lesnar is a part-time star and 100% deserves to have the schedule he does. As noted by the live events, he actually does work more than most will give him credit for. However, WWE does not always capitalize on his star power. If we only have three months left with The Beast, there is still so much more to do with him besides facing Braun again or defeating Kane for the first time in his career. I could list at least a dozen more dream matches. We’ll see what his next career move is in April after WM34. My guess is he loses the title to THE GUY in a WrestleMania 31 rematch and rides off into the sunset. At least until WWE offers him another multi-million dollar contract…

You tell me though. Naughty Or Nice – Brock Lesnar in 2017?

Podcast Debut

One of my goals in 2017 was to make my podcast debut. On Thursday December 7th, I crossed off yet another item on my to-do list for the year. Shout out to Matt and D for the great discussion. Topics included WWE today, stock market, video games, movies, television, steroids, Survivor, Flat Earth, old school WWF, and more! Lasted a little over an hour, so it is an easy listen. Plenty of wrestling talk folks and my beautiful voice heard for the first time ever. Here it is…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgdG5ZTu2vk

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