The Top 7 Moments From Brock Lesnar’s Second WWE Run

Can you believe it’s been seven years since Brock Lesnar returned to WWE?

Last week, we took a look at the best moments of Brock Lesnar’s first WWE run. That lasted a little over two years and set the table for the monster that Brock would become upon his return. 2002-04 Brock was certainly more critically acclaimed than 2010s Brock. 2010s Brock isn’t around as much. He doesn’t have as many matches. He takes the Universal Championship out of circulation for months at a time.

When he is around, he makes things happen. Here are the seven most magnificent moments of Brock Lesnar’s second WWE run.

7. The Boombox

Brock Lesnar won the Money in the Bank briefcase by coming down at the end of the match, knocking Ali off of a ladder, climbing up and retrieving the briefcase. Smartest. Man. In. Wrestling. He was in a spicy mood the night after, so when he came out on Raw he did this thing for five seconds where he used the briefcase as a boombox. It really got over, so WWE made a t-shirt about it & turned the briefcase into a boombox so Brock could rock out with it the next week.

I feel like they missed an opportunity by not running with this for a bit longer. Heck, they could have sold some official WWE Brock Lesnar boomboxes!

6. Founding Suplex City

Brock is a master of trash talk. Who could forget him telling Eddie Guerrero to stay down or just die during their No Way Out match? He’s always good for some one-liners while beating a fool up, like at WrestleMania when he welcomed Roman Reigns to Suplex City. It went over so well with the crowd that they started chanting it and t-shirts were printed up immediately.

That’s one thing you have to give WWE credit for. They rarely miss an opportunity to monetize a catchphrase.

5. The Return

Brock’s original debut made last week’s list because it came off so well. This went even better. Given the nature of Brock’s departure from WWE, most of us didn’t think that he would ever be back. He had enough success in UFC & surely wouldn’t want to work WWE’s taxing schedule. WWE found a way to make him happy on that account, and he made his big WWE return the night after WrestleMania.

How many people have you seen get a “Holy S**t” chant just for walking to the ring?

4. Breaking Triple H’s Arm

When Brock came back to WWE, everybody had the same thought on who he should face off with. After the inevitable John Cena meeting was over, we all wanted to see the match we never got to see in the early 2000s. See, while Brock was dominating things over on SmackDown, Triple H was the lord & master of Raw. The only time The Beast & The Game crossed paths during Brock’s first run was in a triple threat match with The Rock at 2002’s Global Warning event in Australia.

We never thought we’d see Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H, so now it had to happen. The matches themselves…well, honestly, I don’t remember much about them. Probably typical HHH stuff that goes way too long and wears out its welcome. I do remember Brock breaking Triple H’s arm in the buildup to their SummerSlam bout, and it was awesome, so it makes the list.

3. F-5 To Michael Cole!

Seth Rollins stole the Universal Championship from Lesnar at WrestleMania 31. He’d do it again four years later, but the first travesty of justice led to Brock smashing everything in his path on the Raw After Mania. Rollins wanted no part of a proper match, so he ran out of the building after some physical interaction. This led to Brock turning the announce table over on top of Booker T & JBL. I’m still not sure how Michael Cole managed to avoid getting trapped with his colleagues, but he was dumb enough to run right into Brock and get an F-5 for his trouble.

Hey, any time somebody beats up Michael Cole it’s going to make one of these lists. I don’t make the rules. (Well, I guess I do, now that I think about it.)

2. First Universal Title Win Over John Cena

Lesnar’s first meeting with Cena post-comeback was a virtual slaughter for the Beast, but still ended in CENA WINS LOL. That wasn’t the case at SummerSlam 2014. Brock just straight up destroyed the kid. I’m pretty sure he broke the indoor suplex record. We were accustomed to SummerSlam main events with 50/50 action & the advantage going back & forth in a typical WWE main event style match. Cena got a little bit of offense in, but I’d describe the action as 90/10 in favor of Lesnar. I’m probably being charitable to Cena here, to be honest.

Brock’s t-shirt heading into this match told us he was going to eat, sleep, and conquer John Cena. That’s exactly what he did.

1. Ending The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak

Should Brock Lesnar have been the man to end The Streak? This has been debated ever since WrestleMania XXX, and will be debated well past WrestleMania 60 by whichever of us old farts are still around to talk about it. The bottom line is that Brock Lesnar was the man that conquered the streak. Maybe somebody else could have benefitted more from it, and maybe the match wasn’t very good thanks to Undertaker being hurt, but the win definitely helped Brock’s cause.

Lesnar had a 4-2 post-return record heading into WrestleMania XXX, including a loss to Triple H at WrestleMania XXIX. It was a must-win situation for the Beast Incarnate if he was to be taken seriously as a contender. Once he got that win & got put into the title picture, the sky was the limit. The ending of The Streak directly led to the dominance of Brock Lesnar over the past five years.