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It has now been over a year since Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE after an eight year hiatus. Has his return been worth it or has the company wasted its money?
Back in 2002, Lesnar was brought in to the company and was immediately pushed to the main event. Since The Rock was getting offered more movie roles and Stone Cold Steve Austin was on the verge of retiring, the WWE knew they needed a new star to fill the void.
Lesnar was unlike any other professional wrestler at the time. Not only was he huge, but he was agile and a legitimate wrestler too. Not since Kurt Angle had the company ever encountered a wrestler that won so many titles in the amateur wrestling leagues.
For two years, Lesnar was the most popular wrestler on the roster. Even though when he was wrestling as a heel, fans loved to see his physical matches. It wasn’t until 2004 did we witness that Lesnar’s heart wasn’t in professional wrestling. Lesnar wanted to leave to join the NFL. Not to mention, he hated all of the travel and promotional work professional wrestlers have to do on a near daily basis.
Eight long years later and WWE signed Lesnar to a new contract. He is now a much bigger star than he was before thanks to him competing in the UFC. Because of his star power, the company allowed him to wrestle on a part-time basis so that he doesn’t have to travel very often.
Last year, Lesnar immediately excited fans when he went after John Cena. It was one of the more memorable returns in WWE history and a match was set between the two at Extreme Rules. Even though Lesnar lost that match to Cena, it was a physical and entertaining encounter. Fans were happy to see him back.
It wasn’t until Lesnar started to feud with Triple H and his part-time contract basis did I feel his impact in the company started to wane. His match with Triple H at SummerSlam was boring and then we did not see him ever again until early 2013.
When 2013 came along, people had hoped Lesnar would wrestle someone else at WrestleMania 29. That didn’t happen as Triple H wanted his “revenge.” Although both men had a decent match at WrestleMania 29, they are now due to wrestle one more time at Extreme Rules. This time it will be inside of a steel cage.
For me, I feel Lesnar could have had a better year if he wrestled people he’d never faced before. It would have been more exciting if he faced CM Punk, Sheamus or even Randy Orton. Lesnar has faced Orton before but that was when they were both rookies. A match between the two now would be exciting. Instead, we see him lose to Cena and he faced Triple H multiple times.
After Lesnar faces Triple H at Extreme Rules, we should pray that it’s for the last time. Lesnar has signed a two year extension to his contract so he should face new opponents now.
