Don't screw this up this time McMahon.
In the 1990s, wrestling was in the middle of a war between Ted Turner's WCW and Vince McMahon's WWF. The companies did everything they could to try to defeat the others, including giving away a lot of marquee matches on Television.
The ultimate winners of the battle, were the fans.
Even back in the 90s, wrestlers stayed in character. Undertaker wouldn't be roaming around aimlessly in public. He was too busy staying in character. Although many of us knew he wasn't dead, we still didn't know much about him. He just had this certain eerie, mystical aura about him. Today, however, the aura in wrestling is almost extinct.
Because of (a) how exposed the business is, (b) how WWE explains to us that wrestlers are only playing a character, and (c) how wrestlers are going to charity events, radio shows, talk shows, and so on, portraying who they genuinely are, the WWE is lacking wrestlers who have aura, except for a small handful.
One of them who does, is Brock Lesnar.
Even though he's a highly adept athlete, has the legerity of Spiderman, the ability to bump like a cruiserweight, conjoined with his prominent realism, the most engaging attribute Lesnar has is still his aura.
When he debuted with WWE, the plan was for him to prosper from the beginning. After all, he had all the intangibles to do so. Marketing packaged him as a former NCAA wrestling champion, constructed like a tank, intimidating looking, with the endurance of a well-oiled machine, who rapidly comprehended the psychology of wrestling.
The only thing he was lacking was the ability to interact with the audience. Hoping to establish and develop his character, they wisely inserted him with one of the cleverest managers of all time, Paul Heyman, who promoted Lesnar greater than some presidential aids could have.
Consequently, Lesnar quickly became a WWE mega star, surpassing many other wrestlers who were trying to develop their niche to the highest plateau, hoping to become effective moneymakers. Because of his rapid successes in only a few years time, he became significantly bored, due to accomplishing more or less everything WWE had to offer.
Shortly after being burnt out from wrestling, he tried to succeed in different endeavors. First, he tried to become a NFL football player. He actually earned a spot on the Minnesota Viking's practice squad, but he unfortunately didn't make the final cut.
Thereafter, he tried to become a MMA fighter. In contrast to trying to be a football player, Lesnar succeeded in this endeavor. In fact, he became the UFC Heavy Weight Champion after he defeated one of the biggest legends in MMA, Randy Couture. However, due a life-threatening disease, Lesnar never appeared to be the same in the octagon, as he lost two out of three of his fights, leading to his early retirement from MMA.
During the already highly anticipated WrestleMania 28 weekend, the news that Lesnar had signed a Limited Dates Contract with WWE was leaked. Many speculated that he would return at WrestleMania 28, but he ended up debuting on the post-WrestleMania episode of "Mania Monday Night Raw", where he attacked John Cena.
The build toward the Cena Vs. Lesnar match at Extreme Rules was phenomenal. As if Lesnar's first match in years wasn't enough, Cena was also intriguingly on a losing streak, one that was evolving his character and had people guessing what direction things would go for him, if he lost this match.
In the match, Lesnar used a faux-MMA style and dominated Cena in every facet with it. In fact, his beat down was so realistic and dominating, that it had me believing the match would be called off. However, Lesnar became too cocky and overzealous for his own good and allowed Cena to upset him. In other words, the unthinkable happened.
They stopped Lesnar's momentum in its tracks, just so they could put their bulletproof figurehead over him. After the match, Cena cut a promo that gave some of us hope. He said he was going to take some time off to heal his injuries. It appeared they would say Cena won the battle, Lesnar won the war, and it would lead to a match down the road.
Instead, Cena pretended at Extreme Rules the injuries didn't exist; disregarding, for the most part, the destruction Lesnar did to him. Why, you may ask?
Oh, to feud with Johnny Ace, and then the Big Show.
Yep, it was so engaging to see him feud with such compelling wrestlers and return to being the same, stagnant, hackneyed Cena, all because WWE pissed themselves in fear of leaving Cena off television for a couple of months.
Afterwards, Lesnar feuded with Triple H. It was well constructed and sound, but it didn't repair Lesnar's tarnished credibility. They tried to promote Lesnar as this tyrannizing figure, but nobody believed the propaganda. They even allowed Lesnar to beat Triple H clean via submission, and yet it still felt underwhelming.
The reason being, Lesnar was so white-hot up to the point where Cena hit the FU on him, that he felt untouchable. It was going to take more than a submission victory over Triple H to rekindle the magic he had.
However, Lesnar has since taken time off to regroup, and so far he has portrayed the reckless ass-kicker he ought to be. Lesnar has already unleashed the pain on Mr. McMahon and the Miz, and is starting to reinstate his credibility.
Unlike most of today's WWE wrestlers, Lesnar has a shoot background, which allows people to believe in what he does, even more so than any of the rest. He is truly one of the last men in wrestling that has an incredible aura.
Furthermore, his ability to be a big draw, as ratings and buy rates increase when he's on the show, is nothing if not transparent. Fortunately, WWE has gotten another chance to utilize Lesnar to his fullest capacity, as he has signed a new contact. This time, they had better not screw it up.
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Editor's Note: This FanPost has been mildly edited for promotion to the front page and various sections within Cageside Seats for your enjoyment, Cagesiders!


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