The always-sagacious Sean Rueter penned a column in the wake of last weekend's SummerSlam event titled Brock Lesnar is WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Reasons to be Excited and Afraid (read it here). That's a fairly accurate description of how I feel moving forward, becase I'm a fan of the big galoot and I think he's a great pro wrestler.
Then comes the Afraid part.
I think a lot of fans are worried that WWE will bungle the booking, or that Lesnar's part-time schedule will complicate the main event title scene. Me? I'm worried that I'll wake up to a text from site General Geno Mrosko, telling me that Lesnar dropped dead of heart failure.
I've gotten texts like that before.
SummerSlam was a great show and so too, was the Monday Night Raw that followed it. But I can't stop thinking about last Sunday night, because Lesnar spent most of the night changing colors like one of the horses in Emerald City. Forget about turning red, he was purple.
And not just once or twice during a couple of big spots.
I'm not going to attempt some armchair examination of Lesnar's health, but I would hope that someone in WWE -- who has the clout to make things happen -- requires the new world heavyweight champion to undergo a complete physical, one that includes extensive testing of the heart.
Purple skin is one of the signs of hypoxemia ... and that's bad.
I've watched Lesnar compete from day one and I've seen him flushed after an action-packed WWE bout. I've also seen him sweat profusely during a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight. But I've never seen him transform into Grimace until SummerSlam, and it was alarming.
There are a couple of things to consider.
Lesnar -- by his own admission -- spent two years addicted to vodka and pain medication during his first run as a pro wrestler, to the point where he has no memory of that time period. In addition, he went through a long and painful battle with diverticulitis.
Then there's the fact that he's built like a Belgian blue and lives on red meat, both which tax the heart more than your average bear.
When you combine these risk factors and weigh them against a man who turned purple during a wrestling match, it should be cause for concern. The Ultimate Warrior was the last wrestler to change colors on WWE programming and two days later, he was dead.
Lesnar, 37, is 17 years younger than Warrior was when the hall of famer died last April, but just one year the junior of the late Eddie Guerrero, who passed away from heart failure at age 38. Ray "Big Boss Man" Traylor was 41, and the list goes on.
Maybe there is a completely reasonable explanation for his purple haze. Perhaps a doctor is reading this and thinking, "leave this stuff to the experts, noob." Man, that would be great. I would be thrilled to learn that I was way off base and made a big stink about nothing.
It certainly beats the alternative.