Lance Storm Wrote A Thing; Makes Sense, Still Wrong.
 

http://www.stormwrestling.com/043012.html

Booking Brock Lesnar

April 30, 2012
I teased this commentary on twitter earlier today, saying something to the effect that this commentary was to show that most of the people bitching that WWE killed Brock Lesnar by having John Cena beat him at the Extreme Rules PPV last night are narrow minded. Upon posting that I of course was inundated with people saying how they agree with me completely that they thought beating Brock Lesnar made total sense and was absolutely the right move.

These two extreme views (pun intended) are really what inspired this commentary. I've been in the wrestling business for more than 20 years now and if there is one thing I've learned is that there are almost no absolutes. Almost no decision is absolutely 100% clear cut and even bad decisions are almost never uncorrectable. It is with that thinking that I take exception to all of those who freaked out saying that "WWE killed Brock Lesnar with the loss last night, and effectively flushed the whole angle down the toilet." There is more than one ways to skin a cat and I'm going to present what I would do Booking Brock Lesnar from this point forward and present a case on why Cena winning last night was not the worst decision ever made.

With all that said let me be clear, if it were up to me I would not have beat Brock Lesnar last night; I am just presenting an argument on why WWE may have decided to do so and offering what my booking strategy would be moving forward.

For those that argue that a loss in his first match is a burial and kills Brock as a PPV draw I would like to point out Brock Lesnar's UFC run and what happened there. Brock was one of, if not the biggest PPV draws in UFC history. UFC brought Brock Lesnar into the real world of MMA from the (I hate to use this word but it illustrates my point) fake world of Pro Wrestling. If there was ever a case where a guy needing credibility right out of the gate this was it and what happened in Brock's first UFC fight? Not only did he get beat, he tapped out in 90 seconds. Did this kill Brock Lesnar? Was Brock Lesnar dead as a PPV draw? Of course he wasn't, he came back, dominated, won the UFC Heavyweight Title, and drew a ton of money for UFC, and he could still do that for WWE if booked correctly moving forward.

Now certainly the argument can be made that Brock would have been an even bigger draw in UFC had he not lost that first fight, but I'm not 100% sure of that, because the Mir rematch was a gargantuan money maker, and more to the point I'm not arguing that beating Brock was the best choice just not necessarily the worst won either.

Now let's look at some of the up sides to beating Brock at Extreme Rules. Brock Lesnar is a guy that does not love pro wrestling and in his last run in WWE he beat almost every big Star in the company and then quit. While he did do a job on the way out the program he was in on his way out was with Bill Goldberg who unfortunately was also leaving the company. So Brock essentially beat the entire WWE roster and the only guy who managed to beat him wasn't sticking around either. That has to be at least a small concern when moving forward with Lesnar now. Is it safe to book him undefeated for a long stretch? In a perfect word yes, because it will mean more when he eventually loses, but Pro-Wrestling is seldom if ever a perfect world. I've even heard arguments that he should go undefeated all the way to WrestleMania for the ultimate show down with either Rock or Undertaker. While again that sounds great on paper there are two concerns. 1: Will he make it to WrestleMania without, getting hurt, becoming ill again, or quitting? And 2: Do you want him beating your entire roster for a year to eventually get beat by a guy who much like at Mania XX with Goldberg, isn't sticking around after that match?

With all that in mind, I can understand why WWE might want to hedge their bets a little and get a win on the books over Brock for one of their tops stars, and once you've made that decision doing it first is not only the safest way but also gives you the most amount of time before WrestleMania to build him back up. He can now go on an 11 month winning streak to build to WrestleMania if they want and if anything goes wrong along the way and Lesnar leaves they have the footage of John Cena pinning Brock that they can air time and time again. With that out of the way let's look at the booking possibilities going forward because there are some amazing parallels that can be drawn.

Exactly like his UFC career Brock lost his first match in to a former Heavyweight Champion in a match he looked very strong and dominant in. After that match many critics said he was done and the Mir loss exposed him. Tonight on RAW you could have Johnny Ace cut a promo on Lesnar saying that he didn't pay him all this money and give in to all of his contract demands to have him lose to John Cena. In response Lesnar could point out that it was a lucky punch with a steel chain wrapped around it and he could fight Cena 1000 times and he'd beat him 999 of them; last night was that one fluke. Johnny could then challenge Lesnar to prove he's everything he claims to be and book him against a strong top level guy, on the June PPV in a "Must Win" type match for Lesnar.

Again this mirrors his UFC career in that his second fight was against the fairly strong MMA veteran Heath Herring in a match many people viewed as a "Must Win" fight for Lesnar speculating that UFC would cut their losses and release him should he lose the Herring fight. Brock went on to dominate Herring in a completely one sided affair. This is how I would book Lesnar in WWE. Book him in a match on the June PPV with a long standing veteran of WWE, perhaps The Big Show and have Brock completely dominate and destroy him in his next fight.

From here I would book Lesnar in a WWE Title match at the July PPV. This again would mimic Brock's UFC run because his third UFC fight was against Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Title. If you wanted to protect CM Punk you could always hold a draft before then and switch the WWE and World Titles from RAW and SmackDown and have Brock beat Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Title instead. In his post match victory celebration Brock freaks out and goes all nutty screaming at the crowd and anyone who will listen, "Can You See Me Now...Can You See Me Now"? This is of course the same line he used in UFC and also sets up the Summer Slam rematch with Mr. "You Can't See Me" John Cena.

This moves us into August and the big Summer Slam rematch with John Cena, the former champion who beat him in his WWE return debut. Once again mimicking his UFC run, where he faced Frank Mir at UFC 100 in the much anticipated rematch. While I would not expect Summer Slam to set an all time record like Lesnar vs. Mir II did, I contend it could be a very strong Main Event draw. In the rematch Brock Lesnar gets his win back in dominant fashion and retains the WWE or World Title and can cut the promo: "John Cena had a horseshoe up his ass, I told you people that 4 months ago, well I pulled that son of a bitch out and beat him over the head with it...WOOOOO"

From here WWE can do what they want. Brock is over very strong, and you have 7 months to build him to WrestleMania, to face either The Undertaker or The Rock or even the rubber match with Cena if you like.

Again in closing I am not saying this is a better approach than keeping him undefeated, or the best way to do things moving forward, just illustrating that there are options and anyone who thinks beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is only one way to do something, really doesn't know what they are talking about.

Lance Storm

I like how Lance is trying to defend the angle against his own feelings, true class.

Still:
http://www.f4wonline.com/images/stor...snarlosing.jpg

Wonder what Jimmy is trying to tell us.

Jimmy you are oh so smart

Jimmy is right. No matter how great of a match it was, it would have been much more effective to have him KILL Cena and then Cena come back and superman his ass. They are fucking retarded.

He's totally right. You say he's wrong. Refute it.

Last night they made Lesnar look even more psychotic. I wouldn't have booked him to lose either, but it has literally done nothing to slow his momentum. Take heart, little Jimmy, the WWE doesn't plan to bury Brock Lesnar.

Pull your head out of your ass.

Lance makes good points as usual. This is salvageable but it's still retarded. It's every so often you can have someone like Brock Lesnar around, and to job him in his first match is stupid. At the end of the day, how did RAW finish? Johnny Ace hitting John Cena in the head. I'm sorry, but when you have Lesnar on your program, and you have talent like CM Punk and Jericho, I don't know why Johnny Ace is on the final segment. There is no direction in this company, and they honestly don't. have. a. clue.

Lesnar has certainly lost a little bit of his aura. They should be booking him as unbeatable monster and he has already lost. That's what I think right now but I am not calling this a failure so quick like a lot of other people. We'll have to see how they follow up.

<font color=goldenrod>Nothing against Lance, but why is his opinion continually treated like the gospel on here?</font>

I think you know why.

What's the point of Brock winning... Wasn't that expected?

So what if it was expected? Should WWE just book the opposite of what is expected?

As I said before, the match was so good and so brutal, that IMO it didn't really matter who won. Did losing Sunday weaken or lessen Lesnar? No way. He came out Monday, attacked Triple H, and left looking as vicious and unstoppable as he ever has.

So in due time, when WWE picks up his feud with Triple H, during the lead-up to the match and when they finally meet, I'm sure he'll continue to look like the beast he is, he'll be the "unstoppable monster", and no one will care or remember about the outcome of his match at Extreme Rules. He did what he had to do, which was beat Cena around. That's good enough.

Win or lose on Cena, "breaking the COO and Top guy in the Companies" arm in kayfabe is a pretty good fucking start to a money making angle.

So, that backstage meltdown he had after the PPV is a complete work? Phew if so.

:?::?:

There were reports that Brock flipped his shit after the PPV because of Cena's post-match promo.

Why do people care what Lance Storm thinks? He never "made it", so does it really matter what he thinks?

Depends on what your definition of made it is.

I dont mean to put him down, he was a damn good wrestler but will Lance Storm be brought up years later? Probably not. Did he get ratings up? Probably not.

Lance just never made an impact.

Honestly 90% of people who talk/remember Lance Storm are hardcore wrestling fans on the Internet who remember WCW.

Well seeing how his greatest success was in WCW, and he was only in the WWE for a few short years, that is not an insult.

That is like saying the only people who remember Nikita Koloff are hardcore fans or people who were fans of late 90s JCP promotions.

What I find odd is that Lance Storm would write such a big piece about Brock Lesnar. Didn't know he was so fond of him.

But is he unstoppable if he's already been beaten.

I think a loss hurts Lesnar more than it would have hurt Cena.

Ah. Didn't read that.

Lance Storm says what the internet wants to hear, so he's beloved.

Winning is not the be all and end all in pro wrestling.

Cena's victory didn't "stop" Lesnar. If anything it made things worse as he went on to attack the COO of the company - somebody that should be untouchable.

Lesnar can still be a moster, he can still cut a path of anarchy despite losing that match.

The "Brock shouldn't have lost because it was his first match back!" argument is retarded. That is all.

P.S. If you don't think this commentary was the beginning of a build to Lance Storm vs Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania next year, you don't understand wrestling.

They need to build him as a monster. Brock would have benefited from walking all over Cena and it wouldn't have hurt Cena. They need someone whose "different", and nothing is different about losing to John Cena.

Okay, maybe he can still be booked as this dangerous monster, but he should have been booked as someone that is unbeatable. Now, it won't even be as big of a deal when someone else beats him, since he's already been beaten.

He is being built as a monster. He DESTROYED Cena in that match and Cena found a way to hit a lucky shot and get the dramatic comeback. When was the last time someone looked that scary and intimidating and dominant in a main event level match? There was no reason Cena needed to keep losing. He was the face, he has his fans, they had been watching him lose and get beaten down constantly, and they got a happy ending... those are useful sometimes in a "sport" you have the luxury of scripting. The crowd was going NUTS at the end of that match. It played out perfectly.

#1-wwf-fan is the worst poster on TPWW. Just, wow.

Your mark tears are delicious, St. Jimmy.

Also, something something something, you don't understand wrestling.

... you mean the same supermanning (!3MTA3) that everyone is sick of Cena doing? Brilliant!

So, by this logic, "HHH/Undertaker I" match had a stupid finish because Hunter was the guy who walked away, so he clearly should have won?

You can accomplish what you need to accomplish with the storytelling without having everything 100% hinging on who won or lost. Yeah, Cena won... but at the cost of having the hell beat out of him and putting over Lesnar's use of the Kimura with his "injury".

You should listen to Lance because FUCK YOU, THAT'S WHY! GODDAMN HAT TRICK!!!

Seriously, though, why do people always bring up the "never made it" argument? That's apples and oranges. Sometimes the best football coaches were mediocre 3rd string QBs "in their day". Not saying Lance is a 3rd stringer in the ring, just saying him having a sharp mind for the business and how much of a push he got in the highest points of his in-ring career have nothing to do with one another.

Why is it that people seem to bash Lance, but fucking praise Raven? Same thing. Raven's smart about the business, and in-ring, compared to Storm, utter shit. He also never got a huge push in WWE. Why would his opinion, if he gave one, be so loved, yet Lanced gets shit on as a "never was"?

I would absolutely shit myself if this happened. Of course, Lance would job in 1:08 and his match with Brock would be bumped from 'Mania.

You're explanations are just justifications for stupid booking.

The supermanning actually works if he gets fucked up by the guy the first time they fight. Not if it's an immediate superman. Look what they're doing with "all that momentum" now, he's having a match with John Laurenatis and going to feud with Albert. SO FRESH AND EXCITING.

It's obvious what they're setting up. Rock is going to come back as is mankind and they will form a stable the Brock, Rock and Sock Connection they will become the six man tag team champions of the galaxy.

Managed by Michael PS Hayes.

They probably taste like butter