Brock Lesnar: Will he? Won't he?

gimmick · 02-03-2015 2:03pm

Split from the news thread. This is going to be a major topic for the next few weeks.

Garseys · 02-03-2015 2:31pm

UFC will offer a huge deal for Brock to sign with them. You've got the Frank Mir vs Lesnar fight ready if he does.

Stereomaniac · 02-03-2015 3:43pm

I will actually probably make more of an effort to follow his progress if he returns to UFC now.

Rjd2 · 02-03-2015 3:55pm

Brock is awesome even if we only see him a few times a year, don't care what Vince has to do, pay the mercenary man what he wants.

gimmick · 02-03-2015 3:56pm

Poll added now as well.

ERG89 · 02-03-2015 4:39pm

Please do this again Vince, you could take him :pac: :pac: :pac: :pac:
Even he'd probably wobble Lesnar if he hit him tbf.

:P :P

Loughc · 02-03-2015 4:58pm

I can't see Lesnar signing for anyone else other than UFC. It seems the last year has been buildng up to a Reigns/Lesnar payoff with creating a new star in Reigns.

If Lesnar was to stick around I'd fear without the title they wouldn't know what to do with him.

Lesnar/Mir is there for the taking at UFC, licence to print PPV buys, where the WWE is going to struggle with Reigns at the helm. It's a good time for him to bow out.

Rjd2 · 02-03-2015 5:07pm

Yeah, love Brock, but once he loses to Reigns, what can be done with him?

Maybe a rematch but that is it really. His salary is a fortune which they may feel he does not justify especially with the Network still not a proven success, and cost cutting all over the place.

If the UFC are serious about him, they should be able to outbid the WWE for his services pretty easily.

Diabhal Beag · 02-03-2015 5:17pm

He's done it all in wrestling (again) but he hasn't made that comeback in UFC that has probably been eating at him since he got kicked in the diverticulitis by the roid monster called Alistair. He's made more money in a couple of years than most of us combined ever will and he's still be a box office draw in UFC. They won't pay WWE money though.

Mr.Nice Guy · 02-03-2015 6:34pm

briany wrote: »

Dropping the streak to Lesnar could maybe turn out to the biggest booking f*ck-up of the decade (at least) for WWE. You have to say that it was a gamble, to begin with, centering the build around a guy like Brock who isn't, and doesn't need to in any way, put up with WWE's s**t, and is mainly there for the money. I think Brock's the most believable guy they have on the roster by a very considerable distance and I had believed the news that he would be re-signing. Now, I don't know what to think. I don't wish bad on WWE but it seems like the only thing that will make them consider serious reform is being embroiled in scandal and general woe.

Yes, it could turn out to be a disaster if Lesnar and WWE part on bad terms.

If Brock leaves then it means WWE sacrificed the streak, the biggest accolade in wrestling, to a guy that used it to relaunch himself as a big time player in a rival organisation.

Add in the fact that Reigns beating Lesnar could very easily sink like a stone at the Mania show where most of the fans will likely be on his case, and the decision to end the streak to Lesnar could end up looking like a very bad judgement call with little benefit to WWE.

It would be easy to mock Vince if this happens, and perhaps it would be deserved, but the one I'd feel sorry for is Taker. The streak could have ended up as his enduring legacy in the business but might instead wind up as the enduring legacy of a guy who takes it to a different industry entirely.

Tugboats · 02-03-2015 6:50pm

No sympathy for WWE here they knew what they were doing by getting into bed with Brock

Lithium93_ · 02-03-2015 6:57pm

Brock will be gone after Wrestlemania and the post Wrestlemania Raw, he's done it all in WWE, so why would he bother hanging around, and like Loughc said a few posts prior, Lesnar/Mir is there for the taking should Brock decided to return to UFC.

briany · 02-03-2015 7:58pm

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

It would be easy to mock Vince if this happens, and perhaps it would be deserved, but the one I'd feel sorry for is Taker. The streak could have ended up as his enduring legacy in the business but might instead wind up as the enduring legacy of a guy who takes it to a different industry entirely.

I'd say 'Taker could be feeling fairly gutted, although being a true professional and company man he'd likely never show it. For me, his legacy in the business was sealed a long time ago.

There's a lot of Vince mockery about at the moment although few would likely say it to his face. According to that Muscle & Fitness article he's 69 years old, is 245 pounds of lean muscle with 5 percent body fat and benches 455, only sleeps 3 hours a day and works 7 days a week. As Scott Hall once put it, "The guy's an android" :pac:.

Now on the creative side, you could say the man's been out of touch for a very long time, since about the 90s really where he insisted on sticking to the cartoony gimmicks until WCW forced his hand. I don't believe Vince's strong point has ever been in the booking department really, but his most successful periods have always seen a great mind working underneath him from Patterson to Russo to Heyman, and even Gerwitz had his moments.

Firewalkwithme · 02-03-2015 8:03pm

Can you just imagine how bad it would be if they managed to keep him and then put him in a feud with Ryback?

briany · 02-03-2015 8:14pm

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Can you just imagine how bad it would be if they managed to keep him and then put him in a feud with Ryback?

It's a good point that the only way for Brock if he did drop the belt and stick around, two big ifs, that the only way is down. He certainly can't go up anyway and I don't know if he's that interested in going side to side and feuding with the likes of Bryan, Wyatt or HHH. I suppose if you paid him enough money he'd do the job for just about anyone but I think Brock would want to spend the last of his prime really testing his mettle which won't, and can't, happen within WWE.

I don't know if letting him fight in the UFC is that bad of an idea either. If Brock was destroying guys in the UFC, imagine how much rub it would eventually give to the guy who beat him in WWE and it may have added UFC fans following WWE PPVs that Brock is on. Of course, that's presuming Brock would be winning his fights. It could backfire if he lost and his opponent started calling himself WWE champ or something, but, shur, Vince seems to like a gamble these days...

brianregan09 · 02-03-2015 8:55pm

I'd love if Lesnar signed a new contract and absolutely battered Reigns like he did to Cena in that match last year , Can't remember which event but he german suplexed him about 20 times

Loughc · 02-03-2015 9:03pm

brianregan09 wrote: »

I'd love if Lesnar signed a new contract and absolutely battered Reigns like he did to Cena in that match last year , Can't remember which event but he german suplexed him about 20 times

Summerslam

Lithium93_ · 02-03-2015 9:03pm

brianregan09 wrote: »

I'd love if Lesnar signed a new contract and absolutely battered Reigns like he did to Cena in that match last year , Can't remember which event but he german suplexed him about 20 times

Summerslam 2014, and it was 16 german suplexes to Cena, not that i was keeping count or anything.

kronsington · 02-03-2015 9:46pm

Love Brock and the aura and mystique they've created around him. I'd like to see more from him in the ring though. He uses very few moves compared from his debut bak in 02

A Primal Nut · 03-03-2015 12:44am

According to Bryan Alvarez, there are people within WWE who believe it's a work so that the fans will think Lesnar is leaving and will boo him like they booed him and Goldberg in 2004 (and hence, cheer for Reigns).

If that's true it would backfire spectacularly. For one thing; the fans attitute towards people leaving is completely different now; look at Punk who is a hero to many fans after he stood up to WWE and walked out. Anyone who looks to be standing up to WWE is a hero these days.

briany · 03-03-2015 1:21am

A Primal Nut wrote: »

According to Bryan Alvarez, there are people within WWE who believe it's a work so that the fans will think Lesnar is leaving and will boo him like they booed him and Goldberg in 2004 (and hence, cheer for Reigns).

If that's true it would backfire spectacularly. For one thing; the fans attitute towards people leaving is completely different now; look at Punk who is a hero to many fans after he stood up to WWE and walked out. Anyone who looks to be standing up to WWE is a hero these days.

What I think is funny is with almost every big scandal or behind-the-scenes controversy in wrestling (outside of deaths) there's always the persistent theory that it's all a work, like WWE can just snap from stifling corporate banality to next level meta-booking whenever they feel like it

Tugboats · 03-03-2015 11:35am

A Primal Nut wrote: »

According to Bryan Alvarez, there are people within WWE who believe it's a work so that the fans will think Lesnar is leaving and will boo him like they booed him and Goldberg in 2004 (and hence, cheer for Reigns).

If that's true it would backfire spectacularly. For one thing; the fans attitute towards people leaving is completely different now; look at Punk who is a hero to many fans after he stood up to WWE and walked out. Anyone who looks to be standing up to WWE is a hero these days.

two different cases. I dont think the average man at a wwe event would think Brock is a hero for wanting more money to do less

nasty_crash · 03-03-2015 12:32pm

briany wrote: »

What I think is funny is with almost every big scandal or behind-the-scenes controversy in wrestling (outside of deaths) there's always the persistent theory that it's all a work, like WWE can just snap from stifling corporate banality to next level meta-booking whenever they feel like it

Everyones first thought is that its a work!! even though WWE, Vince, Trips whoever have been proven to be cut throat and very difficult to work with - and we still give them the benefit of the doubt and say oh its all a work!

Whilst alvarez theory makes sense and makes for good reading - do we really think with the weakness shown in storylines of late that WWE would have the foresight to do anything like this! Also if they were trying to sell brock leaving the details would have been more clear - aimed towards the style of the UFC - oh brock and vince had a fall out - brock left raw - why? oh he wanted a new contract - only fight 3-4 times a year and get loads of money! Get fans to turn on him to say he is lazy and money grabbin!

Instead i think brock knows that he has vince over a barrel - and he is going to try and get as much as he can from him - brock knows if he goes back to ufc he will immediately be signed up by reebok on the top tier! So vince has to give him more - or bye bye!

Personally i would love it was a work - or publicly annouced he was out of contract - a la punk - and he won at mania!

veganrun · 05-03-2015 11:52pm

Was thinking about this. It seems like WWE want to keep Brock but if they do, what are their plans? It seems like they want to push Reigns so whether Brock signs again or not, you get the feeling the belt is going to Reigns. If so, what's the plan for Lesnar then? Is there much value to him coming in a few times a year when he's not champion? Its not like Undertaker where he could show up before Mania and defend the streak. Why have Lesnar on a part time deal when he's not champion?

A Primal Nut · 06-03-2015 3:32am

You have a point in the sense that to justify his salary he needs to be in big matches, and there aren't many of those left for him. I guess he could do a rematch with Reigns and a feud with Bryan; and maybe Rollins.

Stereomaniac · 06-03-2015 3:50am

He could have a rematch with The Undertaker at any given event and people would probably scramble to see it. I know that that's something I feel should have been booked already.