5 Reasons Brock Lesnar’s Absence Is Best For Business

I love Brock Lesnar – I don’t think there’s a more fitting Universal Champion. I hope one day, he’s anointed Cosmic Champion. With my affinity for the man drawn, you can imagine my surprise upon hearing so many disgruntled fans moaning over another absentee title run by the Beast Incarnate.

I get it, as a fan, you want to see WWE‘s best product. You’ve had a long day and the least WWE could do is have Lesnar show up on RAW and suplex Michael Cole out of his loafers.

But Brock has more or less earned the right to do as he pleases. Look at his peers; Cena takes his leaves, Bautista is long gone and Orton, well, he may not have any other options. Point is Brock does what he wants, and in this instance, his proclivity to be gone is a great thing.

Although Brock won’t be defending his belt until WWE’s Big Flaming Ballsa …, er, Great Balls of Fire, I promise it’s best for all of us.

In fact, here are 5 reasons why this is good for us and WWE.

5. It Fights Dilution

By now, we can safely say that the brand spilt succeeded. Careers were rejuvenated, as was our attention spans. Smackdown morphed from a weekly formality to a must watch program. However, there’s been one caveat that lurks under the surface of all of this fresh optimism: Belt economy.

WWE wasted no time in manifesting our fears by introducing the ultra red Universal Championship, immediately undermining Smackdown’s WWE Championship. 

With 2 top belts, WWE found itself splitting its top trophy’s perceived power.

Perhaps nothing is more prone to overexposure than a top WWE superstar. The company’s demanding schedule and relative monopoly demand that we see a lot, likely too much of their characters. This makes us bored. And it’s too easy for boredom to shift to crankiness. Thanks, Cena.

But with Brock Lesnar as champion, there will be no overexposure. Why? Because there will be no Brock Lesnar. We won’t have to digest a weekly 15-minute diatribe by Paul Heyman. We don’t have to watch Brock Lesnar come to Raw and not wrestle. 

Yet, when Brock and Paul do show up, it’s an occasion, and in wrestling, occasions mean money. 

So, Brock, enjoy your farm, spoon with Sable, because every time you miss RAW, wrestling gets better.

4. It Enhances the Intercontinental Title

With the Universal Championship gone, it makes room for the entire roster to take one step forward. And for the Intercontinental picture, it’s more like a rocket blast.

As per this past RAW, the IC belt got the main event treatment and we all profited. Not only did the spectacular Triple Threat match between Rollins, Balor, and Miz make the Intercontinental belt look like the Hope Diamond, WWE used that platform as a catalyst for 3 new storylines – Holy Efficiency! 

3. Becuase This Makes Lesnar the ‘Boss Match’

We’ve all been thwarted by a video game. How many of us smashed controllers, burst into tears or filled our pants with shameful urine after being dominated for weeks by Bowser? 

In fact, I’d credit the little character I do have to the obsessive quest to topping several Super NES games. There’s something about stoking a waking ambition in the name of catharsis…

And all of that childhood angst is in full effect in WWE. 

The Dark Lord Brock Lesnar slipped into a portal that jettisoned him to a far away place called Saskatchewan. There, he’ll rope cattle and make love to the hottest employee of the Attitude Era.

And he must be stopped.

Lesnar gone puts palpable distance between himself and the roster. Our WWE heroes will have to climb for weeks, maybe months, just to sniff the Beast. 

But when they do finally get to go toe-to-toe, it will mean everything. 

2. Because This Formula Works (re: WrestleMania 31)

For my money, the WrestleMania 31’s main event is one of the best. Going into it, my expectations were minimal, but I was fine with that. I was going to watch Brock Lesnar disembowel Roman Reigns. I didn’t need Savage/Steamboat, I needed Lion vs. Baby Zebra.

To my surprise, and everyone else’s, we got a lot more. 

I’ll spare you the play-by-play, but the match ended with Seth Rollins getting the push of a lifetime. Becuase not only was he not Roman Reigns, but he stole the title from Brock Lesnar. 

Energy cannot be lost, only transferred, and Seth Rollins was one energized son of a bitch after WrestleMania 31.

The point is, that Brock will not be champion forever. Whoever follows him will be handed a belt buzzing with nuclear radiation. And that’s WWE’s magic trick – an illusion of perception. The next champion will be perceived as the guy that killed Cyclops. 

1.Because Brock Lesnar Transcends Kayfabe

All of that NWA fighting champion dogma gets tossed out of the window. He doesn’t need a perpetual storyline with layers and swerves. He’s just Brock.

Every time he steps into the ring, there’s the same underlying current – he could kill his opponent. Seriously, If Brock chose to act unilaterally and start hurting people, there’s nothing WWE could do about it. As frightening as that sounds, it’s really the atomic bomb of all booking mechanisms. 

You how many dark sacrifices Vince McMahon made to manifest a guy like Brock Lesnar?  He gives WWE uncharted credibility. Lesnar allows WWE to shed the stigma of being “fake.”

We can’t pretend that he wasn’t a UFC Champion. Brock Lesnar diffuses all wrestling skeptics. This guy was built to destroy things, in a different way than Braun Strowman. Essentially, Lesnar is a scientifically trained ball of violence. And for WWE to have the luxury to unleash said ball of violence, is a precious opportunity. 

[H/T Twitter / @BrockLesnar]