Welcome back to the Lab. Where we slice and dice all things pro wrestling. This is another installment of the "Lesnar Dissection". For those of you curious you can see the dissection of "Year 1" right here:
Just a reminder I am taking my scalpel to closer examine Lesnar's 3 year run since returning to the WWE the night after Wrestlemania 28. A quick overview. Lesnar came back. Crowd went crazy. F-5'd Cena. Lost the big PPV match. Broke HHH's arm. Won that big PPV match. Lost that PPV rematch at Mania… which leads us to?
The build to this saw a ramp up of some intensity. The story being Brock had made HHH tap out, at Summerslam. Hunter had KO'd Lesnar at Mania with a pedigree on the steps. Lesnar destroyed Trips office at WWE headquarters. The two brawled in a cage on Raw, too. So this is to settle it. A rubber match.
Lesnar came out first, but before he could finish entering, HHH attacked. Driving him into the cage. Hunter dominated the early going, until Brock went for a flying knee, but HHH got out of the way and Brock's knee crashed into the cage which became a focal point for the match. Brock complaining about the knee to Paul. It buckling during an F-5 attempt midway through the match. HHH hitting chop blocks, and using a chair against it… oh yeah… Paul slid a chair into the ring at the behest of the Beast. See… Brock had hit an F-5 and Hunter kicked out. So? They needed to up the ante, so to speak. Back to the action, Hunter continued to work that knee. Again I notice the crowd really isn't into this match… HHH's working of the knee and Brock's selling is great during the middle section of this match. Of course Trips locks in a figure four. Because…
Brock isn't tapping… Hunter is now punching the knee while he has the Figure Four in… BRILLIANT! Lesnar eventually turns it over. Hold gets broke. Brock gets up. Goes to climb out. Gets AAAAAALMOST there and Triple H hits the wounded knee with a chair. Ouchtown: Population, YOU, Brock. In that corner Triple H had hid a sledge up at the top of the cage. Spray painted silver! Lesnar is able to thwart that attempt and gets the sledge in HIS possession, that also goes poorly and Brock ends up in a Sharpshooter. Paul ends up in the ring trying to break it up, and eats a Pedigree! Lesnar also eats a Pedigree and kicks out at Two… PLUS! Heyman low blows Triple H. Lesnar regroups and then nails HHH with the sledgehammer. Hits the F-5 which was just a formality, and scores the pinfall. He places the sledge next to HHH for a little symbolism and limps his way to the back. Easily their best of the three matches. Good story and action throughout. From a booking standpoint I feel they leaned too much on Paul being involved physically and interfering. Heyman slammed the cage door into HHH's head, low blowed him, and was very involved in distracting HHH. Still… brought Brock's record to an even 2-2 since his return.
Brock's next match was to be one for the ages. The story starts with CM Punk and Paul Heyman. Their friendship over the years and Paul managing Punk during his 434 day reign as WWE Champion. At Money in the Bank that year, Paul Heyman turned on Punk (Side note, I was there! Four rows behind the announce table… LOOK FOR ME, in a Cesaro shirt and with a Switzerland Soccer Scarf.) So Punk fought his way through the Heyman Guy B-Team. Axel and Ryback. Working like crazy to get his hands on Paul. Eventually Paul yells "ITS CLOBBERIN' TIME", and we set off for this match at Summerslam.
Hype video for this match was amazing. The match was made No DQ, which they announced on the pre show. That's a head scratcher. Why not hype that up more? Lesnar out first. Punk out second and crowd going CRAZY. I miss "Cult of Personality" as an entrance song. Already this crowd is more live and hype than the three HHH/Lesnar matches COMBINED. Punk tries to come out firing, but gets thrown into the corner and eats shoulders and stomps. Early story was Punk trying to come out hard. Being tenacious, but it not working as Lesnar just manhandling Punk. Eventually Punk hits a big kick and a couple knees and a suicide dive to get some momentum. Punk tried to use the top half of the entrance steps, but Lesnar just shoulder tackles them into Punk… side note: WHY when a HUGE dude snatches up the ring steps the announcers freak out about "THEIR POWER AND STRENGTH", and yet Punk grabs them with relative ease and now one says a word? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical.
Punk dominates on the outside. Hits a diving clothesline off the table, and then notices Heyman. He stalks Heyman, and gets run over by the Beast for his troubles. Lesnar rag dolls Punk across the Spanish Announce Table. Then over the main table… his back hit awkwardly on one of the monitors. Brock overhead belly to belly's Punk, before this match final gets back in the ring. Lesnar clobbers. Punk tries to rally, before Lesnar snuffs it out. Punk's back is bleeding due to the early spot on the announce tables. Lesnar lots of trash talk during this match is great. Him calling himself the Best int he World, and dismissively yelling out to the crowd, "THIS IS YOUR BOY, HUH?"
This match is physical. Brock's knees to the ribs, or Punk's forearm smashes. Lesnar bear hugs Punk and I would immediately tap out at that move… not because of the pain, though I'm sure it could hurt like hell… but cuz Lesnar is so sweaty. I'd just tap out and yell "GET IT OFF ME!" Punk goes for an axe handle smash off the top. Gets caught… clearly Brock forgot his NFL training because nary a fair catch signal was made! Huge fall away slam. Punk fights out and ends up biting Lesnar. Then starts in with kicks galore. Forearms get Lesnar wobbly, and Punk hits a flying knee off the top rope. Then his trademark running high knee into the corner x2… NOPE! x3 – caught by Lesnar – but Punk hits a head kick, and the Macho Man elbow, which was really more splash than elbow. That got a 2… PLUS! Punk signals for the GTS. Lesnar gets out, hoists Punk for the F-5, but Punk gets out and hits a head kick. More great counter wrestling. As Punk again hoists him for the GTS, but Lesnar reverses THAT into the Kimura. Punk tuns that into an arm bar, and eventually gets Lesnar into a triangle. That becomes a deadlift power bomb, but Punk keeps the triangle on. SECOND deadlift, and then running power bomb. "This is Awesome" chant is well deserved. Lesnar hits the Three Amigos. Or… ya know… his version. Which is more raw brute power less smooth when rolling to keep it going.
Lesnar goes to the outside to get a chair. Punk climbs to the top rope and dives onto chair/Lesnar. That one hurt both of them. Chair then used across the brick wall that is Lesnar's back. Match back inside the ropes, Lesnar gets the chair, but then eats a low blow. Punk does a chair assisted elbow drop off the top. I was sure that was it the first time I saw it. Three Minus as Lesnar BARELY kicked out in time. Punk wears out that chair on Lesnar's back some more, UNTIL? Heyman snatches it from him. Now Punk is able to grab Heyaman, but again Lesnar makes the save. Lesnar hoists Punk up, but Punk has Heyman's tie. Which led to a great exchange between Heyman and Lesnar with Lesnar telling Paul to "LET GO!" Punk hit the GTS on Lesnar, but between Paul breaking it up and Lesnar kicking out the match CONTINUES. Punk reversed the F-5 into a DDT, and then locked in the Anaconda Vice. Heyman slid in with a chair, but is cut off. Punk punches Paul and then locks in the Vice. Paul tapping away frantically then a SUPER high velocity chair shot to Punk breaks that up. Nasty shots. Then an F-5 onto that chair puts an end to a spectacular match.
EASILY Lesnar's best match since his return. Great match. Great story. No surprise this was on many a "Year End" list that year.
So then Lesnar went away… for a while. A… LONG… WHILE. Lesnar did a couple appearances leading into Royal Rumble "dislocating" Mark Henry's elbow. Lesnar also started calling himself, or Heyman called him the #1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Anyway, back to him and Show. At the time Henry and Big Show were besties. This being Big Show's "face" season… cuz Big Show turns like the seasons. So Big Show wanted revenge for his buddy. Lesnar being physically dominated in the run ins with Show leading to:
Lesnar attacks before the bell. Takes Show down. Gets a chair, cuz what is a Lesnar match without weaponry? So he sets off in destroying Show. To give a play by play: Chair shot. Chair shot. Chair shot. Chair shot. Chair Shot. Chair shot. etc. etc. etc. Heyman actually goes to give Brock a NEW chair because the original has taken too much of a beating. Bell finally rings. Lesnar charges in for another chair shot and eats the KO Punch. Each man stumbles around on the outside. Show works the body. Crowd okay for this… clearly they were about to be crazy loud with the insanity that followed in the Rumble. Lesnar ends up F-5ing show… though it was more F-U styled. Quick match. Just a beat down squash type match. Post match Lesnar continued to destroy Show with chair shots. He breaks another chair over Big Show, and Heyman tosses him a THIRD chair. Clearly this was setting up to make Lesnar look as dangerous as possible for his Mania match.
You know I didn't know if we would get to a second Wrestlemania match with Lesnar. Clearly this second year of Lesnar has gone a lot better than the first. Going into Wrestlemania he was on a three match winning streak. Had a Match of the Year contender under his belt, and finally we were lined up to get the match that had been rumored and talked about since Lesnar and Taker crossed paths in an arena at a UFC show. The story for Taker's Mania matches have pretty much been the same for the last 6 or 7 years. "Wrestler X" wants to break the Undertaker's streak. WHAT is the "Undertaker's Streak", you ask? Going into the match the Undertaker had never been defeated at Wrestlemania. He was 21-0. As impressive as that is… that they never had him lose a random match? What's MORE impressive is the Deadman's longevity. This would be his 22nd appearance at the Grandaddy of them all. When it would take 14 Mania's without a Taker appearance to be able to say "Taker appeared at half of all Wrestlemanias?" That's saying something.
Ultimately Lesnar and Heyman were moving forward saying that Lesnar was the Number One Contender. McMahonagement was like, sorry Brock. Here you can have a contract for a match of ANYONE of your choosing. Brock and Heyman were very sad panda'd about this. So they were content to not fight at Mania, but Taker returned. Choke slammed him through a table and boom.
Hype video for this match was stellar, but if there is ONE Thing the WWE does consistently well its these video packages. Heyman saying "He IS the �ONE'"… "All good things DO come to an END." He's more prophet than advocate there. JBL actually mentioned Lesnar's IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Can't remember THAT One being mentioned before.
Entrances end… man that was LLLLLLONG. I love Taker's entrance, but that one felt so long. Brawling to begin. Lesnar overhead belly to belly's the Deadman. Brock clothesline Taker over the top rope, but Taker lands on his feet. Little more brawling. Taker focusing on Brock's shoulder. Slow start with Taker controlling. VINTAGE leg drop on the apron! [/Michael Cole] Snake eyes. Taker goes for a chokeslam, but Lesnar gets out, hoists for the F-5. Taker gets out. Taker misses a running big boot into the corner, and gets hung up on the top rope. Giving Lesnar a body part to work. I notice the crowd is pretty dead for this. I'm guessing its because everyone thought this was a foregone conclusion. Lesnar dominates this for a while. Methodical destruction. Taker turns the tide with a big DDT. He gets rolling. Big running corner splash. Snake eyes. Big Boot. Taker calling for the chokeslam. GREAT chokeslam. Lesnar jumped outta his shoes on that one. TWO… PLUS!
Taker goes for the Tombstone… Brock out F-5! Taker kicks out. Brock stares in disbelief. Crowd starts to come to life. Taker can't get up, but lures in Lesnar and locks in the Hell's Gate. Deadlift power bomb. Not a full lift, but Taker is a big dude. Still impressive. Back to the Hell's Gate. ANOTHER deadlift power bomb. This one Lesnar gets him up. JBL makes a good point. Taker has been on his back for five minutes of this match. Locked in two Hell's Gates, but hasn't been off the mat. Lesnar locks in the kimura. Taker reverses it and locks in a kimura of his own. They battle in the corner after the ring break. Taker goes for old school. Lesnar pulls him down onto his shoulder. F-5… the sequel! Taker kicks out. Lesnar goes into German mode. Hits two. Mounted punches in the corner for Lesnar means Brock is about to go for a LAST RIDE! Taker collapses. Rewatching this Taker legit looks out of it. Tombstone! Cross armed cover… THREE – MINUS!!! Taker sits up. Crowd meekly reacts. Signals for another Tombstone. Hoists him, Lesnar counters that, and gets Taker into F-5 position. That was impressive. Lets make it F-5 the trilogy! And… cue… THIS:
Crowd was stunned. Total disbelief, then grumbling. Booing. A decent "bullshit" chant. No ONE saw this coming. Match was affected by Taker's concussion. It was good, not great, but that finish was so memorable. Also the first match that wasn't filled with weapons or Paul running in, or distracting. The huge standing ovation at the end was touching. Legit concern for if this was the Undertaker's last match especially as the reports filed in about him spending the night in the hospital. Whether or not the finish was called on the fly. Even the ref count felt weird when I watched it live. Watching it THIS time, it was normal. They just booked it so there was no reaction. Bell didn't ring, Brock's music didn't start. They even took a few beats before announcing a winner. They sold the shock so well people at first were thinking someone screwed up. But the production with the crowd shots right after, and the graphic say otherwise.
In Review!
What a difference a year makes. Year one saw Brock's return and was super underwhelming. Year two? Whoa. The best of the Brock vs. Triple H trilogy. A Match of the Year contender with CM Punk at Summerslam. A pretty forgetful, throw away "match" with Big Show, which served its final purpose which was building up to a huge clash against the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. I can't imagine many people were up on thinking Lesnar would end the streak. Hell… I can't recall anyone thinking Lesnar hand any kind of shot. He capped this year in the WWE with a win that trumps any WWE World Championship win. He did something no one thought would happen and most didn't want to happen. The WWE really solidified Lesnar in this campaign. They had a plan for him. They built him well and executed that incredibly well. He was able to put on memorable matches and really cemented himself. I was very on the fence about him returning. I'm not a fan of the part timers. Even if its a "heavier" schedule like Lesnar does, than say when the Rock was around leading into Mania 29. This year helped bring me around. At the very least you have the opportunity to book enthralling matches and have this once in a generation attraction. A legitimate fighter and a great pro wrestler who really found his groove melding those worlds together during this year. They course corrected after year one and came out with a bigger star and box office draw. I look forward to taking a look to his third year. Where we know he had bigger and better things in store!
Scalpels down.
…To Be…CONCLUDED!
