YOU WILL HAVE TO FORGIVE ME FOR BEING QUITE CYNICAL ON THIS ONE.
Where do I begin? Most people know how I feel about Brock Lesnar and part-timers in general. They should be nowhere near the titles. Brock Lesnar has held the Universal Championship for 93+ days. He hasn’t defended it once and that irks me.
I always thought there was a rule that the Champion had to defend his title at least once every 30 days or else he would be stripped of it? I guess not! As much as I enjoyed seeing Goldberg back, the Universal title match should have been between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. They carried RAW for a long time and I felt Jericho deserved it. Lesnar/Goldberg was a huge draw, their match was bigger than the belt.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Brock. He’s a great worker and he puts asses in seats. You won’t ever see another guy like Lesnar and that is a fact. He’s a freak of nature and one hell of a draw. My problem with Lesnar as a Champion is, his contract.
The fact he can go weeks without showing up on RAW is just wrong. It’s the flagship show. So much so, they decimated the SmackDown Live roster and took the majority of their talent to try to boost RAW’s ratings. The returning John Cena has also been described as a “free agent” meaning he can also appear on RAW to boost the ratings as well as SmackDown Live. Lesnar shouldn’t get a free pass. We shouldn’t get excited that the Universal Champion is making an appearance on RAW for the first time in 3-4 weeks, he should always be there!
The RAW roster is looking very strong right now and the reality is, Brock Lesnar is going to demolish every single one of them, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Paul Heyman said that Brock Lesnar was going to put his mark on the Universal Championship and make it “his own”.
Kevin Owens’ reign ended at 189 days. Brock is at 93 days and not one title defence. The way I see it, Lesnar is going to plow through everybody from Finn Bálor to Roman Reigns. I genuinely believe Lesnar could hold the title until WrestleMania 34 and ultimately drop it to Reigns in what will be dubbed “Conqueror v Conqueror”.
It looks as though they could face off earlier than expected with Reigns demanding a title match with whoever comes out on top between Brock and Joe. I don’t feel Lesnar is done by a long shot. Lesnar/Reigns is imminent.
I’m hoping after Great Balls of Fire we will actually see Brock at every single Pay-per-view RAW has to offer because he needs to be there. There is no real excuse. Gone are the days when all titles should be defended at every Pay-per-view. The Miz can hold the Intercontinental belt and take time off and do a film. Brock can relax and say he doesn’t fancy it. It’s not fair on the fans. If we can see Brock more often and tearing through the roster. I think that’s something I could get behind.
So, next Sunday, 9th July. Brock Lesnar will take on the Samoan Submission Specialist that is Samoa Joe. This is going to be an absolute blockbuster of a match but Lesnar emerging victorious seems obvious. It’s his first title defence, I can’t see him losing.
That being said, they have done a fantastic job at building up Samoa Joe and making him look a real problem. It would be a hell of an upset and though it does seem obvious Lesnar will prevail, Joe is looking a serious threat. The segment between them on June 26 on RAW was perfect.
What I liked most about this segment was, they have elevated Joe to be Lesnar’s equal. Equally as physical, equally as dominant. Brock is portrayed to look untouchable and Joe caught him off guard and made him pay. Albeit he attacked Lesnar from behind. He asserted dominance with his signature Coquina Clutch, there was a real sense of vulnerability and desperation from The Beast. We have never seen Lesnar look this vulnerable before. The feud with Goldberg was too limited to be described as “dominance”.
On the following episode of RAW, July 3. Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar exchanged words in a segment that took place as a split-screen interview. I was pleasantly surprised to actually hear Brock’s voice as he began to trash talk Joe and remind him who the champ was. Joe retorted and threatened that he had been choking out the best for almost 20 years. A goading Lesnar and smug Paul Heyman continued to rattle the Samoan. The time for talk was over. Joe stormed off set to try and find The Beast Incarnate only to be stopped and dragged away by security.
This match needs to be 10-15 minutes of carnage. It’s going to be a war zone. Fans have been crying out for a match like this. A lot of people are asking the question “Could Joe do it?” You know my answer….I don’t think Joe can win but it’s going to be exciting and a hell of a show. I think they’ve done a tremendous job building Joe up and I cannot wait to see this! After everything we have seen, it’s key they don’t make Joe look weak and he is equally as brutal and vicious as we know Brock will be. After 93 days of holding the title, Lesnar is FINALLY back to defend it.. And he’s just getting started!
(from Edd Talks Wrestling)