Brock Lesnar's potential opponents from WWE Monday Night Raw
Brock Lesnar has no equal.
The only man that’s ever truly bested him was Goldberg, and Lesnar put him away at WrestleMania 33. So WWE has once again reverted back to The Beast Incarnate before Goldberg returned; Lesnar is the invincible man once again.
But he’s also the invisible man, as Lesnar has not been seen on WWE programming in over a month. The Universal champion is sitting back biding his time, and may or may not be back in the fold as of this writing. In the meantime, fans will sit back and wait.
However, while the waiting game continues, WWE must move ahead. The company is spotlighting its other top talents on Monday Night Raw including of course Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Braun Strowman and The Miz. Each man has a tremendous upside and is a bankable main event star.
But none of them is Lesnar.
WWE has once again painted itself into a corner with its top titleholder. Brock certainly can’t be blamed for taking the best deal on the table, and that deal sees him working a very limited schedule. He’s not interested in going on the road, and that’s understandable. He’s also not too fond of being overexposed, which is completely understandable as well.
After all, he’s not a special attraction if he’s on TV every week. So WWE continues on the path of most resistance, and that resistance comes from the fans who are more than frustrated at the entire situation. It’s not as though anyone is pointing the finger at Brock; again, it’s not really his call.
But WWE evidently felt its second most important championship belonged around his waist. The only issue now becomes who could possibly take it from him? The company has already been down this road before and now the same scenario is repeating itself yet again. Lesnar is not there, and neither is his championship.
Rollins wants Lesnar in the ring. The Man believes he’s ready for round two with The Beast, and fans would surely love to see it happen. Rollins is over with the crowd, though he’s not exactly taken the top spot on Monday nights. Even defeating Triple H at ‘Mania didn’t bestow that honour on Rollins.
That fact alone is surprising enough. Hunter is a legend, and only puts guys over that move on to bigger and better things. That was true of Daniel Bryan and Reigns, both of whom went on to become WWE champion.
Of course, Rollins works on the same program as Reigns, which means he’s taking a backseat to his former Shield partner. The Big Dog is running the yard on Raw, and Strowman may be his toughest challenge to date, but Reigns will more than likely come out victorious in the end.
Reigns wants Lesnar too, and that match makes quite a bit of sense. Reigns retired The Undertaker, and Lesnar broke The Deadman’s undefeated WrestleMania streak. Reigns is unquestionably the top guy in WWE, and the company is fully behind him. He and Lesnar are bound to meet sooner than later.
But many fans believe that eventual confrontation will come much later, possibly even next year at WrestleMania 34. If that is indeed the case, then WWE will likely keep any interaction between Reigns and Lesnar to a minimum until the time is right.
What about Balor? It seems to be a mismatch on paper, mostly because of Finn’s size. But no one can deny his ability in the ring, and Balor is very accustomed to guys working stiff. New Japan’s Strong Style was a way of life for Balor, so he would be right at home in the ring with Lesnar. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before.
What’s unknown however is whether the WWE would be willing to book the match, much less put Balor over. Again, Lesnar is indestructible as he was before, so he would likely not lose his championship to Balor unless The Demon King was involved.
When Balor uses his alter ego, he goes to a different level. He would be something unique for Lesnar, a change of pace that would perhaps throw him off his game.
Of course, there’s Ambrose, who already has a loss against Lesnar. Their match at WrestleMania 32 didn’t exactly make history, though the bout wasn’t as bad as fans believed it was initially. But considering Ambrose was not happy with how the match went on Lesnar’s end, a rematch may not be in the cards.
The Miz is doing some of the best work of his career right now, and deserves a main event spot at ‘Mania. But the likelihood of it coming against Lesnar is probably very slim. Miz is very good, but the logistics of his character competing against Lesnar’s in a competitive match are impossible right now.
Miz is popular, but he’s still a heel and even if he babied out against Brock, it may not make a difference in the end.
One man that may have a real shot at beating Lesnar is not even being utilised to his full potential right now. Samoa Joe is the fan’s favourite to step into the ring against Lesnar one day.
The two men are so similar when it comes to their characters and their work ethic. The Destroyer versus The Beast Incarnate would be a main event match anywhere in the world, but WWE has made no moves in that direction thus far. If it does happen, then it would definitely be a hard-hitting, entertaining match despite who got the win.
That leaves Strowman, who has perhaps the best chance of not only taking Lesnar down but taking the Universal Championship as well. Braun’s win over Reigns at Payback was more than a little surprising, as the big man dominated Reigns through the majority of the match.
Many fans assumed Reigns would fight his way back, but he may actually lose the feud now. Strowman could be the Goldberg to Reigns’ Lesnar.
But how willing is Lesnar to do the honours to a younger guy? Lesnar has only been pinned by veterans to this point and has shown no apparent interest in losing to anyone from The New Era. WWE could definitely capitalise on the situation and strap a rocket to the back of any man that beat The Beast. But is that going to happen?
The truth is that Lesnar may hold the WWE Universal Championship until WrestleMania 34. Barring a multiple man match, there’s just no logical way he can lose it clean, or perhaps even lose it at all.
The irony is that WWE wanted the title to be important and putting it around Lesnar’s waist guarantees that. But now he’s nowhere to be found for fans to even care about it.
Lesnar has no equal, and evidently, WWE wants it that way.
Tom Clark can regularly be seen on Sportskeeda. His podcast, Tom Clark’s Main Event, is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Android, Windows Phone and online at boinkstudios.com
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