Crockerinho

Wrestling Moderator

Well, it's been nearly 9 months since Brock Lesnar's shock departure from WWE and it has been a tough old year for both WWE and the thick necked Minnesota Viking wannabe. But having had a bit of time to reflect and things to get back to somewhere approaching normal in the world of World Wrestling Entertainment, what are your thought on Lesnar's career, such as it was and do you think he'll return?

Personally I really enjoyed the run Lesnar had. I recently rewatched some of his older matches and even then he was having great bouts - especially with RVD at Vengance. Apart from a few faltering steps after the infamous plane ride from hell when he was temporarily in the doghouse for his run in with Curt Henning and lost his undefeated streak to the Hardy Boyz in a handicap match, his push to the main event leading up to his match with the Rock at Summerslam was just fantastic. I loved all the training vignettes with Lesnar carrying the tree trunks and taking the ice baths. Of course his initial run was made even better by the prescence of Paul Heyman at his side as his agent - a gimmick they should bring in more for other talented workers with limited mic skills.

For me, post-Summerlsam Lesnar began his purple patch of career making matches. First against Undertaker, with the Hell in a Cell being a true stand out and then against the Big Show. His feud with Big Show which was briefly put on hold by a broken rib was one of the highlights of 2003 for me, with the ring imploding spot on Smackdown being WWE's greatest moment of the last 5 years.

His match with Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania XIX was the culmination of his monster push and despite his botched shooting star press attempt, certainly lived up to the hype preceding it. Had he hit that move it surely would be regarded as a classic, but instead he nearly killed himself in the process and I don;t think he was ever quite the same again. His continuing feud with Angle came to a clmiax with their Ironman Match on Smackdown, which despite being heavily booked for TV (i.e. a lot of the falls just happened to coincide with ad breaks!) was an excellent match up which saw Lesnar come out on top and earn the bragging rights.

From there he was teased to feud with Chris Benoit (which resulted in only a TV match) and perhaps this has to be regarded as one of the few big matches that Lesnar missed out on and if given another chance would be a must have for WWE along with a Lesnar vs. HHH or Lesnar vs. HBK match up. But instead he was paired with Goldberg, in something of a dream match and the first cross-promotional match to be announced for Wrestlemania XX. Feuding with Eddie Guerrero along the way, it was the rivalry with Goldberg that ended up being the overiding memory for most of the Guerrero/Lesnar feud and then as soon as he had become a genuine main eventer he was off. Not happy with the travel and not overwhelmed with a potential series with the Dead Man Undertaker (returning the jobs of 2002), Lesnar threw his toys out of his pram and left. A memorable for all the wrong reasons match up with Goldberg at Wrestlemania XX at least gave him the closure that many WWE superstars don't have, but with his faltering football career failing to fill many column inches other than in the sporting gossip columns will we see Lesnar back soon and will he be welcomed?

For me Lesnar was WWE's only genuine superstar in the post-Attitude era and was a huge loss to the company, for me, maybe even greater than Nash or Hall or Hogan because of the timing and because he was not jumping ship, rather giving up the business all together. His legacy for me will be as a phenomenal natural talent, who became a great worker and who had a number of genuinely great matches but in a very short period of time (less than 2 years!!). OK so his departure was pretty sour and as a person he is clearly rather petulant but what big-time wrestler isn't? If he decides to come back, I am sure he will be a valuable addition to the WWE roster again however it will probably be one of the toughest roads he has to travel as his welcome will no doubt not be warmly recieved. He'll also have to genuinely bust his butt to get over again and have the kind of matches he was having before as he has quite the legacy to live up to in my opinion.

Eternal Witness

i dunno if he would be that warmly received
but in past interviews he said he has mad e all the money he needs in the wwe
plus he said he wont stop til hes in the nfl so by the time he would come back if he doesnt make nfl
lets say 3 years
i think he will be old news and another razor ramone to deal with

AudioSavior

What are you talking about? I don't recall Brock being an alcoholic, drug user and criminal..

Eternal Witness

LOL
no i dont mean like that
i mean just a over his prime difficult person to deal with who will
want special treatment
i.e. in it for himself (NWO for example)

AudioSavior

He wanted special treatment because he was a drug addict and always drunk. Brock will no better then to expect special treatment and if he does come back, the other wrestlers will be quick to humble him pretty fast.

Eternal Witness

I'll beleive it if i see it IdaMAN lol

Blitzkrieg

WC Hall Of Famer

You can say what you want about Lesnar as a person, but Lesnar as a wrestler was the fuckin man. I never seen a guy that size be as quick and agile as Lesnar was. He was also a tremendous mat wrestler and was probably the most powerful guy in WWE. He had it all. I think Smackdown! really misses the guy and I miss him too. I'm sick of seeing some of these pieces of crap parade around on Smackdown! (Heidjbfdfihsaf) like there a big fuckin deal.

AudioSavior

Mike Awesome was big and very fast and could do some stuff the small guys could do which was ......awesome.

Dr. Giganto

Mike Awesome in ECW was just that...Awesome. Too bad WCW ruined him (the fat chick thriller???), and WWE put the nail in his coffin

I dont think he had the size and speed of Lesnar, however. Lesnar was something special

Knyte

Personally the first thing Brock should do, if he did come back, is beat the living crap out of Heidenrich for unsucessfully trying to steal his gimmick.

"The Fire Still Burns!!!"
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