That was perfect.
Brock Lesnar vs John Cena at SummerSlam in the way that it was booked was perfect. Everybody expected a highly completive match, and when they had Brock hit the F-5, I knew what they were going with the curveball. If you think about how they’ve built Lesnar this year, anything but an absolute mauling would be a total failure in my mind. He destroyed two of the biggest guys on the roster who still have some value with little difficulty (Sorry Khali), destroyed The Undertaker, conquered the streak and and massacred a 15-time champion with EASE. To quote a poster on the /wooo/ message board, if Godzilla and King Kong had a kid, Brock Lesnar would take its lunch money at the bus stop every day.
The match was booked perfectly. Lesnar mauls Cena with suplexes, knees, and ground and pound while Cena gets his bursts of offense here and there. It’s not a long bust of offense just enough to build hope and then Lesnar shuts the door on a comeback. Wash, rinse, repeat. Cena gets his one last act of defiance with the STF but that isn’t enough to stop the monster. With the exception of the AA, Cena didn’t even knock Lesnar off his feet. I was even happy that Cena did the rare super serious entrance, which I think he’s only busted out about three times prior. The towel was stupid though.
You’re not trying to establish Lesnar as just another champion; you’re establishing Lesnar as a killer. A man who makes Iron Mike Tyson and Ronda Rousey look like the scrub who gets paid ten bucks to be a sparring partner. Lesnar is becoming the Terminator: It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. You can replace dead with beaten until the match is over, but you get the picture. Having him and Cena duke it out for twenty minutes isn’t going to accomplish that, having Lesnar destroy Cena will. Of course,
I can’t go without praising Paul Heyman who was once again masterful in motivating Brock. I also have to praise Heyman urging Charles Robinson to stop the match. The commentary too was brilliant (Puts up shield to avoid rotten produce), with each man playing their role perfectly. JBL brought the goods bringing up his experience going against both men; Lawler played the face announcer who believes that Cena still had a chance.
Lawler was basically Gorilla Monsoon (Raises shield) whenever Hogan was getting his ass kicked. Cole played the worried face announcer and it worked well with Lawler being the die-hard Cena supporter. I’d also like to believe that JBL dropped an F-bomb during the Jesus Christ part and that’s why commentary was killed off for a moment or so. They even sold the ending well, less of “We have a new champion!” and more of “Oh crap, who can stop this guy?” Also, I also have to dish out praise to little Naitch himself for doing such an effective job selling whether he should let the beating continue or stop the beating.
This is what the company needed to do after Lesnar broke the streak, destroy the last guy who might have been capable of stopping Lesnar. So know, the arc is going to be about which wrestler is going to rise to the occasion and pull of the miracle of toppling Lesnar.
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