For the last two years, when the subject of modern wrestling is brought up, noted legend (and WWE stockholder) Terry Funk would almost always bring up that pro wrestling needs a Johnny Valentine.
Old-timers, like the Funks, Jack Brisco, and the other top guys of the early 70s all ranked the father of Greg Valentine as one of the five best men they were ever in the ring with, and when you consider how many different people those
men were in the ring with touring in a business that employed tons more talent, thats quite the praise.
Valentines philosophy was, I cant make them think wrestling is real, but I sure can make them think Im real.
Terry Funk got his wish a few weeks back when WWE signed Brock Lesnar. Sure, Lesnar had a run as a top guy in pro wrestling, youngest world champion in WWE history at the time, but he gained far more stardom as UFC champion, enough that he could command more than five times the money for less than one-tenth of the dates than he could the last time he and WWE were in negotiations and WWE thought they had a deal about five years ago.
A lot has come out of Extreme Rules and the decision to beat Lesnar in his first PPV match. Perhaps itll be something, like the WCW Invasion angle or Eric Bischoffs shocking debut on Raw where the first thing he did was hug Vince McMahon, pissing away what would have been the most elementary and obvious feud. For all the success WWE has had in wrestling, two of the things on Vince McMahons track record is that he usually doesnt do well in outside businesses, and he sucks when it comes to angles that the real world has handed him as gimmees as opposed to ones he came up with on his own. Still, in his mentality, this should not have fallen into that category. In McMahons mind, he made Lesnar, and to a degree, he did, even if he got bigger when he left.
And the promotion of Lesnar was perfect. He was portrayed as something very different from any other wrestler to come along. Unlike Ken Shamrock, a UFC star of another era who they trained to be a pro wrestler, Lesnar came in as a pro wrestler turned UFC fighter who was brought back as a UFC fighter in pro wrestling. He got his sponsors, his board shorts, and with a most willing dance partner, John Cena, got to bust people up legitimately in a way that nobody in WWE has ever been allowed to do, let alone encouraged to do.
In return, Cena may have found a way to be cheered in a way that television and PPV crowds have stopped doing for him for years. The adult male demo, that hated him for whatever reason you choose, were taken for an emotional ride to the point they were probably cheering him without even fully understanding why. But Cena, with his millions in the bank, and millions more to come, at 35 years old, was willing to be busted up to make his new foe into a different level threat.
One can question Cena then beating Lesnar in his first match in all day long, particularly since the match was absolutely perfect, until the finish, in making Lesnar into that something special and different. Cena vs. Lesnar had a level of suspension of disbelief that no WWE match has had in years, not even the Cena vs. Punk match came close. Its not something you can replicate, because if you did, youd have no wrestlers left to perform very quickly. Lesnar knocked Cena silly and busted him open right away with hard elbows to the forehead. Cena was covered in his own blood, a level of bloodletting unfamiliar in the modern WWE. Lesnar came in to a level of cheers that almost nobody short of Hulk Hogan or The Rock would get a few weeks ago, but now he was a heel the level that nobody had been in a WWE ring dating back to the days it was WWWF. He had completely replicated the UFC Brock Lesnar who talked into Las Vegas against Frank Mir and Randy Couture, where he represented an affront to the religion of an audience that thought their guys were real and he was fake, except the scariest thing of all, is that very quickly they realized he wasnt. And it happened again.
If UFC could script outcomes, and Lesnar wasnt so difficult to work with, hed have been champion, dominated for so long there would be a natural babyface turn, and eventually lose when it was the right time, after a several year run, to the right guy, and the one loss alone, like when Sammartino lost to Graham, would keep business strong. But they cant. WWE can.
But the truth is, the decision can be argued. The argument is this. What is Lesnar here for? Many years back, when Vince McMahon was negotiating for Lennox Lewis, the boxing champion, to face Lesnar, his hope to be the next big star, you could make an argument that for money, Lewis winning and then Lesnar coming back to beat him later would mean more. But nobody thought of it that way. The match fell through because Lewis realized Lesnar was more real than he was looking for, wanted a bunch of rule changes, and it became an unbookable match. The only thought, and this match was going to be a shoot, is that our guy who isnt as big a star, beats the guy who is a bigger star, and gets credibility for it.
Some people thought McMahon was paying Lesnar all that money to do something stars were aligned for with Cena, HHH, Undertaker, The Rock and Steve Austin all potential big money matches. Run through several of them, become the hottest heel theyve ever had, and then lose at WrestleMania.
Instead, the mentality was that we spent tons of money on this guy who has credibility and can garner attention, and how can we best use him to get our guys over. Well, come across as a threat, beat the holy shit out of him, and then our guy makes the comeback and beats him. First time.
The decision to put Cena over at Extreme Rules in Chicagos All-State Arena on 4/29 was made probably before the match was announced. Lesnar was told at least two weeks ahead of time. Hes made it clear that hes about the money, not the ego, and if they want him to lose, he has no problem with it as long as they play fair with him. Does that mean hell make tons of demands and be high maintenance? Well, hes still Brock Lesnar. When that segment on Raw that ended the 4/23 show where Lesnar was making all the demands of John Laurinaitis was airing, I was thinking of people in UFC, because that was way too close to real life. Granted, the live audience didnt get that and many were bored. The segment did play into the angle setting up presumably his next match with HHH, so in hindsight, it was part of a logical story. And today, we should be thankful for that because its the exception in modern booking rather than the rule.
Coming off the high of WrestleMania, and the natural post-Mania drop, Lesnar was the perfect direction to go with. They went from the glib entertaining charismatic foe for Cena to the scary ass kicker, who can give the vibe of being real.
Should Cena have been first, because the build and the anticipation is the real money and the capture is the end of the story and the segway to start a new story? Should Cena vs. Lesnar have been at SummerSlam if it was going first? Should Lesnar have won the first win setting up Cena getting his win in a year? All very valid questions.
But Vince was thinking differently. And its not unheard of. The Johnny Valentine of the next generation was Bruiser Brody. Brody had a very unique philosophy, which included throwing stiff kicksnot every timebut when the audience had its guard down, and thus would be shocked. Work a few, they think theyre seeing a fake pro wrestling match, and wham, all of a sudden the entire building changes. They think its a fight. Its far more difficult to do that today. But Lesnar showed in the Cena match that its not impossible. But unfortunately, the level Brody had to go was enough that guys would be banged up, but they could work the next day, and the day after. To do that today, yes, its possible, but there are health concerns in the process. And lets face it, Undertaker, Austin and The Rock are not letting this guy bust them up with shoot elbows and put his body and most of his power into knocking the wind out of them with a hard knee to the body. Still, Lesnar did bring a new dynamic and just coming out, he brings something out of the crowd that no heel has done in the company in recent times.
How much it could have been worth is something well never know, just how well never know what would have happened had Vince followed his original vision in 2001 after buying WCW, and the Tacoma crowd didnt cause him to do a 180. PPV numbers, both here and at SummerSlam should give us an idea. Our poll of people who purchased the PPV, after the Lesnar loss, had 23% saying they were not buying another PPV. 11% more said they probably would not buy another but its not impossible to change their minds. 14% more said they would buy SummerSlam if he headlines, but not another B show. 19% buy WWE PPVs all the time, Lesnar or not. Another 19% would consider buying another show based on Lesnar headlining, but it would depend on the build. And another 15% said they would definitely buy the next show Lesnar headlines.
That would appear to be SummerSlam, against HHH, based on an angle shot the next day in Dayton where Lesnar used a Kimura, given that name instead of its pro wrestling term, the double wristlock, to break the arm of HHH in storyline. Because Lesnar used so many of his limited dates (five already in the first month), hes probably going to be around sparingly if at all. It would make sense from here to go with Lesnar vs. HHH, and since HHH is largely retired, to give Lesnar a big win to start building him for a match with Rock, Austin or Undertaker at Mania. According to those close to the situation, it was made clear to Lesnar and Cena that this was a one match program, Cena gets his win, because that story of the babyface taking the ungodly beating and coming back to win has been told. Maybe it could have been months long, or a year long, and more money could have been drawn, but they felt that in real life, as opposed to storyline, Lesnar could leave at any time. They felt needed their top guy getting the win first time out to make sure it happened. They werent in the business of booking multiple Lesnar vs. Cena matches. They decided to only do one. And Cena probably is the guy who should beat Lesnar, but it also should have been at the end of the run, not the beginning. But you do have the New Japan example, where Lesnar was brought in, beat everyone and was to lose the IWGP title to Hiroshi Tanahashi. And instead, that never happened. In fairness to Lesnar, they cut his pay before the match so he decided not to return for less money than the original deal. But business wise, thats the same Lesnar but a completely different game. This Lesnar after being UFC champion is multiple times the star of the New Japan version. And hes also making even more multiple times the money, which is a factor that makes it a lot less likely hell bail ahead of time.
Last years Extreme Rules show did 108,000 domestic buys. Given that aside from Mania, the general trend is down, a base show without Lesnar would have probably doing in the 98,000 range. If Lesnar vs. Cena means as much as C.M. Punks threatening to quit and promo work, they hit 146,000. If its more, and it should be by a lot, and needs to be given what they are paying him, then Lesnars first time in had substantial drawing power. The thing is, the more added people Lesnar drew, the more they did hurt themselves having him lose. If this shows up and does 200,000, hes got some huge drawing power because Rock couldnt do that at Survivor Series and Punk couldnt do that with one of the best angles WWE has done in years. If that happens, unless SummerSlam comes in and hits a very sizable increase from last year, then most likely the loss will have hurt. But if it does in the 130,000 range, while he would have drawn some extra fans, its not a ton extra, so hes likely not drawing a ton extra at SummerSlam, whether he won or lost.
Our poll numbers were way up, but thats to be expected. This kind of an angle hits our audience far more than the mainstream, just like the Punk angle did. Our numbers were 5% lower than for Punk vs. Cena last year, but I dont read anything into that. Punk has never made a difference in a PPV number since, and he was put over. With Lesnar, there are so many dynamics in play.
But Vinces attitude is not unprecedented, harkening back to Brody. Antonio Inoki always wanted to beat Brody from day one which led to all sorts of problems and eventually the relationship falling apart even though Brody was making ridiculous money based on that era. But thats how Inoki did business.
In arguably New Japans biggest angle of its history, when the world champion shooter Nobuhiko Takada (amazing how much perceptions can change when reality interjects with fake reality) faced world champion Keiji Muto at the Tokyo Dome, doing at the time the biggest gate in history (and still among the biggest for pro wrestling), New Japan made the call that their guy won the first time. A lot of people argued with that, but wrestling was hot enough at the time and Takada was over enough that they got two more Dome sellouts. Takada won the title in the rematch, and then Shinya Hashimoto represented the home team and won the companys world title back.
But years later, in a similar situationthe first All Japan vs. New Japan singles main event, Toshiaki Kawada vs. Kensuke Sasaki, New Japan put the outsider over. In doing so, they got a sellout the second time as well. But after Sasaki went over in the rematch, Kawada was never anywhere close to the level of a draw for New Japan again.
But uncertainty was another issue. In Memphis, when Jerry Lawler was top dog and would face a newcomer for a long program, hed almost always lose the first time, sometimes the second time, but talk people into coming back and in the end hed get his win. But with Brody, because of the uncertainty of how long Brody would stay, when he went to Memphis, they really pushed for Brody to lose right away. As it turned out, I dont even know that they ever had a singles match. If they did, the whole program only lasted a few weeks and nobody ever beat the other so from a storytelling standpoint it didnt have strong beginning or ending because Brody wasnt going to lose because of Japan, and for Lawler, except for the uniqueness of having him in some tags, they couldnt do a singles program for that reason.
The match itself was phenomenal, but again, its a one-time thing that really couldnt be duplicated. My thought going in was that the key to this match was to build Lesnar for bigger money matches, which means not risking a long match, and having him go over strong. It was worked perfectly, and not only that, was such a great match without hurting Lesnar at all, at least in the body of the match, that going long was not just to the benefit of the match, but would have been to the benefit of long-term business. The finish is what it was. They had their reasons for the call. It was the wrong call for long-term business if Lesnar was staying long enough to get a few wins and build for a meaningful loss at the end. If Lesnar is gone before SummerSlam, its the right call.
And just after the match ended, something happened. This is the description. Lesnar was furious and making a scene. During the match, in the latter stages, Lesnar did a springboard flying clothesline to Cena, and inadvertently, he flew over the top rope with Cena, which was not his plan. He landed awkwardly on his leg, and at first appeared to blow out his knee. Apparently he was okay, because after getting an oh shit look on his face, he limped a few steps, then kept going and stopped limping. After the match he was complaining that Cena pulled down the rope, which caused him to fly over the top, and nearly blow out his knee.
In addition, when he was given the finish, he was told he was being protected because he was destroying Cena, that Cena would get the win, collapse, and have to be helped out of the ring and left for dead. Instead, Cena did a weird promo that based on what we were told, he was not authorized to do. Everyone backstage, including Vince McMahon either had no idea what he was doing (and it was not in the script for the show), or maybe Vince knew and was pretending. But given how it turned out, Id bet on the former. In the interview, Cena talked about how much he gave for the match, and he did, how he was now going on vacation for a while. He talked about how everyone in WWE, good guys, bad guys, big guys and small guys, do everything they can to entertain you people. He said he was proud he could have a match like this in Chicago, and that if hes leaving for a while, he wouldnt want to have gone out any other way.
Then he was back on TV the next day, and announced as being the main event of the next PPV show, the 5/20 Over the Limit show in Raleigh that features Cena vs. John Laurinaitis, C.M. Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE title and while not announced yet, the plan was also for Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio for the world title.
Lesnar complained that he was double-crossed, said he was quitting and when Mark Carrano (who works under Laurinaitis in the Talent Relations department) tried to calm him down, Lesnar reportedly told him to do what the old DX catch phrase was, but not in comedic terms.
As far as what is and isnt legit, everyone will interpret their own way. Carrano was said to be giving orders to Lesnar at that moment, and Lesnar was very mad about a lot of different things that happened and that the only time he came even close to wanting to quit was all due to how Carrano acted around him. Even those who insist the Lesnar quitting was a partial work say Carrano was not part of it and Lesnar was ready to quit over him. But that had nothing to do with what happened in the ring. Another person said Lesnar wasnt mad or felt double-crossed on the promo in reality life, but he was legitimately upset over a number of things that happened during the match. But any talk of quitting past the Carrano deal was just to play into the angle that was supposed to happen. But that ended up being tweaked, as he never quit on the show. Instead, after breaking HHHs arm in storyline, the only thing said is he was kicked out of the building by security. Announcer Michael Cole said that he was almost surely being fired, which is carny for tune in next week and see how they get out of it but hell be back for the grudge match.
Others have said both Cena and Lesnar were knocked silly from stiffing each other in the match, and Cenas weird promo may have been because he was on auto pilot by that point in time from all the shots to the head during the match. Lesnar took a Cena chain shot that was hard enough to legitimately bust him open hard way to set up the finish.
