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Post by pikemojo on Apr 3, 2012 12:07:25 GMT -5
I just saw that WWE had tweeted that Lesnar arrived in the building an hour before he walked out on stage. They aren't even trying to surprise people. They might as well have just sent out a press release that Lesnar will show up at the end of Raw.
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Post by swarm on Apr 7, 2012 11:35:18 GMT -5
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Post by payback on Apr 7, 2012 13:50:33 GMT -5
I just saw that WWE had tweeted that Lesnar arrived in the building an hour before he walked out on stage. They aren't even trying to surprise people. They might as well have just sent out a press release that Lesnar will show up at the end of Raw. This just means they're trying to get as many people to follow them on twitter as possible so their "social media score" goes up. The fact that this is even an issue is very depressing. I'm so glad I'll never be on twitter or care about anything that goes on on twitter. I like being surprised that's why I rarely ever read spoilers and things like that. So much more enjoyable for me. If people wanna get wrapped up in twitter and stuff like that, suit yourself, but I'm not one of those people. Great vid posted by Swarm. Brock was/is a genetic freak! So cool to see him back in the WWE. |
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Post by Shon Maxx on Apr 7, 2012 17:52:44 GMT -5
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Post by LWPD on Apr 12, 2012 19:17:17 GMT -5
The latest issue of the Wrestling Observer has an interesting overview on the return of Brock Lesnar to WWE. An important point Meltzer drives home is the fact that Brock has publicly stated countless time that he couldn't care less about pro wrestling. His past actions reflect that. When the money and the miles don't make sense to him, he'll likely bail on WWE just as quickly as he did the first time. I'm sure Vince knows what he's getting with this guy, and will play it accordingly. A pure mercenary headliner, 'highest bid/lowest level of discomfort'. This is the honeymoon phase, it'll be interesting to see how the Lesnar experiment works out in the long run.
Courtesy of Wrestling Observer
Brock Lesnar has his first match in a WWE ring in more than eight years as the main event of the 4/29 Extreme Rules show in Chicago against John Cena. The match seemed inevitable from the angle shot at the end of the 4/2 show. The date, which also seemed inevitable last week, raises a lot of questions. The big one is if WWE can market Lesnar as a consistent mover of business, something that nobody truly has been in the company since Batista’s brief run as a mover in 2005, which really only lasted through his program with HHH.
There is no tie to Chicago, WWE, childhood dreams of the crowd going crazy in MSG or in his home city. As noted last week, Lesnar is the first pure mercenary main eventer WWE has had. There is nothing wrong with it. He’s in for business. It’s a profession he can make a lot of money in for a short period of time. Historically, WWE is in it for business, while its wrestlers are in it for emotion, ego, business and dreams, all in varying degrees. In a sense, it’s the first main event business relationship with a relatively even emotional playing field.
It’s impossible to predict how the Lesnar experiment will work out in the long run. It’s a big money investment. It’s not C.M. Punk who if he sells some merchandise but doesn’t move PPV, TV or house show numbers, and becomes one of the two or three biggest stars among the full-time regulars, that he is a big success for the company and for himself. Here, with the limited dates, and bigger guarantee, Lesnar has to be a different kind of over. The kind of over that Rock was at WrestleMania this year and last, that Batista was at WrestleMania XI, the kind Steve Austin and The Rock were during the boom period from 1998 to 2001. Will he be? He’s got certain things going for him. He’s got a name that is huge. He’s got a certain physical charisma or being a badass, that his UFC losses don’t seem to have hurt (just like how many losses Chuck Liddell survived and could still draw) past a few people who still try to cling to the belief that run was a failure. But we don’t know.
What we do know is that for all the reaction Lesnar got for his “surprise” return, it meant nothing in the ratings. The 4/9 Raw did a 3.10 rating and the 4.29 million viewers was the lowest for a Raw episode since 2/13, before Rock returned. The bad thing of the rating was that one would have thought Lesnar giving Cena the F-5 to end the show the previous week would have created double curiosity, first, people curious about Lesnar, and others curious about where they were going for Lesnar. Ratings and drawing power are different animals and this doesn’t mean Lesnar won’t draw on PPV, but if in week one he meant nothing for ratings, that was a bad sign. The first quarter, which would be expected to be large even if there was any short-term curiosity, plus Lesnar was featured in the quarter in a big brawl with Cena, only did a 3.11. What this seems to indicate is whatever major fan base that drew ratings (Lesnar shows, with the exception of Ultimate Fighter, did far higher ratings than anyone else during his UFC run except for the Jackson vs. Evans Countdown numbers) and PPV for him in UFC was either people who were wrestling fans who already watched Raw, or wrestling fans who had lost interest in wrestling and didn’t care to see him on Raw. Normally one week ratings is nothing to make a fuss over, but that first quarter, and the overall show, had to be a huge disappointment on a lot of levels, doing the lowest rating in two months for a show that followed the highest rating of the year and was considered by many as the best episode of Raw of the year. It was also on a night with no sports competition whatsoever.
The best bet is that his first major match on PPV, and his WrestleMania match, are the two bouts that have the most potential. With Cena, they gave him the right opponent for a first blow out match. Putting it on Extreme Rules, it appears they put it on the wrong show. That is, unless they can do what Punk vs. Cena with a great build up and the right match on that day, Austin’s return on the wrong show with the wrong opponent, and Rock’s return on the wrong show with the wrong match, all couldn’t do.
Nobody knows what Lesnar will do in the long-run, including most likely Lesnar. He may like an easy schedule and big money, and draw like crazy, and stay for years. He may do 100,000 buys on his third or fourth PPV in because it’s just what happens in today’s PPV environment of going monthly. He may have a run in between, and after a year, both sides fulfilled their end and the relationship ends, although that one is rarely how wrestling relationships end.
Or, because they present his character in a way that he’s just a guy on a television show as opposed to something different from anyone else. At that point, then WWE will question if he’s worth it and who knows where that tension goes. There are so many things that can go right, and wrong here. If the big storyline heat is on Laurinaitis as the heel authority figure, and Lesnar is just his paid assassin, Lesnar can leave at any time and the key storyline keeps going. The upside isn’t nearly as big, but you also don’t get caught in a lurch if he gets hurt or decides to go home.
The company’s original doctrine of not mentioning UFC was changed, and it was for the better. It felt forced and fake to have Lesnar on TV, and skirt around the UFC mentions, particularly his being heavyweight champion. He did an interview, acknowledging his leaving, going to UFC, bringing that company to new levels, and then Laurinaitis bringing him back. It would have been better if he had a reason he wanted to come back, even hinting at something (which could be his Mania tease) that would play into the future. But he doesn’t have to do that week one. His interview late in the show didn’t compromise the character, which is probably the most important aspect if it is possible this can be a real difference maker. It is very possible that even doing everything perfectly, that it’s pro wrestling in 2012 and that emotion won’t work as far as money (it will work as far as to the people who are there, as Lesnar’s appearances, reactions, and even the reaction to his saying UFC all showed, but the money is in broadening that audience, not servicing the audience already there).
At the end of the day, it’s still another show built at portraying Lesnar as a heel by affiliating him with the evil boss, and Cena as the face. The biggest money would be Cena representing WWE, and even the heel boss being on his side against the unstoppable and scary force who isn’t supposed to be there and that nobody is confident in anyone to stop. But for reasons already given, that wasn’t going to be the portrayal.
But, in Chicago, Lesnar is still likely to be the one cheered like crazy and Cena booed out of the building, unless you have a match involving lots of shenanigans from Laurinaitis. But if you have that match storyline, you’re risking killing off the emotion that is supposed to be the key in Lesnar drawing money in the first place.
The most notable thing is, and it shouldn’t happen for a number of months, because you really need to get the mileage out of the potential money opponents, but long-term, Lesnar is a babyface. Quite frankly, if he wanted to live the life, and he doesn’t, he’s the babyface that they’ve been missing for years. The same thing he was going to end up as in UFC if he could have continued to win at the high level, just as Wanderlei Silva and Mirko Cro Cop ended up being in Japan. The beauty of WWE is that when you have that guy, he can be there for years, and you can protect him and you aren’t limited by reality in what stories you can tell. The bad is that with a unique character, the lack of understanding of the character and what things in storyline need to be avoided, often those hampered by reality are actually blessed by it. Ultimately, in a year or two, that comparison will be able to be made at the highest level.
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Post by pikemojo on Apr 16, 2012 14:57:02 GMT -5
Looks like Brock is bringing sponsorships to WWE too. There are some pics going around showing his new ring gear which is basically his MMA shorts. This would also explain why he hasn't taken off his sponsor filled shirt on tv yet.
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Post by Mr. Jimmyface on Apr 16, 2012 20:39:10 GMT -5
Can't wait for the interview tonight. Getting him back in the fold was a great move, and I have to admit, I was wrong. I thought he would be better off staying in MMA, but I've been proven wrong.
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