Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe: A WWE Dream Match in the Making
Samoa Joe facing Brock Lesnar at WWE Great Balls of Fire is a license to print money.
Samoa Joe is going to be facing Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WWE Great Balls of Fire. This is one of the best creative decisions WWE could have made, as Lesnar finally has someone that can challenge him properly.
Lesnar’s biggest selling point over the past few years has been his legitimacy. His success in MMA made him more than just ‘another wrestler’. He proved his natural grappling skill by becoming an enormous draw for UFC. So when he returned to WWE in 2012, he was a far more dangerous of an athlete than he had ever been.
While his early booking at the time of his return was dubious at best, Lesnar still bounced back with several high-profile wins. He beat Triple H clean at SummerSlam 2012 and Extreme Rules 2013; CM Punk at SummerSlam 2013; the Big Show at both Royal Rumble 2014 and the MSG show in 2015; John Cena at SummerSlam 2014 and Royal Rumble 2015; and, most importantly, he ended the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.
However, all of these opponents had one thing in common: they lacked the legitimacy of a real fighter. The closest thing to someone with a background in legitimate fighting was CM Punk, who had Muay Thay experience. This enabled Lesnar’s match with Punk to reach a higher level of quality.
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By pairing Lesnar with someone who could be sold as a ‘more legitimate athlete’ Lesnar was capable of having a much better match than if he was someone who was simply a ‘superstar’.
Now, Lesnar has a much better opponent, one with whom he can have a dream match: Samoa Joe.
Joe is similar to Lesnar in almost every way. He’s a super-heavyweight, tough-as-nails submission expert with explosive agility and stiff striking power. He’s a multi-time champion that made a name for himself by winning in promotions around the world. He has an aura of danger about him, stemming from both his storied career and list of people he’s hurt (though not intentionally).
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Ultimately, the only real difference between Lesnar and Joe is in their physiques. But that won’t play into their upcoming match in any way, because it will be all about their skills. Lesnar and Joe will be completely even, instead of one having a clear psychological or athletic background over the other.
Both Lesnar and Joe are big men, so neither will have a power advantage. Because of this, we can expect to see Joe being one of the only people capable of suplexing Lesnar. That in itself will be something unique, because Lesnar rarely leaves his feet unless it’s of his own free will. Meanwhile, Lesnar suplexing anyone is always fun to watch, because it highlights his insane strength.
One can expect a lot of teases and reversals out of submission holds, which will make this a more dramatic match. Joe will have to find a workaround for Lesnar’s Kimura Lock, and Lesnar will have to do the same for Joe’s Coquina Clutch. As both of these moves have been elevated as dangerous moves, both guys will be bringing their A-game and will have special strategies for those moves.
Both wrestlers are also stiff strikers, based on real martial arts experience. As such, this match is likely to have one thing that’s very rare in WWE: a stiff striking contest. Because of both guys’ backgrounds, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them hitting each other as hard as possible. That in itself will be exciting as well, because WWE rarely puts two wrestlers like Joe and Lesnar together.
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Lesnar vs. Joe has the potential to be a true dream match. Lesnar finally has an opponent that not only isn’t intimidated by him, but also has both the size and the martial arts experience that make him a credible challenge for the Beast. All WWE needs to do is keep booking Joe as strongly as possible, and the end result could be one of the best ‘dream matches’ WWE have ever booked.