The feud between Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman is a story about the one opponent the Universal Champion cannot defeat.
In the world of sports entertainment, well-crafted storylines work best when they are relatable. The one characteristic we have in common with every professional wrestler is that we all age. This natural phenomenon can actually be comforting as we watch our favorite superstars grow old right alongside us because if nothing else, we are reminded that even superior athletes succumb to the ravages of time.
This is true even for a Beast. For the first time in a long time, Brock Lesnar looks legitimately vulnerable. I don’t include his recent feud with Goldberg because those matches were more about cashing in on the nostalgia of Goldberg’s short-lived return and to a greater extent, the WWE 2K17 video game in which Lesnar adorned the cover and Goldberg was a preorder bonus.
I take nothing away from Goldberg as an athlete and a competitor but he was put over Lesnar time and again in trying to replace the awful memory many fans had of their first match at WrestleMania XX back in 2004. Goldberg’s squash victory over Lesnar at Survivor Series in 2016 was the Beast Incarnate’s first loss in almost 3 years and served its purpose of drumming up excitement for the inevitable rematch at WrestleMania 33 but wasn’t trying to tell a meaningful story beyond that.
This is different.
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The Lesnar/Goldberg feud proved that age is irrelevant to the outcomes of professional wrestling matches but it can work as a reality-based issue within the confines of a storyline. Brock Lesnar is 40 years old and Braun Strowman is 34 so no matter how big of a Lesnar fan you may be, the Beast Incarnate is the past and the Monster Among Men is the future. This is a story told time and again, with seasoned veterans scrapping against young, hungry upstarts, one fighting to stay on top and the other fighting their way up. That is the way of things, both in sports and in life.
When these two men meet at No Mercy on September 24th, I predict Lesnar will win even though I don’t think he should. I believe Vince McMahon still wants Roman Reigns to be the next man to dethrone Lesnar and he wants it to happen at WrestleMania 34. By putting Lesnar over a seemingly unstoppable challenger such as Strowman and subsequently putting Reigns over Cena (eventually), Vince can set up a match between a champion and the new face of his company.
Strowman will have his time as champion – that much is certain – it just won’t be now. Yes, this is professional wrestling and anything can happen between now and WrestleMania but I don’t see Vince wanting to tarnish the myth of Brock Lesnar any more than he already did against Goldberg. No matter what happens, fans should rejoice in the fact that we have been given a fun feud between (quite literally) the two largest superstars on RAW.
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For now, let’s enjoy watching two giant men smash into each other for our amusement. It is a melancholy truth that one day, all athletes across all sports (and even sports entertainment) are forced to give up the thing they love. The body simply can’t keep up with the heart and though their spirit may be willing, everything else knows it’s time to stop. Some embrace this moment and others do their best to avoid it but sooner or later, Father Time always gets the three count. Always.