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The Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns Problem

By Robin Leacock

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Many fans believed the Universal Championship match at No Mercy was a chance for WWE to turn Braun Strowman into their next mega-star, but upon further inspection, the final outcome could not have been more obvious. Let’s call this the Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns problem.

Being a wrestling fan sometimes feels like watching a movie when you already know the ending. We optimistically hope that a twist or turn will be thrown in now and again, but most of the time the Titanic simply hits the iceberg and sinks.

It’s been reported for quite some time that the likely main event for WrestleMania 34 will be Brock Lesnar taking on Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.

Spoiler alert: anything that happens on Raw between now and then will be highly inconsequential.

On his podcast Something to Wrestle With Bruce Prichard, the former WWF producer has repeatedly stated that Vince McMahon lives for the “big attraction” and usually opts for the main event option that will garner the most mainstream attention possible.

Lesnar is currently McMahon’s biggest attraction and Reigns is the one who has been chosen to beat him.

In an ideal world, WWE would be a meritocracy, a place where earning the crowd’s adoration would mean claiming a top spot on the card. On the contrary, it seems like WWE creative and McMahon have more than made their mind up on where booking is headed until April of next year.

Prior to No Mercy, Braun Strowman had been built up as a destructive monster. He’d beaten Roman Reigns in many settings, had destroyed The Big Show (and the ring itself) and not only survived but walked away from what can only be explained as attempted manslaughter.

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Still, it was not in the cards for him to defeat Lesnar for the Universal Championship. In fact, it now seems as though the main purpose for Strowman’s massive build was simply to make Lesnar look that much stronger ahead of his match with Reigns.

The math is quite simple.

Lesnar ends The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania 31, then walks through all challengers, including Randy Orton, Goldberg, Samoa Joe and Strowman.

Fans were led to believe that Joe’s insertion into the main event scene was a sign of his inclusion into the upper-echelon of talent on the WWE roster. Instead – much like Strowman – he was simply a spoke on the wheel of the greater narrative. What better way to put over Reigns than having him defeat the undefeatable Beast?

Once Lesnar loses at Mania, every single one of his metaphorical trophies gets transferred to Roman’s mantle, making his victory seem that much more significant.

At this point, it’s become clear that WWE has made up their mind and there isn’t much that could be done to change it.

Truthfully, every WrestleMania card – especially its main event – is put together for the casual fan that would prefer a match comprised of superstars such as Lesnar, Regins, Undertaker, John Cena and The Rock, rather than others like Strowman, Finn Balor, AJ Styles or Shinsuke Nakamura.

So WrestleMania isn’t for “us”. That doesn’t mean that the current booking isn’t creating a huge problem.

The hype for No Mercy was out of control and fans could not have been more excited for the main event. The Universe was ready for a Lesnar-Strowman collision course of epic proportions.

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It goes without saying that they were left feeling disappointed, wondering why the opportunity wasn’t taken to move in a less predictable direction. It may be easy for fans to escape reality and fantasy book the next several months of WWE action, but in the end, it will be just that: a fantasy.