WWE: Ranking Brock Lesnar’s PPV Matches In 2017

4. Brock Lesnar Defeats Samoa Joe At Great Balls Of Fire

The Great Balls of Fire pay per view could have easily been a joke PPV, given the stupidity of its name, but it ended up being one of the best shows of 2017. Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss had one of the best double count-out matches you’ll see, but the show’s headlining act was Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar.

Like with the Strowman match, there was plenty to be disappointed with. This match could have been so much better if the WWE were more interested in making Joe look like a monster during the actual match. This match also ended too abruptly, since there wasn’t a real false finish. Joe was hit with the F5 and was pinned unceremoniously by Lesnar’s finishing move, leading to the belief that the WWE is intent on protecting the F5 heavily until, presumably, Reigns kicks out of it at WrestleMania 34.

That said, the match was exciting prior to the finish, because Joe received plenty of offense. He got the crowd’s hopes up, since it seemed like he would be able to take Lesnar to the brink. That wasn’t the case, but it was clear that Lesnar had respect for Joe, who came off like a monster in the build to Great Balls of Fire. Who can forget the intensity of Joe’s promos or the incredible segment in which he choked out Paul Heyman in the Coquina Clutch?

As a whole, this match started with promise, but it ended with disappointment due to the sudden finish. It was better than Lesnar’s underwhelming match with Strowman but only marginally so.