On Sunday, January 28th, Brock Lesnar enters the WWE Royal Rumble 2018 as Universal champion, but will he leave with the title? Here are 3 reasons why he should.
Brock Lesnar, the current WWE Universal Champion, is one of the few must see stars in WWE. At the WWE Royal Rumble 2018, he defends his title in a Triple Threat against Kane and Braun Strowman. The upcoming match will likely feature tons of destruction and chaos which will be lots of fun to see, but who will walk out champion?
Many will make arguments that Brock should lose in this match, and there are some valid ones to be made. However, Brock is a proven commodity, and one thing WWE consistently does is stick with what they know will work. Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania always works. It’s easy to decry his status as a part timer, but Brock has proven to be a consistent draw. His aura and uniqueness brings something to the table that WWE has been lacking since the early 2000s – legitimacy.
There are several reasons to suggest that Brock is the best choice going forward in this match, and I have chosen to highlight three of them here.
1) WrestleMania Direction
While it’s easy to debate the merits of another Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar main event at WrestleMania, the booking of the last year makes perfect sense for it to happen. It’s possible to change direction and add a third member to the match if needed, but the story that WWE has been telling with these two is that it takes Brock one F5 to beat people, and Roman one spear. When WrestleMania comes, Roman will kick out of the F5, and Roman will beat him with the spear. At least, that seems to be the logical direction of the story they are telling.
As already said, the merits of this story can be debated, but it is the most logical direction given the story they have been telling thus far. Personally, I’m not sure it’s the right choice, but I can’t complain about them having a logical direction and sticking with it, given how often they don’t do that. A complaint online against WWE is the lack of consistency within their stories, and it’s hard to complain when they have actually been telling one that is quite consistent. This would be helped if the other stories being told were also consistent, but that is another story.
2) Brock is the Biggest Draw
While Braun Strowman is the biggest new star the WWE had made in awhile, it’s clear that no one is on the level of Brock quite yet. It’s easy to say that someone should beat him. In practice, it’s much harder to switch to an unproven entity when Brock is a proven draw. He’s been a legit ratings mover, and consistently draws interest to the product. His program with Goldberg, matches with AJ, Joe, and others, stand out as some of the best stuff WWE has had done in a long time. While many accuse Brock of being inconsistent, the only really bad match in recent memory was his match against Braun Strowman, and that was bad because Vince gave the direction to keep it in the ring.
Brock is coming up on one year as Universal champion, and while some are annoyed that Brock isn’t on TV every week, it has served to protect his drawing ability. Being on TV every week, sadly, often hurts how over stars are and is often a detriment to them becoming stars. Brock has been well protected from that, and has added legitimacy to the Universal championship. A one-year reign only helps the championship mean something. Brock retaining the championship and continuing on to lose the championship one year after winning it is the perfect story.
3) Kane
Why is Kane a reason for Brock retaining? The reason is quite simple – he’s in this match to take the fall. Brock has destroyed him in every segment where the three men were involved. At Raw 25, Brock hit him with an F5 and that was the end of Kane in the segment. After that the focus was purely on Braun and Brock. The story leading into the match is that Kane can’t beat Brock, as Brock keeps laying him out. With that being said, it is entirely possible that they can go the other direction and have Braun pin Kane too.
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Regardless, Brock in the main event of WrestleMania seems inevitable. Having Brock pin Kane serves the purpose of protecting Braun, just in case he’s inserted into the WrestleMania main event. It also keeps Brock looking strong, as he has a win in a big match. It’s the perfect way to prepare him for the WrestleMania main event. Pinning Kane makes all the sense in the world, as Kane is no longer the star he once was, but still has some legitimacy to him, so it doesn’t seem like a cheap, nothing win.
So here are three reasons why Brock Lesnar should retain the title at the Royal Rumble. Can you think of any reasons why he should or shouldn’t? Sound off in the comments or send me a tweet on Twitter!