WWE: If Rollins Wins, the Roster Must Make Us Forget Brock Lesnar

If the WWE roster wants to be free of the eventual threat of Brock Lesnar, it will be up to them to steal the show back on their own merit.

Brock Lesnar is everything Paul Heyman has ever said he is. Only Kurt Angle, a legitimate Olympic gold medalist, approaches the legitimacy that Brock Lesnar brings to professional wrestling. Seth Rollins has had a year of build behind a great Intercontinental Championship reign and a slew of excellent matches showcasing just how good he is, and just how good we may have forgotten he is after years of focus on Goldberg, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman being possible successors to Lesnar’s throne.

After winning the Royal Rumble, it is quite conceivable that Rollins is going to leave WrestleMania this year with the WWE Universal Championship. This will be a great moment for Rollins as he will be validated as being one of the top workhorses of this generation.

At the same time, his win will inadvertently add a heavy responsibility upon the shoulders of Rollins and the rest of the WWE locker room: They will now be responsible for making us leave Brock Lesnar behind.

WWE has (arguably) never had a roster so loaded with in-ring talent as it has today. The combination of homegrown talent and the realization that they would benefit from hiring others who made their bones in the independent wrestling circuit has given the WWE an embarrassment of riches it has never seen before in terms of in-ring performance.

Despite this fact (more of an opinion because, you know, all art, including professional wrestling, is subjective), this roster has only one true killer, only one man who lacks a true opponent capable of suspending the disbelief of fans long enough to actually believe he could lose: Brock Lesnar.

Lesnar trained in Ohio Valley Wrestling, but he is not homegrown. He was a two-time NCAA wrestling champion before even speaking to WWE, and has since been a UFC Heavyweight Champion. WWE has conveyed a machine that would dominate anywhere his feet landed.

It is easy to forget that the beloved Eddie Guerrero’s lone title reign only occurred due to outside interference from Goldberg, a performer who may own rights over the Lesnar gimmick. Speaking of Goldberg, try to think of another wrestler who actually made us believe that Brock Lesnar could be conquered.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Only Goldberg, a man who became a legend based off of an undefeated streak that included a World Heavyweight Championship win over “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan that crippled the New World Order, has been seen as a legitimate challenger to Lesnar.

However, Goldberg’s undefeated streak consists of the repeated names of legends like Hugh Morris, Jerry Flynn, and Glacier. Brock Lesnar defeated The Rock, who was in his prime, to win his first WWE Championship. Since then, he has had multiple title reigns, has ended The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak, and has borderline humiliated every legend WWE has had on its roster, including John Cena and Randy Orton (especially Orton, whose forehead looked like the elevator from The Shining). Finn Balor came close to defeating Lesnar at the Royal Rumble, but his onslaught was snuffed out in just a couple short minutes, which is all Lesnar needs.

Balor did prove, however, that Brock Lesnar can be pushed to his limit by a smaller opponent. Seth Rollins may be the one who gives Lesnar that one final push.