WWE: the company doesn’t need Brock Lesnar

UFC President Dana White may have called Brock Lesnar retired, but let’s hope this isn’t a play that allows him to head back to the WWE.

We’ve been here before. Brock Lesnar, one of the biggest names in combat sports and sports entertainment, is involved in headlines speculating the next moves in his famed career. Many wondered what would be next for the former WWE and UFC Champion as it seemed like he left the world of professional wrestling to head back to fighting in the Octagon. However, news broke this week that UFC President Dana White told ESPN that Brock Lesnar retired from UFC and White will be moving in a new direction from current UFC heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier.

Whether Brock Lesnar retired from MMA or he and White could not come to an agreement to get “The Beast” back in the cage, eyes turned to the WWE to see if they were interested in bringing Lesnar back. Hopefully, that is just speculation as the WWE needs to move away from Lesnar and embrace the potential across the roster.

The WWE does not need Brock Lesnar. Lesnar held the WWE Universal title for a combined 660 days across two reigns. Lesnar’s surprise return in 2012 created an intense excitement around him as his successful run in the Octagon created a feeling of realism around everything he did in the WWE. Lesnar was already a monster from his first run with the company, but after showing that he could hang with some of the best fighters in world, Lesnar’s cache as a sports performer extrapolated. That elevated Lesnar and every angle that he was involved in, which benefited the WWE in multiple ways. Yet, those benefits were not to last forever.

As Universal champion, Lesnar was presented as the big, final level boss for those working to get to the top of the ladder. Initially, his infrequent appearances on television helped build to a buzz whenever he was finally brought back. But that situation slowly changed into feeling of contempt as the title’s absence on television impacted the apparent stakes of matches and storylines.

Roman Reigns was tagged as the man to take the belt off Lesnar and after achieving that moment at SummerSlam in 2018, he was forced to the sideline due to his battle with cancer. Instead of hitching the truck to a surging Braun Strowman; Lesnar was quickly re-signed to the organization and the Universal title put back around his waist.

That decision has created a widely negative impact for the promotion. The WWE is experiencing drastically dropping ratings and stock price at a time in which the organization has struggled to build new stars. Leaning on Lesnar stalled the development of names like Strowman, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins and others. A similar comparison can be made with the women’s division and the elevation of Ronda Rousey. Now that she’s out of the picture after WrestleMania 35, the question to be seen is whether the WWE can build women’s stars beyond Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch – a story being written today.

So, let’s turn the angle back to the current situation with Brock Lesnar retired and his career as a whole. At 41-years of age, one wouldn’t be surprised if he did decide to walk away from the world of sports and sports entertainment. Lesnar knows his value and has done an exceptional job of leveraging that value into multiple opportunities. Even without the title he could have value to the WWE in a variety of ways.

Then within the UFC, booking him against the likes of Cormier or Jon Jones would easily push a PPV event into the million-buy territory. But at the same time, this could be a negotiation trick by both the UFC and Lesnar to gain ground on the parties involved. The WWE could also be another option to use as a bargaining chip against the WWE, but we can only hope that the Vince McMahon-led company looks the other way at a time in which it needs to build new faces for fans to get excited to see.

Lesnar isn’t going to work a full schedule. Going back to April 2, 2017 when he won the WWE Universal title for the first time at WrestleMania 33, through his defeat to Rollins at WrestleMania 35, Lesnar wrestled 16 matches. That’s a far cry from what most of the WWE roster will wrestle in one month. Bringing Lesnar back and inserting him back into the title picture would immediately deflate any excitement around the growing Rollins title run.

The Raw roster includes AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Cesaro, Ricochet and others. All these top names, along with those in the mid-card and lower immediately lose time and opportunities if Lesnar is brought back. With a new partnership with Fox set to start in October, and fans opining for new creative direction, now isn’t the time to bring Lesnar back into the fold. There’s way too much talent on the roster that would be hurt through said action.