WWE: Brock Lesnar’s six best career matches

5. vs. The Rock – SummerSlam 2002

This is the match that officially started Brock Lesnar’s main event run as The Next Big Thing in professional wrestling. Up to this point, in less than six months of getting called up to the main roster from OVW, Lesnar had been decimating legends left and right. From destroying The Hardy Boyz in his first major feud, to defeating Rob Van Dam to become the King of the Ring, to leaving Hulk Hogan a bloody mess on a random SmackDown.

All that was missing was for the future UFC fighter to legitimize himself by getting some gold around his waist. He could not have asked for a better means to do so than by defeating The Rock for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

The main event in the second biggest PPV of the year was Brock Solid’s first big test as a main eventer Superstar. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors, especially the circumstances of the crowd. Because they knew The Rock was leaving for Hollywood after the night was over, and because audiences naturally warmed up to Brock after watching him whup everyone’s candy ass from pillar to post, the heel-face roles had to be reversed.

The Rock heeled it up a bit as he reacted to the “Rocky sucks!” chants, while Brock did exactly what brought him to the big dance – kick ass – in the midst of “Let’s go Lesnar!” chants. Not only did it amount to an electric match, but it was a successful first step in making Lesnar a mainstay of WWE’s main event scene.