Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen! My name is Adam O’Brien, and I welcome each and every one of you to my first article of 2014 here on SLTD Wrestling!
We all had a fantastic year on the site in 2013, but with all of your feedback and support, we can make this year huge for SLTD. There are going to be big changes (for the better) over the next 12 months, starting with the huge news of SLTD’s partnership with MFX Podcast, which you can read up on by clicking here.
In 2013, I came up with ‘Under the Spotlight’, made it to my first full year with the site and gained hundreds of followers on Twitter because of SLTD, so it really was a great year. But that’s enough reflection for now. It’s time to look into the future, and the future of the WWE starts in two weeks at the Royal Rumble.
The Road to WrestleMania will begin at the Rumble, where 30 Superstars battle it out for the opportunity of a lifetime, to main-event on the Grandest Stage of them all. One man will become immortalised as he solidifies himself as the Royal Rumble winner. But it’s not just the Royal Rumble Match itself that gives this event its excitement and electricity. Matches like Triple H vs. Cactus Jack, The Rock vs. Mankind, Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H and many more have created memorable moments that will live on forever in WWE history.
In two weeks, we will be presented with yet another clash of the titans at the Royal Rumble. It may be considered predictable, it probably won’t live up to some of the event’s best matches, but it will certainly be an explosive bout. I’m talking about Brock Lesnar and The Big Show squaring off in a WWE ring for the first time in over a decade.
Let’s go back and look at the inception of this presumably short rivalry, shall we?
Two weeks ago, Brock Lesnar made his return to Raw with Paul Heyman in tow, after a near five-month absence following a victory over CM Punk at SummerSlam. Heyman spoke about how Brock is after one thing now that he’s back: the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It doesn’t matter whether it’s John Cena or Randy Orton holding the Title after the Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar wants a piece of the action sooner rather than later, and I reckon he’ll be punching his ticket for a Championship Match at Elimination Chamber.
Anyway, Lesnar decided to chance his hand, and invited anybody from the WWE roster to come out and face him, to which Mark Henry accepted. However, the World’s Strongest Man would be made the victim for the first of two times, as an all-out brawl ensued. After getting some impressive offense in there, Henry succumbed to the sheer power of Brock Lesnar, being Speared through the ringside barrier and hit with an emphatic F-5 to put the big man away for the time being.
The next week on Monday Night Raw, Lesnar and Heyman would come down to the ring once again and explain how the term ‘Old School’ shouldn’t be used to describe Legends. Instead, going ‘Old School’ means two men going out there and having a no-holds-barred slugfest. As luck would have it, Mark Henry would try one more time to do just that and engage in competition with ‘The Beast’. Unfortunately for Henry, Lesnar decided to up the ante, reintroducing the Kimura Lock to break his arm, simultaneously solidifying himself as the most dominant force in the WWE today… or so he thought.
Out came The Big Show, with a stern look on his face, ready to kick Lesnar’s ass all over the building. Brock wanted nothing to do with him, stepping out of the ring to leave the arena. But when Paul Heyman provided the distraction, Lesnar rushed the ring and he and Big Show started trading blows. Big Show backed Brock Lesnar up in the corner, and in an amazing feat of strength, flung him across the ring like a ragdoll. This led to a segment on SmackDown, where Big Show and Paul Heyman agreed on MizTV to have Show face off against Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. And that brings us to where we are now.
I get the feeling that a lot of people are split down the middle on this one. Some people hate it, some people love it. Personally, I’d be the latter. I think this is going to be a really interesting match at the Royal Rumble. In terms of a result, I think it’s safe to say that Brock Lesnar has to win, and head into WrestleMania season with some momentum. But the result of a match does not have to matter all the time. As long as the bout is exciting, the predictability factor shouldn’t have to come into play. Big Show and Brock Lesnar facing off in one ring is the Immovable Object against the Unstoppable Force. They broke the ring together in 2003, for Christ’s sake! This match is going to be exciting as hell.
One thing in particular that I love about The Big Show, is how he can bounce from the most over-the-top “comedy” performer, to a villainous heel, to a serious “I’m going to rip your head off” babyface character like we saw on Raw. There had been rumours that Brock Lesnar’s initial encounter with Mark Henry was leading to a feud with Show, and I was worried that Big Show would’ve lost any shed of credibility after that ridiculous ‘New Year’s Baby’ segment from a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I don’t think that’s a problem. Big Show looked on top form when he came out, and I loved the whole seriousness of it. I completely forgot about him in a nappy, so that’s always a good thing…
Since Brock Lesnar made his return to the WWE the night after WrestleMania 28, he’s taken on John Cena, Triple H and CM Punk. But the thing that each of those rivalries had in common was that Lesnar, more or less, went into each match as the favourite to win. Let’s trace back.
Lesnar took John Cena to the limit for weeks on end, busting him open on several occasions, including less than a minute into their actual match at Extreme Rules. He tortured Cena, tossed him all over ringside, hung him upside down on the outside of the turnbuckle post by his own chain and nearly broke the man’s arm! I know that John Cena came out the victor in that one, but there’s no doubt that Lesnar was the favourite going in, and for good reason, given the brutality he took to the ring.
During Brock’s rivalry with Triple H, the man went on an absolute rampage. He broke Shawn Michaels’ arm, and Triple H’s arm twice. For a while, it looked like his victory at SummerSlam would be The Game’s final match. And even though the Cerebral Assassin was able to get the upper hand at WrestleMania 29, Lesnar would not let Triple H have the last laugh. During the build-up to their Steel Cage Match at Extreme Rules, Lesnar laid waste to 3MB, and crashed the party at WWE Headquarters in Connecticut, trashing Triple H’s office upon arrival. And when the feud came to a close, Brock Lesnar stood tall after nailing Hunter with his own sledgehammer. There is no doubt that he went into those matches with Triple H as the favourite to win, and in the end, that’s exactly what he did.
Finally, Brock Lesnar was unmistakably the odds-on favourite to win his match against CM Punk at SummerSlam last year. The ‘Best in the World’ was able to mount some good offense during the build-up, and took Lesnar to his very limit when they finally squared off, but Brock annihilated the man with a swift F-5 onto a Steel Chair, putting the brief feud to rest (for Lesnar anyway). Lesnar was twice the size, strength and power of CM Punk, and it certainly paid off as Brock left with his arm raised in victory.
But there was a significant difference when The Big Show entered the fray. For starters, his entrance at Old School Raw was the first time we saw fear or even hesitance in Lesnar’s eyes. It was the first time that we saw him back away from a fight, which is completely unheard of for Brock Lesnar. And of course, it’s the first time Lesnar has been overpowered since his return in 2012.
The Big Show man-handled Lesnar, tossing him about ten feet across the ring. We don’t see that from anyone else in the WWE. Not even Mark Henry, who’s supposed to be one of the WWE’s strongest men. And you can see it wasn’t just the way that Lesnar jumped. That contributed, but Show’s raw strength did a lot of the work.
This match at the Royal Rumble is going to be intense. Brock Lesnar has finally found an opponent that matches him in terms of strength and power. Lesnar will be out of his comfort zone, as he usually likes to spend most of a match in control, but I reckon this will be back-and-forth throughout.
Paul Heyman’s inclusion is always a compliment to any good rivalry, so expect some excellent promo work from him as we edge closer and closer to the Rumble event. I feel like this upcoming match will be based on who the biggest, strongest, most powerful and most dominant competitor in the WWE is, and Paul Heyman is sure to deliver some heartfelt promos to exemplify Brock Lesnar’s God-like ability in the ring.
Like I said earlier, Brock Lesnar will benefit the most from the win here, as his involvement in WrestleMania is more important, and he’ll need momentum heading into a potential WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match at Elimination Chamber. It’s looking like Lesnar will be gearing up for a war against The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and he’ll need to prove himself against the World’s Largest Athlete before he takes on the Streak.
I look forward to seeing Brock Lesnar lift Big Show up for an F-5 at the Royal Rumble, and seeing these two behemoths going at it for the next two weeks before their clash at the first PPV of the year. I think it’ll be a brilliant match, which will perhaps be remembered as one of Brock’s most exciting matches since returning to the company.
With that said, I’m going to move onto a couple of other topics that I wanted to briefly discuss before finishing up here. A lot of things happened in the world of wrestling this week, but there were two topics that caught my eye the most, so I wanted to throw in my two cents.
Kaitlyn Leaves WWE
On Wednesday, the news was broken that WWE Diva Kaitlyn will be leaving the company to pursue other career opportunities. I touched on this in a post on SLTD’s Facebook page on Wednesday, so all I’ll say now is that it’s a shame that she decided to leave. Kaitlyn has improved tremendously over the last year in the WWE, and I feel like her talent was going to waste during her final few months with the company. Perhaps that’s why she decided to go.
Whatever happened, I’m sure Kaitlyn will find success wherever she goes from here on. Her last moments in a WWE ring with AJ Lee were beautiful, and I feel like it was the perfect way to cap off her WWE career, which she came into and rose to stardom in alongside AJ, so it was quite symbolic. I’ve said it many times over the last couple of months, but I feel like women’s wrestling is starting to slowly rise again in the WWE, so hopefully Kaitlyn’s not getting out at the wrong time. I suppose only time will tell.
Mae Young
This past Wednesday, it was reported that Mae Young has been taken off life support and is unfortunately on her deathbed. At the time of this writing (11/01/14), Mae is still alive, however it may not be long before this influential woman, who’s been a part of the wrestling industry for nearly a century, passes away.
She is an inspiration to women who want to chase their dreams, and truly deserves her spot in the WWE Hall of Fame for her many years of entertaining, with her flirty and fiery personality causing some unforgettable moments in WWE history. The woman got powerbombed off the stage at 77 years of age, people! As Jim Ross would say, this woman is tougher than a two-dollar steak. She is a blessing to this industry and for that, my thoughts go out to her and her loved ones at this terrible time.
That’s just about all I have to say, everyone. If you’ve stuck around and read the whole thing, thanks a lot for checking out my article, I really appreciate it.
We benefit from every single read we get from you guys, so I hope you know how much we appreciate it here at SLTD Wrestling. Like I said at the beginning, you guys made 2013 huge for us, and with your continued support, we can make 2014 even bigger. Let’s do it.
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Thanks for reading! I’ll see you all next week for another edition of your favourite weekly article.
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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