March 27, 2015
By Ryan Porzl
Wrestlemania 31 is only days away and I decided to write on someone who will play a big part in this year's Wrestlemania. Brock Lesnar will headline the event as the defending WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Since returning to the promotion three years ago, Lesnar has been given the red carpet treatment and an extremely limited schedule. Many fans have been happy for Lesnar's return and justify everything he gets because he's a "special attraction" and a "draw". I don't agree with them and if anything, I'm heavily against Lesnar's deal and special treatment. In this article, we'll take a look at why Lesnar is not worth the time and the WWE would be better off with out him.
The biggest argument that Lesnar supporters always say is that he's a "special attraction" and that he's a draw. Is he? The first year he sort of was but after that, hell no. To be fair, Lesnar did bring some extra fans in 2012 but only in Pay-Per-View buyrates. His return match at Extreme Rules 2012 drew 263,000 viewers which was a 25% increase compared to the 2011 edition which drew 209,000. Summerslam 2012 drew 358,000 buys which was up from the 296,000 buys that 2011 got. However, that's about it. Every other PPV Lesnar headlined saw declines while TV ratings weren't better and neither were attendances. His return at ER 2012 drew 14,817 which is only two more fans than the previous PPV at Allstate Arena which was Money In The Bank 2011 and only 200 more than the following PPV which was Payback 2013. Summerslam 2012 saw a drop as 2011 drew 17,404 while 2012 only drew 14,205. While I should point out that Summerslam 2011 was the only Summerslam to draw 15,000 or more at the Staples Center, you would still think Lesnar's appearance would spike it given he was the main event and it was his second match since returning. Beginning in 2013, interest in Lesnar clearly began to wane as Extreme Rules 2013 saw a 12% decrease as it only drew 231,000 buys. By 2014, interest in Lesnar was nonexistant. Not only were attendances and ratings not improving but PPV's were plummenting compared to the previous year. With the WWE Network launching in February 2014, PPV buyrates all saw decreases but the ones headlined by Lesnar saw some of the biggest drops. Between Extreme Rules in April 2014 to Royal Rumble in January 2015, the WWE had ten PPVs and all came after the WWE Network launched. Of those ten PPVs, two of which that featured Lesnar as the headliner and/or title match saw the biggest drops. The 2015 Royal Rumble which featured Brock defending the WWE Championship against John Cena and Seth Rollins as well as the Royal Rumble match got 141,000 buys (not counting Network views) which is down from 2014's which did 467,000. The difference is 326,000 which is a huge drop. In fact looking at the ten buyrates, Lesnar's are some of the worst.
Extreme Rules (no Lesnar): 231,000 (2013) to 108,000 (down 123,000)
Payback (no Lesnar): 186,000 (2013) to 67,000 (down 119,000)
Money In The Bank (no Lesnar): 199,000 (2013) to 122,000 (down 77,000)
Battleground (no Lesnar): 114,000 (2013) to 99,000 (down 15,000)
Summerslam (Lesnar in the main event): 296,000 (2013) to 147,000 (down 149,000)
Night of Champions (Lesnar in the main event): 175,000 to 48,000 (down 127,000)
Hell in a Cell (no Lesnar): 228,000 (2013) to 83,000 (down 145,000)
Survivor Series (no Lesnar): 177,000 (2013) to 100,000 (down 77,000)
TLC (no Lesnar): 181,000 (2013) to 39,000 (down 142,000)
Royal Rumble (Lesnar in a featured match): 467,000 (2014) to 141,000 (down 326,000)
As you can see with these numbers, Lesnar is hardly what can be considered a draw. He defended the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble which featured the biggest drop. The Night of Champions event that he headlined was down more than the two previous non big four PPVs were combined (MITB and BG). In fact, of the big four events that happened to date, Survivor Series was the only one that didn't have a 100,000 buyrate drop. Survivor Series was also the only one that didn't feature Lesnar. Ratings and attendances haven't got much better and are largely the same. Despite the fact he's supposed to be a special attraction that ended the Undertaker's streak and destroyed Cena, Lesnar is not moving the needle. People aren't flocking to see him and business is either doing the same or worst when he shows up. While Lesnar isn't the only one at fault since you have to take certain things into consideration, he's getting paid a ridiculous amount of money to make a handful of appearances a year. Given all that, you would at least expect him to bring in some business and he's not.
Television ratings are complicated since there's so much to consider. In the case of Lesnar, a lot of the times he appears on RAW, it's either during the Road to Wrestlemania which is usually the period where WWE experiences their highest ratings. Other periods are usually go home shows before the PPV or the night after the PPV. While Lesnar has usually appeared in the highest rated episode of RAW every year since coming back, there's always a catch. In 2012, the highest RAW was the July 23rd episode which was the RAW 1,000 special which celebrated 1,000 episodes of Monday Night RAW. The show was three hours long and also featured many big names from the past so it's hard to tell what impact Lesnar had in the rating since there was a lot of reasons for the show to be successful. As far as average RAW are concerned, the highest 2012 episode was the RAW after the Royal Rumble which was two months before Lesnar came back. 2013's highest episode was the January 28th episode which also was the night after the Royal Rumble. The Rumble is usually one of the biggest PPVs of the year and the beginning of the Road To Wrestlemania. The highest rated show of 2014 was the April 7th RAW which was the night after Wrestlemania.
Booking storylines for him is also near impossible. Because Lesnar only makes around a dozen appearances or so, you can't get him to make the necessary appearances to hype his feuds. The WWE has attempted to work around this by bringing Paul Heyman back to not only cut promos for him since Lesnar doesn't have good mic skills but also for Heyman to represent Lesnar on the RAWs he doesn't appear on. Now people can praise Heyman all they want but the fact is, he can't do Lesnar's feuds for him. It's one thing for a manager to represent their wrestler for one week every once and a while but that's not the case. When Lesnar has a feud, he's absent at least half the time. There's never a time when Lesnar shows up on a weekly basis but rather shows up one week then is absent the next then he comes back then he's absent and so on. You can't have Heyman represent him every other week because he's not going to be wrestling. Is the feud between Lesnar and his opponent or Lesnar, Heyman, and his opponent? It's hard to either establish Lesnar or have him put over an up and comer. If he wins the rivalry, then what? He appears the following night on RAW and vanishes for months so the WWE can't capitalize on it. If he puts someone over, it doesn't mean much because he's never around. Look at when he ended Undertaker's streak. He showed up on RAW and dropped out of sight for three months. Desperate to keep it fresh in people's minds, the WWE had Paul Heyman bring it up ad naseum and it wasn't the same. After he loses, he still vanishes and for the next few months is nothing but a memory. You can't even do a story of a wrestler beating him and saying he ran Lesnar off to explain his absence because he leaves all the time.
Not only that but the WWE has had a hard time trying to explain Lesnar's coming and goings. Originally, he would just show up, do a match, and then quit only to repeat the cycle. Now, it's gotten to the point where they don't even try anymore. From a storyline standpoint, Lesnar leaves a lot of holes. Unlike other wrestlers who have to follow the WWE schedule and rules, Lesnar just shows up after being absent for months and then disappears again as quickly as he came. It's even worse now that he's the WWE Champion since it's always been said that champions have to make a title defense once every 30 days yet Lesnar has gone months without defending. His longest was four months. From a storyline standpoint (and a real life standpoint), it makes no sense for Lesnar to be allowed to hold the top title in the company and none of the higher ups be cool with this. In fact, the WWE has Triple H and Stephanie as the evil authority figures and they're supposed to be high on Seth Rollins. They claim he's the future. So what's stopping them from making the future now? What's stopping them from just stripping Lesnar of the belt and giving it to their guy? Not to mention that Lesnar's absence makes Rollins Money in the Bank briefcase worthless and doesn't give us any suspense. With the briefcase, he's supposed to get a title shot anytime he wants and it's supposed to have us wondering when he'll cash in. The problem is that it means nothing. We know he won't cash in because Lesnar's not around. Pretty hard to cash in a title shot when the champion isn't there.
Morale is another issue. While no one will speak up, you can't help but think that the entire locker room has to be either bummed or angry when Lesnar is mentioned or shows up. Here they are on the road for 250-300 days a year, busting their ass, and not only going coast to coast but all over the world. They live the WWE lifestyle which is incredibly exhausting. Meanwhile, as they're holding the fort, Lesnar waltzes in whenever he pleases, get paid at least six figures, get major opportunities, and works literally a dozen days out of the year. Imagine how they feel that Lesnar gets a cushy schedule and all because he doesn't like the travel and can't tough it out. No one in the WWE roster wants to be away from family and friends for 250-300 days a year but they do it because it's their job. The way Lesnar comes off since his return is like some diva (not the WWE type) not wanting to do any manual labor because she'll crack a nail.
Even worse is while Lesnar is getting a sweetheart deal and contributing little, you have the WWE making tons of cuts last year after their stock dropped and the WWE Network wasn't doing well. You had developmental and main roster wrestlers who didn't get a fraction of the opportunites Lesnar got and were not making his money getting cut. You had office employees who worked in the WWE for decades getting shown the door while Lesnar makes at least six figures to work 12 to 15 days a year. I'm sure a lot of people on the roster aren't happy about it.
Finally, there is loyality or lack thereof. Lesnar has that hired gun like mentallity in that if you got the cash and play by his rules then he's your best friend. The second he's not happy though, he'll leave you in the dust. On more than one occasion, Lesnar has shown a lack of loyality to his employers. In 2004, he decided to abruptly leave the WWE after they spent two years investing in him and he decided to leave around Wrestlemania XX which is the biggest show of the year. All because he didn't like the road schedule and wanted to try the NFL. In 2005, he went to New Japan where he was given a big deal and given the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (New Japan's top title) in his first match. He was also given a schedule of one of two matches a month as opposed to doing the ten day tours (largely cause they couldn't meet his financial demands). Yet, everything hit the fan in July 2006 when the then struggling New Japan asked him to lose the title and take a pay cut. Lesnar balked and the two sides had a falling out. Lesnar even refused to give the company their title belt back and it took New Japan a year and a half before they got it back (by that point they already were making a new belt). Then on February 23rd, Lesnar was scheduled to appear on Monday Night RAW to hype up his Wrestlemania title match. Lesnar showed up at the arena but then walked out when negotiations for a new contract hit a snag and didn't appear like he was supposed to. There was even rumors that the WWE creative team was worried Lesnar wouldn't show up for Wrestlemania. While everything was eventually ironed out, it still showed that Lesnar can get uncoopertive at any moment when he doesn't get his way and doesn't care if it ruins the show. Should the WWE or any company want someone who clearly isn't a team player on their team?
To be fair to Lesnar, this last part isn't entirely his fault. To a certain extent, you can't blame him. These companies create this environment and more or less encourage Lesnar's behavior. Inspite of his behavior, he continues to be welcomed back or aboard with open arms and given everything he wants and more. After his abrupt WWE departure and challenging the no-compete clause he signed to get out, you would think he would have a hard time finding work. Instead, New Japan brought him in, gave him their heavyweight title in his first match, a once or twice a month work schedule, and a lot of money despite the company having money problems. After he had a falling out there and going to MMA, it appeared as though his wrestling career was over. Then the WWE not only brought him back but gave him a deal where he only has to appear a dozen days a year, wrestle a handful of matches, doesn't have to go on the road and gets paid a bunch of money. Not to mention, he also got to end the Undertaker's streak, destroy John Cena at Summerslam, and got another WWE Championship reign. All in all, Lesnar is kind of like a spoiled brat who acts up but gets what they want so there's no need to change. The only way change will occur is if all companies tell Lesnar to hit the bricks.
Since I began writing this, it was announced Lesnar signed a new three year deal and I think I've given some great reasons why his new deal is three years too long. Lesnar is clearly someone who's more harm than good and doesn't bring anything to the table. Even him bringing in ratings is a myth and he's not a game changer (at least in a positive way). WWE would be well-served to cut him loose and focus their time and money into people in it for the long haul and are actually there most of the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment