Tuesday, March 24, 2015

BREAKING NEWS: Brock Lesnar Will Return to WWE

HE'S BAAAAAACK
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Brock Lesnar appeared on SportsCenter this evening in an interview with Michelle Beadle to announce that he has retired from mixed-martial arts and has re-signed with WWE. The announcement was confirmed by Triple H via Twitter. Lesnar had entertained a comeback with Ultimate Fighting Championship during negotiations with WWE, feelers that were hinted at in a promo by Paul Heyman last week on RAW.

My gut reaction to this signing is huge relief and excitement. Aside from the end segment of RAW last night which made both Lesnar and Roman Reigns look, as former podcast guest and all-around Twitter superstar @indiandeathlock put it, like pissbabies, Lesnar's run between WrestleMania XXX and right now has been one of the few consistently good things about WWE's main roster narrative.

It also seems to be the best decision for his own career. He left UFC in the wake of consecutive losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem respectively, and unlike in wrestling, where guys can possibly get better with age, no way Lesnar was going to be the same guy he was when he was headlining UFC 100 and was the biggest fighter in the world without massive help from drugs. Since UFC is trying to clean up its image, well, you know.

It also turns the main event of WrestleMania from a completely milquetoast and foregone conclusion to an intriguing affair. Does WWE still put the title on Reigns, or will Lesnar continue to be the Champion? Reigns so far hasn't gotten the crowd reactions that WWE has wanted, and given the audible that was called last year from Batista winning to Daniel Bryan getting put in the main event, those crowd cheers are important. This real-life business decision has inadvertently redeemed one of the most dismal builds to WrestleMania in history.

Anyway, no details have been released yet as to the number of dates Lesnar will be working or what kind of raise he's gotten (trust me, he got his ass paid). However, he will be staying with WWE, which from a fan excitement and artistic standpoint, is the best possible news right now outside of Vince McMahon being declared non compos mentis and Daniel Bryan being given free reign to wrestle Lesnar, Hideo Itami, Cesaro, Sheamus, and Dean Ambrose in a round robin for the next six months.