Look, hear me out here: I too was initially bitching and moaning about the perplexing botch/screwjob ending of the Brock Lesnar/Undertaker match at Summer Slam. But after sitting with it for a few hours, I was still captivated, unsettled, left wondering what the fuck. “WTF #Summerslam” I tweeted, and then soon realized that was exactly the sentiment I was supposed to carry away from the match. Here’s the thing we tend to forget about wrestling…
Tag: Brock Lesnar
Is anybody doing analytics on the number of cell phone lighter apps people are putting up for Bray Wyatt? Some nights it’s stunning. Doesn’t this count for something? Bray Wyatt is amazing. Can we set him up on some kind of sensible narrative trajectory? Couldn’t he aim toward a Jake the Snake-style babyface run? I remember the Jake the Snake of my junior high years was the same exact crazy dark madman as babyface or…
Night of Champions didn’t bore me once. Every match was solid, interesting, worthwhile to watch and played an important role in its narrative thread. (Except maybe Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho— that conflict seemed like a last minute idea somebody had and figured we wouldn’t notice it came out of nowhere because they called RAW last week a “season premiere”. But it was still a good match to watch.) Most impressively for me, though, was…
I’m back, frazzled by the trappings of civilization, and stunned by the brutality of Summer Slam. I thought surely Cena would at least put up a fight! So, where do we go from here? Who will find Brock Lesnar’s Achilles heel? Somebody has to, don’t they? Otherwise things will get boring pretty quick. A villain who cannot be stopped pretty much kills a story. I still need to catch up on this week’s Raw and…
What are the implications of Cena making his match with Lesnar about defending the entire history of professional wrestling? Is that not a tall order for tween Cena? Donning Hulk’s colors and all? Is perhaps Hulkamania truly immortal? Is he in fact a god to us? Hulk may be the most unique character in wrestling history. Discuss. Brock Lesnar is a scary motherfucker. Discuss. What Shakespeare play will Cena’s battle with Brock Lesnar be? Will…
I couldn’t help but feel that the veil of kayfabe was wavering as John Cena railed against Paul Heyman on RAW Monday night. There was a tremble and a fervor in Cena’s voice as he laid out his grievances: he shows up and works hard every day even if he doesn’t feel like it because he “loves this place,” and where’s the respect? We may have been seeing real emotion there, his frustration as he…
I think many wrestling fans who were watching that night more than a decade ago remember when Brock Lesnar said “Where’s Funaki?” It became something of a cult meme, and that was back when only the most effete intellectuals I knew were calling things memes. Why was this tiny moment so memorable to us? Brock Lesnar was so scary when he debuted! He was a snarling, teeth-gnashing, bicep-flexing meat-headed monster, a goon who would beat…