WWE Champion Brock Lesnar was scheduled to appear on Raw the night after WWE Fastlane. He did not appear after having a reported disagreement with WWE CEO Vince McMahon. Rumors circulated that Lesnar was upset about a failed drug test by WWE Superstar Roman Reigns. Reigns is scheduled to face Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31 the companies signature event for the title on March 29th in Santa Clara California. That rumor was quickly squashed and WWE actually acknowledged the rumor by commenting that it was completely false. It is believed that the disagreement was over a new contract for Lesnar.
It seems unlikely that this disagreement is over the money involved with that contract. If Lesnar had a number and Vince and him could not agree on that number then they would simply finish up their business and move on. Lesnar has been open to returning to UFC where he would likely get a big contract to return. Of course he would be at greater physical risk, but he would likely receive more than the WWE could offer him. For Lesnar to grand stand over a number seems silly. It has to be related to something from a creative direction.
While the Reigns drug theory seems pretty off the wall this issue very well could be related to their match. It had been reported prior to that Raw that Brock and WWE had reached terms on a new one year deal, so that would assume the money was agreed upon. Often the truth is somewhere in the middle. It is very likely that Brock went to Raw to sign the deal and asked Vince what his plans were for WM31.
Vince probably explained, and this should be no surprise based on the extreme push they are giving him, that Reigns would be winning the belt from Brock. It would make perfect sense for Lesnar to have an issue with that. Lesnar could probably see for himself that Reigns has not gone over with the crowd at all. Why would Lesnar the guy who stopped the streak and whipped the floor with John Cena drop his title to a virtual newbie with very few big time singles wins? Also, he has Heyman in his corner who completely understands the business and could have been, and should have been, in Brock's ear about the reception Reigns has been getting.
Brock might have refused to do the job feeling it was not best for business or him personally. A loss to Reigns would diminish Brock as a draw greatly. That would hurt his ability to create revenue for himself and make himself less valuable for WWE going forward. Something the WWE may not mind, as it probably better to invest in talent they have 100% control over.
With that being said it also could have simply been the fact that Lesnar thought he would remain champion if he was signing that deal and didn't plan or figure on losing to anyone until Dallas next year. Lesnar might have felt that he was going to remain Champion until his run was completely over. It may have nothing to do with Reigns at all.
It's easy to see WWE's side of the story with not keeping Lesnar as Champion. If he has the same deal he did before then he would probably only wrestle 2 more times this year past WM31. That means WWE would have to fill a gap from WM31 to Summerslam without a title match on any PPV event. This theory failed badly in the fall for them this past year and caused a lot of fan angst. If they had a match in the summer and then at Summerslam they run the risk of not having Brock back in the ring until 2016.
It's possible for them to have Lesnar participate in one other summer PPV and then drop the title at Summerslam, but that probably isn't something Brock wants to do. He would probably want to carry the title into Dallas and headline WM32. Being in Dallas that event has the ability to be one of the best WM's of all time.
It should be noted that Lesnar has not shown a history of not doing what's asked of him, but this is in relation to whether he stays, so he could be refusing to do the job because it would make staying not worthwhile to him. Vince could have felt Brock was wrong and that he would still be a huge draw no matter what happened at WM31. Many would probably disagree with Vince there. Reigns is likely to suck the heat off of anyone he beats. Many have commented that Daniel Bryan has lost some of his popularity since his short feud with Reigns over the #1 contender spot.
While fans may never know the truth they are being denied to this point a proper build for the top match on the card at WM31. WWE will have to do something in the next three weeks to address this. You still have to wonder with Reigns not receiving a strong positive crowd reaction if the WM31 main event might be the biggest bomb in the companies history.
The next few weeks, even going past Summerslam promise to be some of the the most interesting both in front and behind the camera for WWE. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment