The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
It’s time for a new Brock Lesnar.
No, I don’t want the Beast Incarnate to drop his amazingly fun and refreshing cowboy persona. He should ride that until he’s finally ready to retire because he’s never been more entertaining and authentic. But Lesnar’s role in WWE needs to change. Gone should be the da🔯ys of him challenging for world titles regul📖arly and an era where he teaches the occasional heel a lesson. Legitimizing and getting over other main-event-level talent needs to become the norm.
We got the first hint this could be the case in WWE under Triple H after Lesnar confronted and attacked Bobby Lashley to cost him the United States championship in a loss to 💙Seth Rollins last Monday on Raw. A title is now out of the picture and Les🍒nar can have his first true personal-issue feud in more than seven years. Think Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose in 2016.
Lashley hasn’t had a singles match against Roman Reigns since Reigns became the Tribal Chief, so him coming out the right side of a feud with Lesnar should immediately catapult him to the front of the line. The Undisputed Universal champion is in need of fresh opponents and Lashley would feel like a legit threat to his reign. There second clash, after a furious Lashley pummeled Lesnar this week on Raw, is set for Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia in Novembeওr. And it’s exactly what Lesnar, a 45-year-old part-time performer who thought he was retired last year, should be used for on most occasions.
The next time Lesnar challenges for a world tiꦑtle needs to feel special because we were oversaturated with that reality under Vince McMahon. The former WWE chairman seemingly broke glass and ponied up a whole lot of money every time the company was in need of a box-office attractio🅘n in the main event. And there are incredible stats to back it up.
Dating all the way back to WrestleMania 33 in 2017, in 32 of Lesnar’s 35 matches for WWE — including live events — he was either champion or challenging for a world title. That includes Survivor Series matches against A.J. Styles and Daniel Bryan as a world champ where the belts were not on the line. The only three matches in which that wasn’t the case were two Royal Rumbles — one of which he won to earn a title shot at WrestleMania — and the Money in the Bank match he won in 2019 to earn a world championship match. I think we all knew it was bad, but this still feels absolutely stunning.
My guess, based on what I could tell during my conversation with Lesnar in March, is that he would be OK with being out of the world title picture as long as he remain⭕ed well compensated and involved with a story and opponent that made sense and intrigued him.
“I really don’t know,” Lesnar said at the time when asked if had a set time for when he wanted to retire. “I’m getting older. I don’t need to be the guy to — as long as I’m enjoying it and I’m healthy. But I don’t really have a set time. … As long as I’m looked after and my health is good and I’m enjoying myself, I’ll probably continue. I don’t know.”
At this point in his career, Lesnar is an attraction that can bring eyeballs to his opponent and the rest of a card without being in a main event. I honestly believe people pay to see Brock Lesnar fight and perform with or without a title involved and there are plenty of people whose stocks he can help raise, from Matt Riddle to Karrion Kross to Cody Rhodes to Bray Wyatt to Gunthe🌠r — and even to a Bron Breakker down the road — without being in the world title scene. You can almost make the case that when Lesnar is not in the main event it makes a card deeper and more balanced.
So let’s hope we are about to begin a new Brock Lesnar era in WWE under Triple H. It’s time, ꦚand it’s needed.
‘Table’ Talk
For those of us hoping to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson versus Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 30, the People’s Champ may have laid the first brick to getting us there. Though both he and Reigns have offered plenty of platitudes about each other in most interviews, The Rock was asked by Erin Lim Rhodes of E! News’ “The Rundown” who the real “Head of the Table” in the family is, and he made it pretty clear.
“Who is ‘Head of the Table?’” The Rock said during an interview to promote his “Black Adam” movie. “Without saying any names, you’re looking into his eyes right now.”
When pushed, he would not confirm if we will be showing up at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angles, but he did joke th꧅at Reigns would have somethi๊ng to say about his comments
“I am not confirming that at all,” The Rock said. “No, I am not, though I’m gonna get a text from him after he watches this.”
Let the dance begin.
A Head of the Game
Bray Wyatt’s segment on SmackDown was pretty much a combination of all the good things you want from pro wrestling. There was a larger-than-life entrance with compelling music, raw emotion from Wyatt — speaking as Windham Rotunda for that first time -— and then an angle that leaves you asking questions. Bravo. While the initial thought was that꧟ Wyatt would be leading a “Wyatt 6” faction based on the former Firefly Funhouse characters, the idea floating around of him feuding with his own demons in his head — whoever or whatever the character in the mask is -— would be unlike anything ever done in wrestling and intriguing to see play out. Much of the White Rabbit buildup was based around the words “Feed your head,” and Bray’s mind could be hungry and vengeful.
The 10 Count
Daniel Garcia making a cleaner break from Chris Jericho a week ago makes a little more sense now as he turned his back on Bryan Danielson to cost him the Ring of Honor world title. Garcia’s explanation for this on Rampage that Jericho was teaching him how win by being a sports entertainer was a little weak after weeks of asking his mentor not to cheat. Also, Jericho having wrestling bangers as Lionheart with Danielson then going the sport entertainment cheating route to win each week is some excellent heel stuff.
Nikkita Lyons and Zoe Stark at first came off as an odd pairing for the WWE women’s tag team tournament. But they showed a lot of chemistry and potential in their victory over Toxic Attraction two weeks ago to earn an NXT women’s tag title shot. The video package th🐠is week about their mutual admiration coming up at the Performance Center provided a reason for their pairing.
Orange Cassidy deserves to have a singles-title run in AEW, now as All-Atlantic champion, afte🎐r the stellar work he’s done in the company and he and PAC’s excellent trilogy. But excuse me if I’m not going to be overly into and excited about him winning the newestꦕ and fifth or sixth most important singles title in the promotion.
With Shawn Spears’ return for a Pinnacle reunion, it opens the door for a Pinnacle vs. The Firm feud after MJF becomes champion. Or maybe AEW👍 saves it as 🌠the way to get MJF to lean babyface when the time comes. But there is a compelling story to tell there.
And just like that Seth Rollins has an interesting group of challengers for the United States championship in Riddle, the returning Elias and a rejuvenated Mustafa Ali after the main eve✱n🐷ted. Ali’s character work and promo – even on social media – really warrant this to be the moment for his long awaited push.
Having Rey Myterio tell Triple H he wanted to quit over what’s gone on with Dominik really hammered home the emotional toll it’s taken on him in storyline. Adding him to SmackDown gives him a fresh start, adds a little more star power to a thinner roster and now will give us the wondrous site of watching him take on Gunther for the Intercontinental 💜championship.
Taya Valkyrie successfully defended her Reina de Reinas Championship against NWA women’s champion Kamille in a bloody and hard-hitting match at TripleMania XXX. Valkyrie became the first person to get a clean win over Kamille since she came to the NWA in 2020 by submitting her in the middle of the rin✃g. It’s all further validati🙈on of the run that he’s on since being let go by WWE as she is also the World Women’s Featherweight champion in MLW and the Knockouts tag team champions with Rosemary in Impact.
Pairing Baron Corbin with JBL is a🐠n intriguing new coat of paint on a talented superstar. JBL is a master heel and will bring plenty of heat with him, but Corbin’s attire should have helped him look fresh and like a million bucks. Instead his hat and bland gear looks mismatched and uninspiring and a hard-fought win over Dolph Ziggler doesn’t exactly scream ch👍ange.
It’s great to see Renee Paquette back in wrestling in AEW. And it feels like perfect timing after Kathleen Finch, the Warner Bros. Discovery US Networks Group chair and chief content officer, that the company is looking to develop “shoulder programming to hold onto those fans” that’s “not in a wrestling ring.” Paquette’s skillset makes her perfect to aid with that either as a host, interviewer or talent. Who wouldn’t want to watch one season oဣf some sort of Mox and Renee reality show?
Bringing back L.A. Knight is great but an investment in character development is needed. The main roster audience just saw an abrupt change as he went from a manger to male models to now the boisterous and overconfident L.A. Knight. Gﷺive us some back story and vignettes to explain it all as he also had a very short time in NXT with his feud with Cameron Grimes as the highlight.
Extra: Dalton Castle versus Chris Jericho is the match we never know we needed.
Wrestler of the Week
Pentagon, Lucha Libre AAA
Pentagon Jr., the AEW star, claimed the first mask of his lucha career by defeating Villano IV in a brutal🍒 and bloody mask-vs.-mask match in the main event of TripleMania XXX in Mexico on Saturday. The throwback brawl and win over the 57-year-old legend will take Penta, also an AEW trios champ, to a whole new level in the lucha community. Both men worked their butt off to produce an emotional finale to a fun show.
Match to Watch
Jon Moxley (c.) vs. “Hangman” Adam Page, AEW world championship, (Tuesday, 8 p.m., TBS)
This is amazingly the first singles match between two absolute staples in AEW, and they’ve built an intriguing story that goes beyond who leaves as champion. Hangman responded with one of the best and emotional promos of his career when Moxley told the former champion Hangman would hesitate and not do whatever it took to bring the gold back home. It’s a tremendous underlying story for Hangman’s character, who has struggled with his self-confidence. The winner likely gets MJF at Full Gear.
Around the Ring
- WWE’s Day 1 event, originally scheduled for Atlanta on Jan. 1, has reportedly been cancelled, according to Wrestlenonics. It is not listed on WWE’s website under premium live events. Tickets had not been put on sale yet.
- MLW announced it has a new streaming partner in Pro Wrestling TV, beginning with the airing of Battle Riott on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. New episodes of ‘Fusion” will pick up on Nov. 10 at 8 p.m.
