On this past week’s episode of SmackDown Live, “The Beast Incarnate” emerged from out of nowhere and laid out a huge challenge to the WWE Champion Kofi Kingston for Friday, October 4th. The former Universal Champion left Kofi in a heap after a thunderous F5, sending his message loud and clear that his days as champion are numbered.
It makes perfect sense that WWE would want a marquee name such as Lesnar’s to be the new face of Smackdown when it debuts this month on FOX. A historic match on the debut episode will bring in millions of new viewers to the product.
Now the question is this: Do WWE need to make Lesnar the WWE Champion again, or is Kofi a strong enough champion to usher in the new era of Friday Night Smackdown? In order to answer this complicated question, we need to discuss the pros and cons of Lesnar winning the WWE Title.
Pro: Brock Lesnar is a Box-office Attraction
Having Brock Lesnar, a three-time Universal Champion and the youngest WWE Champion in company history, holding the top championship on a new show on a brand-new network will gain more viewership and increase television ratings. At Money in the Bank, Lesnar shocked the world and won the briefcase which created enough buzz for the WWE Universe to watch Raw the following night.
That night with speculation of Lesnar cashing-in to become a three-time Universal Champion, the show rating increased to 2.521 million viewers. People from all over the world tune it to see what “The Beast Incarnate” will do next.
Con: A stab in the back to Kofi Kingston
If Brock Lesnar comes in and just squashes Kofi on Friday, WWE is basically telling Kofi that he’s not on the same level as someone like Brock Lesnar. Kofi has had a great title run so far, defeating the likes of Dolph Ziggler, Samoa Joe, and most recently “The Viper” Randy Orton, delivering some of the best performances of his career.
It will negate all of Kofi’s promos and prove all of his doubters right.
Ever since Kofi defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35, he has received a ton of negativity and criticism about him not belonging in the same category as John Cena, Orton, Triple H and a plethora of other former WWE Champions. It doesn’t matter how successful or dominant Kofi has been in his title defense, he is still considered beneath his challengers.
If this match goes exactly how it appears then all of the negative comments and doubts will be proven right.
Pro: Brock Lesnar puts on great main events
WWE
If you look back at some of his past title defenses, you can see that when Lesnar wants to put on a great match, he can. If you don’t believe me, go back and watch the 2017 SummerSlam Fatal-4-Way where he defended his Universal Championship against Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, and Braun Strowman.
From start to finish it was nonstop high-octane action and it’s dubbed as one of the best main events in SummerSlam history.
Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns is some of Lesnar’s best matches since his return in 2012. The WWE Universe may have hated all of Reigns’ championship opportunities, but both behemoths always delivered a hard-hitting match. Who could ever forget the most one-sided WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match in history where Lesnar obliterated the sixteen-time WWE champion John Cena to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion?
The fact remains no matter who’s the next poor soul to gain a free ticket to Suplex City, “The Beast Incarnate” always delivers a great match for a large audience and a ton of money.
Con: Kofi falls back into the mid-card title scene
After Kofi loses the WWE Championship, there’s about a 95% chance he won’t see it for a very long time. After all, it was only by happy accident thanks to Ali’s injury that Kofi was even given the spot in the 2018 men’s Elimination Chamber match.
Kofi has just started hitting his stride as champion, and taking the title off him prematurely will have serious long-lasting repercussions. More than likely, Kofi will be placed back into the mid-card scene where he’s spent the past eleven years. Of course, he could still mix it up with his New Day brothers and deliver show-stealing performances.
Pro: He shows up weekly or monthly
Daily Motion
If Lesnar doesn’t just show up on October 4th, win the WWE Championship and disappear then many up-and-coming young talents can be given the chance to stand up to him.
Superstars such as Ali, Buddy Murphy, and even Andrade would be fantastic opponents to face “The Beast Incarnate.” Not only would just going one-on-one with Lesnar be a huge rub for them, but imagine if someone like Ali scored a surprise victory over the former Universal Champion. For the first time in fourteen years, Lesnar will be back on Smackdown and the possibilities are endless for brand-new talent to be victimized by “The Beast Incarnate.”.
Con: Brock Lesnar kills Kofi Kingston’s momentum
At Clash of Champions, Kofi finally got his comeuppance by defeating his decade-long rival Randy Orton clean in the middle of the ring. Let me say this another way, Kofi Kingston defeated the thirteen-time WWE Champion who’s considered one of the best in the business clean. Lesnar showed up and laid Kofi out with one F5 just forty-eight hours after his dominant victory.
After the WWE Champion waved off Big E and Xavier Woods so he coukd handle his business all by himself, he was made to look extremely weak in a matter of seconds. Lesnar did the handshake fake-out reminiscent of his interaction Roman Reigns, John Cena and several others. WWE couldn’t have let the current WWE Champion hit a Trouble in Paradise before being dropped with an F5?
Why not? Because it’s Brock Lesnar and they have to make him look good heading into their one-on-one match in two weeks, even at the expense of making your WWE Champion look foolish for taking the bait and falling victim to an assault. Kofi cut many confident promos about how he’s going to retain, but the lasting image of him F5ed will be what everyone remembers.
Pro: He works tremendously against smaller opponents
Brock Lesnar versus Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar versus AJ Styles were incredible contests. Yes, the Universal Championship wasn’t defended, but Lesnar sold a hell of a lot for both guys and in losing neither Styles or Bryan lost momentum and the WWE Universe was on fire.
Ever since Lesnar made his shocking return to WWE in 2012, he has been a huge draw for Raw. Next Friday on the FOX debut episode, “The Beast Incarnate” makes his long-awaited return to the blue brand for the first time in fifteen years. If Lesnar wins the WWE Championship, he could find himself with fresh opponents such as Ali, Andrade, and even the current WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.
Con: Another reign of terror
I think this is the most dreaded reality the WWE Universe must come to grips with is that once Lesnar wins the WWE Championship, he’ll be gone from TV and so will the title for the first crucial months on FOX. WWE has to bring in high weekly television ratings every week or they will be pulled from the network.
Lesnar’s past three title reigns as the Universal Champion were the absolute worst. His title defenses outside of a few were predictable, the flagship show of the company was drowning because of not having their top champion on weekly television. Worst of all, because WWE was so hush about his contractual obligations, the WWE Universe had no earthly idea when Lesnar would show up or even defend it next.
Having Lesnar as the WWE Champion will bring the revenue and the numbers FOX is demanding from WWE, but the company will need to extremely careful not repeating the same old washed up formula. If they make this title change, Kofi is going to get the raw end of the deal and all this momentum will have been a waste.
It all comes down to this if Vince McMahon wants to have “The Beast Incarnate” as the WWE Champion. Buckle,up folks, the road to Suplex City is bumpy and painful.
Pro: Throwbacks
I feel like this last point is most crucial for Lesnar and it’s not entirely up to him, it’s up to WWE. If they allow Lesnar and he wants to bring back the wrestling style that he demonstrated in his initial run with the company, his title defenses won’t be the same boring simple formula of German Suplex, Clothesline, German Suplex, and F5. Perhaps Lesnar’s title defenses could become interesting and intriguing again.
In his initial run with the company, Lesnar would utilize a more technical wrestling style. He would perform maneuvers such as a devastating backbreaker, scoop powerslam, powerbomb, fisherman suplex, and who could forget the ‘Brock lock’ submission. At WrestleMania XIX Lesnar, went toe-to-toe with “The Olympic Gold Medalist” Kurt Angle in a phenomenal wrestling match that lasted over thirty minutes.
I’m sure Lesnar can’t perform exactly to that level anymore because of his diverticulitis, but he could at least adapt his wrestling style to change things up a bit.
So which side of the fence are you sitting on this Tuesday? Should Brock Lesnar walk away as the face of SmackDown Live once again? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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