What was your reaction when Lesnar became champ in 2002?

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

If there are any people in this forum that were watching wrestling in 2002, I'd like to know how you felt when Brock Lesnar won the title at Summerslam after beating The Rock clean and the proceeded to beat The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match, also clean.

How did you feel seeing a rookie, win the WWE Championship?

Also, do you think that, that move, affected the WWE, bussiness/TV wise, at the time?

 

[Alastor]

He look and was a legit badass. Didn't mind it. Fuck this paying dues thing in wrestling among the fanbase in the 2010s. His catchphrase was used as the name of one of the better wrestling games.

The move and subsequent departure of Lesnar probably affected Vince's decision to push any guy to the top of the card. Fear that the next top guy could just use WWE's reach as a stepping stone to more lucrative career in entertainment.

TV wise it was probably bad since Lesnar was too green to carry shows without extra care on how he is being handled.

 

[OYDK]

I thought Brock Lesnar was great right from when he first stepped into a WWE ring. Not only that, but the dude was impressive in a number of ways... His look was better than Roman Reigns' is now, every time he stepped in the ring during his rookie run he made an impression, he was great in the ring from early on, and above all, he had Paul Heyman who basically alleviated the one position that could have seriously hurt Brock's rise, promo skills.

I remember watching him in a match with the Hardy's (might have been his debut match), where both Matt and Jeff just tee off on Lesnar's head with chairs, and he still stayed on his feet. This was the moment where I knew that Lesnar was going to be special... he was too damn imposing and impressive not to be. I didn't expect him to be champ within 6 months of his debut though. After he won KOTR, I kind of knew from that point that Lesnar was going to beat The Rock, because rumors were flying everywhere about The Rock's imminent departure from the WWE. Still, it shocked me to see it happen, but I wasn't disappointed in the least as I thought Lesnar was actually ready to be champ. Everything that happened from then on didn't necessarily surprise me as by that point, it was pretty obvious that WWE was going with Lesnar as their next poster boy and the mega push was bound to follow.

As for how it affected business? I believe that Lesnar drew pretty well as WWE Champ and his feud with Kurt Angle brought a lot of eyes to Smackdown. As for how it affected TV... Lesnar didn't want to travel a full schedule (Raw and Smackdown) as champ, so the World Heavyweight Championship was eventually brought into the fold. Who knows, if Lesnar had never complained we may never have even got the WHC.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I thought "here is the future of the company, the guy who is going to be THE MAN for the next decade".

He was fucking amazing when he debuted. Awesome look, incredible power, so fast and the F5 was incredible.

The HIAC with 'Taker was so impressive for a guy so inexperienced. Brock was (and still is) a physical freak. He could probably have gone for Worlds Strongest Man if he'd focused on that sport instead of wrestling, he's that good of an athlete.

 

[Miko]

"This guys a beast, but for some reason I just can't get into him at the moment." *Switch TV off and stop watching for years*

I don't think that was an uncommon point of view either. Lesnar NOW however, can't get enough of the guy.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I thought "here is the future of the company, the guy who is going to be THE MAN for the next decade".

He was fucking amazing when he debuted. Awesome look, incredible power, so fast and the F5 was incredible.

The HIAC with 'Taker was so impressive for a guy so inexperienced. Brock was (and still is) a physical freak. He could probably have gone for Worlds Strongest Man if he'd focused on that sport instead of wrestling, he's that good of an athlete.

This plus the fact that it was clear this was a human being who could flat out go either in a brawl (ala vs. Taker), a technical bout (Angle) or a power war (Hogan, Big Show).

It was clear he was like nothing we'd seen before.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting and expecting his push to end. I couldn't believe the level of stars they were feeding him. It was like Vince was sacrificing the whole AE for him. It really was a point where I started to lose interest in wrestling pretty rapidly. I don't totally blame Lesnar, life got in the way as well but there was something about his booking that rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Miko]

I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting and expecting his push to end. I couldn't believe the level of stars they were feeding him. It was like Vince was sacrificing the whole AE for him. It really was a point where I started to lose interest in wrestling pretty rapidly. I don't totally blame Lesnar, life got in the way as well but there was something about his booking that rubbed me the wrong way.

I think this is exactly what happened to me

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

I was all in on Lesnar from the jump. By the time he came on the scene in mid 2002 the writing was on the wall for Attitude Era greats Austin and Rock. For different reasons it was clear that they were coming to an end of full time work. Trips was back from injury and still on top but he was never a top guy, and Taker was around but he was never a top guy either. Angle was probably the closest thing to a full time top guy by the time Lesnar arrived and while he was good and I have always been a fan of Angle's he was not a top guy like Rock or Austin.

Even though Brock was pushed hard and fast it never seemed too much to me. His size and athleticism plus his amateur background which lead to his good in ring work were enough for me to get behind.

If you re watch that SummerSlam were Brock beats Rock for the title you can hear the crowd cheer for Brock because I think most everyone was ready for a change.

 

[Galvatron]

I had no problem with Brock winning the Undisputed Championship that fast at all. I was pissed that Jericho was losing to Flair on Summerslam after headlining Wrestlemania 4 months earlier. Pretty much 2002 to 2005 was just me being pissed about how they booked Jericho. I loved Brock's first run in WWE until the match with Goldberg where they didn't give a fuck.

 

[braveh]

at that time I was so busy in college that I didn't have time to watch raw.or smackdown but I remember watching desire and velocity and all they showed was attitude era highlights with austin, rock, taker, angle.....but no Brock. kind of weird if you think about it.

I think it was.Dave Lagana who produced all those early Lesnar video packages, and he basically said that, Brock was his ticket to. the influential writer position.

 

[L@RISANO]

Brock Lesnar is a one of a kind, freak of nature, and that alone made his push legit, lMO. I remember when Here Comes the Pain! came out on PS2, and Brock was the easiest character to play with and was virtually unbeatable, and the thing is, you couldn't fault the makers for giving him such high stats because he is and has always been That Good!

 

[BaconBits]

I didn't really have one. I had taken a break from wrestling through most of his first run. In fact, I took a break from wrestling from 2001ish or so until 2007ish. After watching a lot of his first run on the Network, though, I get the feeling that Cena wouldn't be nearly as huge as he is now had Brock never left.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

From what I saw I was all for Lesnar becoming champ and I don't recall being really bothered by him beating everyone under the sun although the pacing could have been a lot better, within the span of a year he beat literally EVERYONE on the Smackdown roster and I don't think he needed to plow through everyone quite that quickly, especially since he was champ within 5-6 months of debuting and had plenty of challengers lined up. One thing I will say though is even though Lesnar was a rookie I still perceived him as a top guy when he fought Rock at Summerslam '02 and although the booking of Lesnar was fast it worked given what Lesnar brought to the table. Even though Lesnar's booking after winning the title was a bit ridiculous I had no problems with his booking before then.

Overall I have always been a big fan of Lesnar, he's a legit freak of nature and guys like that tend to fit pretty well in the world of wrestling, even more so when that freak is in his early to mid 20's and can seemingly do anything.

 

[Dirk]

Lesnar who?

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

I'd like to know how you felt when Brock Lesnar won the title at Summerslam after beating The Rock clean

It's been a while but I'm almost certain Heyman interferes with a chair in the match

 

[Shocky]

From day one Lesnar was going to be the guy. Even as a rookie, he physically was superior to anyone from the AE. I think the success of a "real guy" like Angle in 2000 helped Lesnar get over more.