{"id":64844,"date":"2018-08-20T16:57:42","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T21:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=64844"},"modified":"2018-08-20T16:57:42","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T21:57:42","slug":"editorial-why-you-will-miss-brock-lesnar-starting-tonight-on-monday-night-raw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/08\/20\/editorial-why-you-will-miss-brock-lesnar-starting-tonight-on-monday-night-raw\/","title":{"rendered":"EDITORIAL: Why you will miss Brock Lesnar starting tonight on Monday Night Raw"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-453591488\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>On Aug. 19, we saw Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns 4. This will likely end up being their last contest. All those who criticized Lensar\u2019s schedule will have the Universal Title on Raw every week (in theory). While I am excited for that concept (which we have not seen since Kevin Owen\u2019s subpar reign), I am also saddened because it will be the end of that title\u2019s level of prestige.<\/p>\n<p>Not a single member of the Raw roster posed a threat to Lesnar. He beat them all. Braun Strowman came close, but only got one shot. Therefore, his time with the belt has placed the Universal Title on an enormous pedestal. With Reigns as champion now, it will again be on a man who can be toppled. Exciting as the concept is, I\u2019m not looking forward to the future.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, the title will begin to run through other Raw wrestlers who don\u2019t need to even sniff the championship scene. Soon, inevitably, Finn Balor for example will have his turn. (Let\u2019s say it happens summer 2019.) And we will call that rock bottom.<\/p>\n<p>Why?<\/p>\n<p>Not because he cannot wrestle.<\/p>\n<p>Not because he isn\u2019t a good worker.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019ll be because one year prior, Finn would have stood no chance of getting that title. Instead we will again have a champion who is more popular than believable. This isn\u2019t to say undersized guys can\u2019t be champion; quite the opposite. There are two kinds of lighter \u201cheavyweight\u201d champions:<\/p>\n<p>Rey Mysterio and A.J. Styles<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-191328304\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Mysterio\u2019s WWE Title reign happened because he was popular. WWE wanted to ride the wave and were thoroughly booked into a corner with larger opponents. When time came, he could not realistically have a title match with super heavyweights. His title loss ended up looking like a squash. Rock bottom of the WWE title (no, Great Khali was not rock bottom.)<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s A.J. Styles: an undersized wrestler (compared to super heavyweights) who has a style and moveset that makes him reasonably appear to be a threat. Same goes for your Daniel Bryans of the world. Their grind to the top is complemented by a style that can reasonably and potentially fend off any other wrestler. For the record, we all harp on John Cena and Reigns for the Five Moves of Doom, but no one wants to call out Balor on his Four Moves of Doom (dropkick, \u2018clothesline,\u2019 sling blade, Coup de Gras, repeat\u00a0 until the match is over)?<\/p>\n<p>I digress. But the same case could be made for other WWE Raw wrestlers &#8211; Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Dolph Ziggler. Guys who would not be a threat to Lesnar could somehow beat other wrestlers on the roster (save for Strowman and Bobby Lashley) and become universal champion. In fact, I can\u2019t wait until Strowman has the belt and gets \u201coutsmarted\u201d or pepper sprayed so that someone \u201cpopular\u201d can reasonably stand a chance against him and steal the title.<\/p>\n<p>We can only hope Raw will begin to build up wrestlers again.<\/p>\n<p>For over a year, we have been treated to a champion who was always a big deal, a champion who realistically walked around like an immoveable object. When the dust settles, however, and the Universal Title is finally circulating around Raw, we will all fondly remember a time when we were glued to the TV and wondered who would or even could topple The Beast.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT ARTICLE:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/08\/16\/collectibles-column-iconic-wrestling-t-shirts-and-their-action-figure-connections\/\">COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: Iconic Wrestling T-shirts and Their Action Figure Connections<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-668276545\"><div id=\"pwtor-4003289136\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>On Aug. 19, we saw Brock Lesnar-Roman Reigns 4. This will likely end up being their last contest. All those who criticized Lensar\u2019s schedule will have the Universal Title on Raw every week (in theory). <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/08\/20\/editorial-why-you-will-miss-brock-lesnar-starting-tonight-on-monday-night-raw\/\" title=\"EDITORIAL: Why you will miss Brock Lesnar starting tonight on Monday Night Raw\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-guesteditorials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/LesnarBrockTB_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64844"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64845,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64844\/revisions\/64845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}