Dr. Wrestling:Lesnar, Goldberg, and Jericho

The past few weeks have certainly been interesting for both former and returning WWE stars. Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg, and Chris Jericho have all made headlines. Let’s start with Brock Lesnar, who retired from mixed martial arts after just eight fights. To understand Lesnar’s path into MMA, you have to look back at his departure from the WWE. Lesnar debuted in 2002 and was given a major push and won the WWE title five months later. Lesnar was a main event star for roughly a year and a half when he had a good series of matches with Kurt Angle, including the infamous botched shooting star press at Wrestlemania. Lesnar didn’t want to travel and despite being a top star, he left the WWE. Looking for another career, Lesnar, with no football experience, tried to join the Minnesota Vikings, but didn’t make the team. Eventually Lesnar would go to Japan, where he would compete for New Japan Pro Wrestling and he won the IWGP Heavyweight title. He had a relatively short run in Japan and it was reported that Lesnar did not want to drop the title. Lesnar, who was an amateur wrestling champion, was running out of options and MMA was gaining popularity so Lesnar debuted in the sport a few years ago. He signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and became one of the promotion’s biggest stars, despite not being a true mixed martial artist. Let’s be honest here, Lesnar’s opportunities in MMA were because of his time in the WWE and his UFC career yielded mixed results, including being destroyed in his last two fights. Yes, Lesnar was the UFC Heavyweight champion, but as soon as the level of competition in the division became more legitimate, Lesnar was exposed as a wrestler that had fundamental problems in the striking aspect of the sport as well as not being able to take a punch, which is almost a necessity in MMA. Is Lesnar an unbelievable athlete? Without a doubt. Does that mean he was a legitimate MMA fighter? No, it doesn’t. Depending on the prospective and some Lesnar fans might disagree with this, but it seems as though Lesnar hasn’t maintained success on the pro level in any of his sports ventures. That’s not to say he wasn’t successful because he certainly garnered fame from his career, but he only wrestled in the WWE for two years, didn’t make the Minnesota Vikings, had a short stint in Japan, and had a total of eight fights in his MMA career. Who knows what Lesnar does next, but I doubt you will see him back in the WWE for a variety of reasons. He made alot of money fighting in the UFC and probably doesn’t need a pay check from Vince McMahon. Also, if Lesnar were to return to a scripted sport, it could suggest that he couldn’t make it in the competitive sport of MMA so he went back to the WWE.

Speaking of Lesnar’s return to the ring, Bill Goldberg posted on Twitter that he would wrestle him in another match, but I really doubt the match will take place. Lesnar doesn’t need a pay check from Vince McMahon and after a lack luster run in WWE, I don’t think Goldberg would resign with the company. In all fairness to Goldberg, I don’t know if the WWE really booked him in a way that he could be successful. That’s not to say that they wanted him to be a flop, but for someone that always needed someone to help carry him in a match in WCW, Goldberg was booked as if he was going to carry matches, which he didn’t do at any point in his career. When Goldberg debuted in the WWE, he had a match against The Rock at Backlash, which was a way to showcase him to the WWE audience and The Rock could carry the match, but during his actual title run in the WWE, Goldberg was booked in matches against Mark Henry, Batista, and other opponents that couldn’t carry him in a match. It also didn’t help that Goldberg’s run in the WWE took place when Triple H’s terrible title reign, including the infamous five minute match in the Elimination Chamber at Summer Slam to win the title. So, why did the WWE book Goldberg in less than successful storylines? It’s probably because the WWE didn’t make Goldberg a star and they didn’t want a former WCW wrestler to outshine the WWE roster. The botched return of ECW is more evidence of the WWE trying to bury something that was successful for another promotion. Does that mean Goldberg could have been successful in the WWE? No, but it would have been interesting to see what Goldberg could have done in the WWE if he was booked in a way that would have showcased his skills.

Chris Jericho returned to the WWE last week on Raw and was the “surprise” that was mentioned for weeks using a cryptic video. As far as the video, it almost has a “been there, done that” type of element because Jericho’s previous return to the company was done using a cryptic video and this time, despite Jericho attempting to keep his return a surprise, most fans, including those in the audience at Raw, knew it was Jericho returning to the WWE. Jericho ran around the ring for ten minutes without saying anything and even this past week on Raw, there’s still not any explanation of the video or any indication of what storyline Jericho will be booked so at least as of right now, Jericho’s return has been somewhat flat. His current run in the WWE could become really good, considering the options for potential major matches, but his actual return was completely flat didn’t get nearly the same reaction from the crowd as his previous return to the company. It seems like there could be a heel turn for Jericho and at this point in his career, he should probably go directly into a main event feud. A Jericho/CM Punk feud could be great and a potential Wrestlemania match for the WWE title. As the storyline continues, I think Jericho will have another successful run in the company and Jericho back on the roster will help continue to improve the product, which has generally been solid over the past few months.

Until next week

That’s My Story and I’m Sticking To It

Dr. Wrestling

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