At SummerSlam, we finally got the match 15 years in the making as the beast Brock Lesnar faced the viper Randy Orton. The match main-evented the four hour show and came after strong work from the likes of Finn Balor vs Seth Rollins. AJ Styles vs John Cena was also possibly the best match of the year, the closest thing to a five star match you’ll get this year. The pressure was on Brock and Randy to perform, despite only having about ten minutes to put on a main-event.
Did they deliver? Well it really depends on what type of match you were expecting from Brock and Randy. I was expecting a shortish match, probably not 10 minutes. I was expecting a Brock Lesnar match, with the destruction from Brock being the main focus. After all, Brock is the biggest draw of SummerSlam. People pay to see Brock decimate anyone. You could have put Brock in there with Braun Strowman, and people would simply be interested in Brock murdering those that stand in his way. Not to down-size Randy Orton’s stardom, but Orton being the main-event doesn’t have the same effect as Brock.
The match was booked to show off two things. One, Brock Lesnar is bad to the bone and is pure monster. Two, Randy Orton can take a hell of a beating. I would never exactly promote the idea of taking legitimate punches in a match just to make it better, let along taking legitimate punches and elbows from Brock Lesnar. However, the beating Randy took was certainly a bloody one at that. I would never claim that every Brock Lesnar match should have blood, but the fact that it did resulted in a element of danger that makes every Brock Lesnar must-see. Heck, Dave Meltzer reported and altercation between Brock and Chris Jericho after SummerSlam that apparently started as Jericho was concerned about Randy’s health.
You know what he can do in a legitimate fighting environment in UFC. If this were real, why wouldn’t Brock be as dominant in WWE? Why wouldn’t he destroy Randy Orton with hammer fist blows to the head, similarly to what he did to Mark Hunt in UFC 200? If you were expecting Brock to dominate like he dominated the likes of John Cena and Roman Reigns, this match was the match for you. Even Brock F5’ing Shane provided the feeling that Brock was uncontrollable.
However, there’s another side of the fence. There’s the fans that expected a lot more of a competitive match in the supposed main event of SummerSlam. Especially after AJ Styles and John Cena had the best match of the night, you’d expect more of a performance from Brock and Randy. It’s not like these two couldn’t have a competitive match or anything. Having sat through a four hour show (six hour show if you count the pre-show), I’d totally understand it if you felt let down.
Let’s discuss the finish of the match, with Brock getting a “TKO” victory over Randy Orton. I personally loved the finish, with fans actually telling me that they fought that Randy was legitimately knocked out. I’d like to think that I got the match that I expected and the finish that someone like Brock demanded.
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