Posted in: Mr. Tito Mr. Tito from the Retirement Home - Possible Issues with a Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H "Dream Match" By Mr. Tito May 1, 2012 - 10:42:51 PM

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So the Retirement Home for Internet Columnists is driving me crazy... I have a nurse threatening to give me yardwork if I don't improve during Arts & Crafts time even when I complain that my fingers hurt... That, and they have me wearing Depends... Meanwhile, all of my grandkids keep dropping by and asking me if I'll do an WWE Extreme Rules Pay Per View review. Come on, guys... Living on this Fixed Income doesn't allow me to afford all Pay Per Views, along with having to share the television with other retirees...

But, I can step away from Arts & Crafts time to write one more entry to continue the "Excellence in Column Writing" train down the tracks. Everywhere you go, its Brock Lesnar this, Brock Lesnar that. Since his return on the RAW following Wrestlemania 28, the wrestling spotlight is clearly on him and the backstage news will leak like there's no tomorrow... I've enjoyed Brock Lesnar's return and did catch his Extreme Rules match with John Cena, which was tremendous and ranks a very close #2 on my "Match of the Year" candidate list behind only Triple H vs. Undertaker from Wrestlemania 28.

In hindsight, though, I believe the WWE will long regret electing to make Brock Lesnar lose at Extreme Rules. As a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, he shouldn't lose in his first match. WWE would have been perfectly fine having Brock Lesnar win that match while John Cena would have been received merit for an incredible losing effort. If I were booking Brock Lesnar, I would have Lesnar dominant at first, but then WWE wrestlers ADAPT to him and then with time, Brock Lesnar's character develops an ego that begins to weaken his UFC fighting skills in the pro wrestling ring. Instead, however, this feels like Vince McMahon wanted to take a shot at Dana White and Ultimate Fighting Championship to have the #1 WWE guy defeat the former #1 UFC guy.

I actually wanted to write about Brock Lesnar two weeks ago, as I indicated on my Twitter account, @titowrestling. Everybody was talking about setting up John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar matches, maybe another Brock Lesnar vs. Rock match, and quite possibly more Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker matches (maybe with the "Streak" on the line at Wrestlemania 29, perhaps?). While the attention is on those dream matches, in addition to the WWE Management wanting to have Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton at the SummerSlam 2012 Pay Per View, there was one "Dream Match" that I thought everybody was overlooking, and the match NEVER happened aside from 3 Way match held in Australia in 2002 with the Rock.

The match I'm referring to, which based on the awesome events of RAW, is the possibility of finally seeing Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H.

But the real question is this: Can Triple H and Brock Lesnar do business? Going back to 2002-2004, both wrestlers were separated by brands (Triple H ruled RAW, Brock ruled Smackdown) and once the brand split occurred, it seemed like both Triple H and Brock's paths would never merge. But was that on purpose? As 2003 wore on, things became contentious backstage with Brock Lesnar as the politics, burnout, and a growing embarrassment of being a pro wrestler at his young age and wanting to pursue other avenues of athletics instead. As you've seen, Brock tried to join the National Football League and would eventually become a successful UFC fighter after 2004's WWE departure.

There were other things at play... For one, the competitiveness of the RAW vs. Smackdown brand split. When the brand split occurred, Stephanie McMahon and her future husband, Triple H, had a stranglehold on the RAW brand (along with a few other flunky writers) while Paul Heyman put in charge of the Smackdown brand. There were two competing interests for Vince McMahon's affections, especially as Heyman's Smackdown began to regularly defeat RAW in viewership. During 2002-2004, there were 2 legitimate competing brands and NOT the dominant RAW with Smackdown as its farm system that you see now through 2012. Smackdown thrived with Brock Lesnar as its main star, Undertaker and Big Show pushing Brock to his limits in HOSS matches, while the "Smackdown 6" (Angle/Edge/Rey Mysterio Jr./Chris Benoit/Eddie & Chavo Guerrero) delighted crowds with many exciting singles and tag match-ups.

The competition of the RAW and Smackdown brands between 2002-2003 actually made for some great shows and somewhat of a rebound after the embarrassing WCW/ECW Invasion of 2001. However, it made for a very tense backstage as Smackdown began to dominate in viewers. In fact, there appeared to be a movement to sabotage Smackdown as more and more meddling efforts by the McMahons occurred with the Smackdown brand. For example, if you see Lord Tensai now, he was a HOSS named Albert but was rebranded as "A-Train" and attempted to be pushed hard during 2003. Stephanie was the General Manager of Smackdown, enough said. And of course, who could forget Mr. America, err Hulk Hogan and the never ending Hogan vs. Vince McMahon feud.

By early 2004, Paul Heyman was out as Smackdown head writer (as memory serves, maybe moved to a consultant role), and by Wrestlemania 20 during 2004, Brock Lesnar was soon out of the WWE. The Smackdown brand took a major hit and by 2005 when John Cena was moved from the Smackdown roster to the RAW roster, the final nail in the coffin was hammered. Smackdown would soon die a slow death and it would become the RAW farm system show that you see on the SyFy Channel now. What a shame.

This is the environment that Brock Lesnar operated in during 2002-2004. But then, other factors appeared to set him off. As a writer for LordsofPain.net during the PEAK WWF Attitude Era years, I was blessed with not only having a large audience of readers, but attention for actual pro wrestlers themselves. Some would actually publicly take shots at me directly on their websites or audio shows, while many others would actually send me with feedback directly via email. With that, I actually had some access to WWE personnel, namely 1 midcard wrestler and 1 road agent who both used to hammer me because of my column but would then become trusted sources of information to help validate many things I posted in my columns.

Both of my sources were thick into the Brock Lesnar situation that year. During 2002, both told me that the WWE Locker room was very disgusted with the special treatment deals that Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall received for 2002. All 3 received nice $$$ deals that kept their appearances mostly limited to television and Pay Per Views only. Many thought that these 3 would be the "exception" to the rule, as Houseshow wrestling and additional promotional appearances are expected of almost all wrestlers... But then Bill Goldberg signed another special treatment deal of only TV shows and Pay Per Views during 2003. This reportedly set Brock Lesnar off, as he was knee deep into the Houseshow circuit and another ghost of WCW's past was getting special treatment instead of him. Lesnar began to verbally tell others that he wanted this kind of star treatment, too.

Lesnar was very vocal backstage, especially as 2003 went on. He became critical of WWE Management on how he was being used or featured not just on Smackdown, but for the WWE in general as its biggest star. There was always a sense that despite Smackdown receiving more viewers, it was still considered the "2nd" show after the "flagship" RAW. I cannot tell you who of WWE Management that Brock was directly critical of, but I have heard that the likes of Stephanie McMahon and Triple H have major rabbit-ear syndrome. It is WELL understood that wrestlers should NEVER voice their opinion against Triple H/Stephanie, as both take everything said about them very personally and through series of narcs, things said gets back to them. I wouldn't doubt that some of Brock's criticisms of WWE Management made their way back to Triple H/Stephanie.

In particular, he was critical of wrestling the Undertaker. Although the Undertaker did Lesnar a few favors, Brock got the sense that the WWE was pushing for the Undertaker, NOT Lesnar, to become the #1 star of the Smackdown brand. When the WWE brought back the "Deadman" character of the Undertaker, they were intent on pushing the Undertaker hard on the Smackdown roster. Reportedly, after Wrestlemania 20, Brock Lesnar was scheduled to not only wrestle the Undertaker, again, but the Undertaker was going over with the new Deadman gimmick returning. A burned out Brock Lesnar by early 2004 had enough.

From all that I've heard, many wrestlers had issues with Brock backstage. He just wasn't "one of the guys", as he often kept to himself and was close to just a select few wrestlers. Many fellow wrestlers were put off by Lesnar, especially as his success grew and grew. Many wrestlers thought that Brock was too greedy in spite of the perceived non-stop push that he received since joining from Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2002. There was a growing backstage backlash against him not only by WWE management hearing secondhand stories of his complaints, but by fellow wrestlers who were put off by his individualism and the lack of appreciation for the push afforded to him.

There was something there between Brock Lesnar's growing disdain for choosing the WWE as his profession and the WWE management whom he was complaining about. After Brock left the WWE in 2004, many legal battles stemmed from Lesnar's no-compete clause that, in my opinion, seemed more personal than just business. Though I cannot pinpoint a direct confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Triple H, just the complaints about WWE management and the clear wall of separation between HHH and Brock makes for a great assumption. After the Undertaker feud was supposed to happen after Wrestlemania 20, there were no plans for any DRAFT movement for Brock Lesnar to be traded to the RAW roster. Seems like he was going to be stuck on Smackdown and Triple H would remain on RAW.

Brock's abrupt exit after Wrestlemania 20 in 2004 and growing dislike for being a pro wrestler makes his 2012 WWE return quite interesting. He has reportedly negotiated a very lucrative deal (I've seen as high as $5 million for the 1 year deal) which includes limited TV appearances and Pay Per Views. The very thing he complained about during 2002-2004, he has thus received. Creatively, we'll see where he stands as PWInsider reported that Brock Lesnar WENT OFF when John Cena made a speech to the Chicago crowd after their match at Extreme Rules instead of Cena selling the injuries from the match. I actually understand where Brock is coming from, but professionalism should have ruled the day with a closed door meeting with Brock, Vince McMahon, and John Cena to possibly issue a punishment towards Cena for not fully doing his job after the match (i.e. selling the injuries). (NOTE: Although, reports are now suggesting that Brock's "going off" was a work... Shades of Vince Russo "smart" storylines!)

And now, all roads are leading towards a Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar match. Two alpha males with huge egos and their own perception on how their roles in pro wrestling should be defined. If you watch the way Triple H cooled CM Punk's push last year, you'll see how Triple H can suffocate a big star that isn't a particular darling of WWE management. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar is a DREAM MATCH that many would want to see but could go down as disappointing match-ups, such as weak Triple H vs. Bill Goldberg matches that didn't deliver well during 2003 due to a similar clash of alpha male personalities.

I could be in the minority here, but I worry that Brock Lesnar won't last a full year in the WWE based on his 2002-2004 past and for the simple fact that if things don't go Brock Lesnar's perceived way, he can just walk away. Brock has made a nice $ mint in his MMA/pro wrestling career of just the last 10 years and could easily coast on personal appearance fees from his impressive success in both avenues. I sense a mutual separation between the WWE and Brock Lesnar occurring by year-end due to internal differences, and sadly, it could deny New York Fans one more time to chant "you sold out" before his contract expires after Wrestlemania 29.

10 THINGS I THINK