Opinion: Brock Lesnar’s Performance at UFC 200 was Perfect for WWE

Unless you’re not a wrestling fan, or have been living under a rock for the past month, you are undoubtedly aware that Brock Lesnar was victorious in his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 this past Saturday night. Winning by unanimous decision 29-27, “The Beast Incarnate” proved, yet again, that he is a force to be reckoned with in both mixed martial arts, as well as sports entertainment.

Yet, as I was observing the fight, I was somewhat unimpressed by Lesnar’s performance inside of The Octagon. He seemed tentative for most of the fight, and only made a few significant maneuvers in order to try to take down his opponent.

However, as soon as the fight was over, and Lesnar’s hand was raised in victory, it hit me like a lightning bolt.

Brock Lesnar’s performance at UFC 200 was absolutely perfect for WWE and their storylines going forward.

Having watched the fight last night, as well as again today, it was clear that he was not dominant in his fight against Hunt. The statistics would tell you otherwise, as he had the upper hand in strikes (137-46), significant strikes (51-13), and takedowns (4/8 – 0/0).

However, the fight had an incredibly slow and lethargic pace to it, and except for a few brief moments in the first round where Lesnar showed great quickness in going after Hunt, the match lacked intensity and energy. At one point in the third round, the crowd was even booing because of the lack of excitement in the contest.

The may have been boing because of something else, but my feel was that they were generally disinterested in what was going on.

One of the big questions that was on a lot of people’s minds was what would happen if Lesnar was completely superior in the fight, and looked like an unstoppable human wrecking ball. Would it be at all believable that he would then return to WWE and lose to anyone on the roster?

The fact that his match was slow paced and somewhat mediocre, makes a loss to someone like Randy Orton or Kevin Owens completely plausible. In fact, either of those superstars, or anyone else WWE wanted to pit against “The Beast,” could take shots at his performance in the build up to their match.

My strong belief is that if Lesnar’s fight was completely one-sided in his favor, then the only other logical next course of action when he returned to WWE would be to win the world title. Could you possibly believe that a man who destroyed someone in a real fight, would lose in a scripted one?

Fortunately, however, WWE doesn’t have that problem, and they can now book Lesnar in several ways. He could come in and crush anyone in his path, and that would be acceptable. He could also lose, putting over the next generation of talent, and that would be legitimate as well.

Now, I understand that this is professional wrestling, and “The Beast” could always lose via disqualification, or some kind of screwy finish.

But, in an era that is considered more “real” than ever, and as much mainstream media attention that WWE has, there has to be a certain element of believability to what happens inside the squared circle. And if Lesnar would have completely overpowered Hunt, then it would have been really hard to believe that a guy who has no MMA training at all could take down one of the most bad-ass men on the planet.

WWE no longer has to worry about that problem, though, as Lesnar looked like a somewhat normal athlete inside The Octagon. And as far as Vince McMahon goes, that is absolutely best for business.

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