Lesnar vs Cena at Extreme Rules 2012Brock Lesnar is considered to be one of the best wrestlers in WWE history. He isn’t as technically-sound as Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Finn Balor or CM Punk, but Lesnar has consistently carried feuds with his wrestling prowess and demonstrative attitude.Lesnar’s physique isn’t the only thing that puts him over the top with the WWE Universe, but rather his wrestling skill. He’s faced off against Kurt Angle, CM Punk and John Cena. Two of those opponents were in the last three years, but they were the best showcases of wrestling in his history.Even though Lesnar has had his fair share of success, it hasn’t been all good times. Lesnar has botched as well. Generally, every wrestler makes mistakes. Even the greats like Punk or Benoit botched in their careers. Unlike Eva Marie, not every botch is blatant. Throughout his storied history as a WWE superstar, Lesnar’s botches have been as impactful as his successes in the industry.Here are five botches in Brock Lesnar’s WWE career as the first one isn’t necessarily a botch, but rather a move that shouldn’t have been used in the first place. This one instance made one of Lesnar’s signature moves look flat.
#1 Brock Lesnar\'s Kimura Lock
Brock Lesnar wasn’t just an NCAA Heavyweight champion and a WWE champion. The Beast Incarnate made an impact in the UFC too.
Within five fights into his UFC career, Lesnar became the UFC Heavyweight champion. He defeated Frank Mir at UFC 100 to reclaim his belt and continued to dominate his opponents. Until his ultimate loss to Cain Velasquez, Lesnar was fighting with diverticulitis.
That said, Lesnar should’ve retained the skills from his UFC days. During his comeback post-2012, he used the Kimura Lock as a signature manoeuvre. During this clip, Lesnar was in a match against Mark Henry. Lesnar put Henry into the Kimura Lock, but it was lazily applied and the arm never bent back, even slightly. Just like Stone Cold complaining that Cena doesn’t lock the arm during his “STF” submission hold, Lesnar needed to apply it harder.
#2 Brock Lesnar/John Cena Brawl On Raw
This brawl was a great moment in the last decade in WWE programming. When Lesnar returned to WWE television in 2012, it was an unforeseen comeback for one of the best superstars of this generation.
It was especially surprising post his departure after WrestleMania 20. So, the Beast feuded with John Cena when he came back. The next week, the behemoths brawled before their encounter at Extreme Rules.
During the brawl, Lesnar caught Cena with one of his punches. It ended up creating a great image of Cena’s bloody face grinning back at his opponent. While this botch didn’t degrade the moment, that wasn’t reported as the planned move. It’s nothing like these next three botches by Lesnar that could’ve seriously hurt the former WWE champion and others.
#3 Brock Lesnar\' Springboard at Extreme Rules
As seen in the video above at approximately 1:25, Brock Lesnar had the opportunity to prove why he’s not just a man with huge muscles who couldn’t perform high-risk moves.
Lesnar surveyed the landscape of the squared circle and took the jump for a springboard off the top rope. It wasn’t only the corner, as Cena was attempting to get back on the canvas. The Beast Incarnate made his jump and immediately crashed to the floor. At first sight, Lesnar nearly broke his neck, which wasn’t the first time that happened in his career.
He completely missed Cena and botched the move. A few minutes later, Lesnar got up and finished the match. While this wasn’t as dangerous as the last two botches on this list, Lesnar went for a high-risk move and simply slipped on the ropes. He was one bad move away from implicating his career.
#4 Brock Lesnar\'s F5 to A-Train
This was during Brock Lesnar’s first original run in the WWE. When wrestlers are younger, mistakes are bound to happen.
It’s not to the fault of their own, but when Lesnar lifted up A-Train for the F5, he went down harder than anticipated. In a similar situation to Owen Hart’s piledriver to Stone Cold Steve Austin’s, Lesnar’s F5 can be dangerous. Although, nobody was hurt by it before and even till date.
A-Train is a heavier opponent. During Lesnar’s current run, he’s only put the Big Show and Mark Henry in his finisher that were bigger than him. Other than that, nobody has been put in that situation. Lesnar’s track record shows that he isn’t a dangerous wrestler. He’s actually one of the safest workers. This was an instance of a freak accident, quite like Lesnar’s biggest botch.
#5 Brock Lesnar\'s Shooting Star Press At WrestleMania
This isn’t only Brock Lesnar’s worst botched move, but rather one of the most-horrifying botches in WWE history.
It’s similar to Lita’s outside dive to Trish Stratus. She landed on her head as it buckled forward. The same thing happened to Lesnar against Kurt Angle. On this night, Lesnar broke his neck after attempting to hit a beautiful shooting star press from the top rope. Lesnar’s athletic ability made the move possible, so the former-WWE champion decided to try it that evening.
With Angle being one the most-gifted wrestlers in WWE history, he would’ve done his job and supported Lesnar when he landed. Unfortunately, Lesnar landed just short of Angle’s body. Whenever the Pittsburgh-native moved aside, the referee immediately checked on Lesnar to see if he was okay. He did go on to be alright and he even finished the match. Brock Lesnar has far-less botches than most WWE stars, but these five were highlighted in his career as unfortunate moments for the Beast Incarnate.
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