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Repetitive narratives have somewhat become WWE's forte. Its intention is to draw out a story line and make it feel more legit. However, most of the times, it leads to a stale product which draws the audience away from watching the weekly episodic shows, Raw and SmackDown Live.
One of the most commonplace images in the WWE is Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Universal Championship. On one hand, due to the sheer stature of the individual, he makes the Universal Championship feel more and more important. On the other hand, his disappearance from the weekly episode shows actually undermines the legitimacy of the title.
Most importantly, WWE has shown the same narrative a number of times over the years. Just to give some perspective, in the 1086-day history of the Universal Championship, Brock Lesnar had held the title for a combined 659 days over two reigns.
WWE has once again told the same story at Extreme Rules 2019 as after much speculation, Lesnar finally cashed-in his Money In The Bank contract against Seth Rollins to conclude the pay-per-view by embarking on a third championship reign.
However, this time, the significance and relevance of the victory is much different than all those other times in the past. In fact, this is good decision-making on the part of WWE. Let us look at the reasons why.
#3 Complementing Paul Heyman's stint as the Executive Director of Raw
In June 2019, WWE announced Paul Heyman as the Executive Director of Raw. However, so far, the role has not been a part of the narrative on Raw. With a genius like Paul Heyman in such a role, WWE would not want to keep him sidelined from the weekly story lines for much longer.
Brock Lesnar's third reign as the WWE Universal Championship presents an opportunity for Heyman to be directly involved in the story lines. He could play the authority figure who creates obstacles in each and every way for any individual who aspires to challenge his client for the Universal Championship. Although this is a narrative that has been retold a number of times in the past, the wrestling acumen and promo skills of Paul Heyman will give it a whole new dimension.
For a number of months, Raw's ratings have suffered due to the portrayal of heel authority figures who are not acceptable to the fans. Hence, increased involvement from Heyman could help in making amends for the previous flaws in the story lines, and also provide legitimacy and importance to each and every episode of Raw going forward.
#2 Improving the ratings for Raw
For months now, the flagship show of WWE, Monday Night Raw, has been struggling with poor or below average ratings. After a slight increase in the ratings following the announcement of Paul Heyman's appointment as the Executive Director, the show has once again witnessed a dip in its ratings.
It is absolutely necessary for WWE to break this pattern of sub-par TV ratings for a sustainable run. It was expected that the portrayal of a top baby-face, Seth Rollins, as the Universal Champion would shore up the ratings. However, his championship reign did not live up to those expectations.
Hence, with Brock Lesnar appearing more frequently on Raw than ever before, it was only a matter of time before he was going to reclaim the Universal Championship. Despite all the criticism he has faced for his limited appearances and his well-known lack of love for professional wrestling, there is no doubt that Brock Lesnar is the biggest star in all of WWE right now. His presence attracts attention and eyeballs to the product as a whole.
Therefore, assuming that Lesnar would appear more frequently on Raw, giving him the Universal Championship is WWE's best bet towards improving the floundering TV ratings.
#1 Opening up of different possibilities
Brock Lesnar's victory at Extreme Rules 2019 has opened up a plethora of possibilities for Raw as a whole.
Despite the proven qualities of Seth Rollins as the face of the brand, his Universal Championship reign was turning out to be underwhelming. His feud with Baron Corbin did not help his cause as the fans were simply not interested in investing their time in it. The situation got even murkier with the involvement of Rollins' real-life girlfriend and Raw Women's Champion, Becky Lynch, in the story line.
Hence, things needed to change and the best person to bring about that change was Brock Lesnar. This now gives an opportunity for WWE to press restart on a number of elements.
Seth Rollins may get the required time to reclaim and regain his spot as the top babyface of the company with a fresh approach. The involvement of Becky Lynch has most probably been taken out of the equation as well.
Furthermore, WWE may also push another wrestler to feud with Brock Lesnar. A good quality feud with Lesnar has always been a sure-shot way of establishing the legitimacy and credibility of any wrestler, be it Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Finn Bálor or Seth Rollins himself.
Hence, WWE might think of pushing a fresh wrestler to feud with Brock Lesnar. The most immediate choices for that would be Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley, both of whom have established themselves as credible challengers through their recent feud.
Possibilities are aplenty and it is entirely up to WWE on how they capitalize on it. After all, Brock Lesnar is one of the best wrestlers ever to set foot inside the squared circle.
