5 negatives from Brock Lesnar's 2017 run in WWE

Professional Wrestling is an industry based on the opinions of its fanbase. One man's triumph is another man's missed opportunity and as the WWE has learned over the years, you cannot please everybody.

Earlier this week we gave you 5 positives from Brock Lesnar's 2017 run in the WWE. Now in a piece that analyses things from a different perspective, we list some of the negatives as well.

How do you think the Universal Champion has fared in 2017? Be sure to have your say in the comments below!

#1 Consistently breaking the '30-day rule'

There may have been several highlights to Brock Lesnar's 2017, as we allude to in the following article, but one major issue has been his hands-off approach to actually representing the company despite being one of its major champions.

Since winning the Universal Championship at Wrestlemania 33, Lesnar has defended the belt just four times and has only appeared on a handful of episodes of Monday Night RAW along the way. While this has allowed the WWE to concentrate on other members of the roster, there is always something slightly lacking when the champion isn't seen for such long periods of time.

More than anything else, it reaffirms the idea that Brock plays by different rules to the rest of the roster. Back in 2014, Daniel Bryan's inability to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship due to injury forced him to relinquish the title, something the company made a huge storyline out of. And this is a rule the WWE will normally enforce whenever the champion's name is not Brock Lesnar.

At a time when the company desperately needs some new, fresh talent at the top of its roster, Lesnar has been denying his fellow RAW superstars a chance at holding the belt and the subsequent limelight. How much more effective would Samoa Joe or Braun Strowman's pushes have been if they were able to hold the Universal title over their shoulders, for example?

From a business standpoint, Vince is probably more in need of Lesnar than the other way round, but this doesn't take away from the fact that the hypocritical special treatment given to the Beast rubs a lot of us up the wrong way.

#2 Claiming he would leave if he lost the title at Summerslam

Making things too predictable. — Pointless stipulation.

As the WWE has shown over the years, there are many ways a storyline or feud can have the wind taken out of its sails. Normally, as with most things in life, the minute something becomes predictable, we tend to lose our emotional investment in it. Wrestling storylines are no different, and one such example in 2017 was the Summerslam main event that saw Brock Lesnar defend his Universal Championship in a Fatal Fourway.

In an unexpected and highly unnecessary announcement in the build-up to Summerslam 2017, Paul Heyman declared that should his client not retain his championship in the four-way match, he would leave WWE for good.

In Vince McMahon's eyes this was presumably a way to give an added layer of intrigue to the bout, but for the rest of us, it pretty much guaranteed Lesnar would be keeping the title.

Considering the Beast publically retired from UFC in February this year, it seemed an almost impossible prospect that he would also give up Professional Wrestling. Going into the match, the attempts by Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman felt all but futile. Yes, the match did deliver in a number of ways, but the excitement factor pertaining to the result had been stifled.

Heyman might be a genius when it comes to hyping up matches as must-see affairs, but on this occasion, he did a lot more harm than good.

#3 Losing his invincibility

When Brock Lesnar ended the Undertaker's undefeated streak at Wrestlemania 30, a lot of us were understandably angry. It wasn't just the fact that a part-timer had put an end to one of the most respected winning steaks in all of sport, but the storyline leading up to it did not seem nearly worthy enough either.

One positive that did come from the decision was that the company had a genuine monster in its main event scene again. After losses to John Cena and Triple H throughout the 2012-2013 period, fans weren't quite sure how to treat the Beast. After Mania 30, however, we knew exactly what we were dealing with.

Lesnar followed up his victory over the Deadman by destroying Cena at Summerslam 2014, winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the process. From that moment on, every time somebody stepped into the ring with Lesnar, it was almost guaranteed they would meet a bloody end.

The air that surrounded Brock during this period gave a different feel to the WWE and broke the monotony that existed in its main event scene. We all truly bought into the idea that the wrestling company had a genuinely dangerous fighter in its midst.

That is until Bill Goldberg made his return to the WWE, defeating the Beast in a matter of seconds at Survivor Series 2016. The former WCW Champion would then eliminate Lesnar in very short order at the Royal Rumble before finally losing to him at Mania 33.

While the feud with Goldberg did throw up many memorable moments, it definitely served to break the illusion that Lesnar was unstoppable. Seeing the likes of Samoa Joe or Braun Strowman gain a temporary upper hand against him during 2017 never really felt that special seeing as we had already witnessed the Beast on the back foot.

There's no doubt 2017 was still a successful year for Lesnar, but because of his rivalry with Goldberg, it never felt like a dominant one.

#4 Not bothering to utilise his mic skills

As far as Professional Wrestling double-acts go, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are definitely one of the most recognisable. Heyman might have done a variety of things in the business, but his recent career has essentially been all about advocating for the Beast.

In many ways, this is a golden arrangement for all involved. Heyman is permitted to utilise his highly advanced skills on the mic to represent one of the industry's biggest figures, and Lesnar is able to hide his rather weak mic skills and concentrate on being dominant inside the ropes.

And while this is a workable formula, for the most part, it does not come without its drawbacks. The reason why a WWE superstar needs good mic skills in order to be a main event talent is that they are able to make each rivalry feel a little different. Back when Stone Cold Steve Austin was the man for the WWF, for example, he would be able to employ a different verbal approach each time, addressing somebody like Vince McMahon in a different way to the Undertaker or The Rock.

Lesnar does not have this talent and instead relies on somebody who tends to deliver incredibly similar promos each time he speaks. There was no discernable difference between Lesnar's feud with Joe, Strowman or Styles for example. Heyman could have recycled his segments for each of them and we probably wouldn't have been able to tell.

Surely, after all these years, Lesnar owes it to his fans to at least try and improve his microphone abilities so that we can enjoy his programmes on different intellectual and emotional levels. In this respect, 2017 has been somewhat of a disappointment for the Beast's fans.

#5 Not doing enough to put Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe over

There's no denying that the WWE's booking has been sporadic and chaotic as of late. Every time a superstar looks like he's going to be pushed to the moon, something happens which totally changes the plan. Promising storylines come and go and nothing ever seems to reach its conclusion.

With this in mind, it almost feels hypocritical of us to berate the WWE for sticking so strongly to their plan for Brock Lesnar to meet Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania 34. The main event has pretty much been on the cards since the conclusion of last year's Mania, a decision which has cast quite a long, dark shadow over 2017 as a whole.

As a result, most of Lesnar's 2017 feuds have felt underwhelming. If we are all but sure that the Beast will be defending his belt in April 2018, why would any of us have expected Strowman or Joe to dethrone him?

To his credit, Lesnar went some way to helping the two men look like legitimate contenders. Strowman nearly broke him in half at Summerslam, for instance, while Joe was able to stand up to the champ without once backing down - despite playing the heel in their feud.

However, all that was essentially negated after both Strowman and Joe were put away with just one F5. Yes, this did make the F5 look like an actual finisher on the same level as the One-Winged Angel or Pedigree, but it also indicated that even the most well-booked members on the RAW roster have quite some way to go before they are capable of defeating Brock Lesnar.