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What's the story?
Brock Lesnar made his first WWE appearance since The Royal Rumble at last night's Live Event in Chicago as he took on WWE legend Kane, but it seems that fans weren't too happy with how short the match was.
In case you didn't know...
Brock Lesnar was officially scheduled to return to Monday Night Raw this past week and stand face to face with the man he is set to main event his second WrestleMania alongside Roman Reigns. Brock wasn't in attendance on Monday night and it is currently unknown if this was by choice or design which has left many fans confused about his current contract situation.
Brock did appear at last night's scheduled Live Event where he took on The Big Red Machine Kane and managed to defeat him in just 35 seconds. Fans obviously weren't impressed by the fact that the match was so short, given that this was the first time Brock had performed in the ring in over a month.
The heart of the matter
Dave Meltzer commented on the length of the match in The Wrestling Observer and revealed that it wasn't Brock or Kane who decided this should be so short; it was actually a company directive. (transcript via Ringsidenews.com)
“Brock worked a match in under a minute, which was a company directive but the fans were furious. They booed it and Lesnar got a giant babyface reaction. Even after that Roman Reigns thing, he got a giant babyface reaction when he came out against Kane. It was real quick action. Kane threw a few punches, Brock hit two German Suplexes, Kane got up and tried for the chokeslam, Brock blocked it and hit the F-5. 1-2-3, like I said less than a minute and not a good reaction to that at all. A lot of people real mad at Brock.”
Despite fans being mad at Brock, it seems that it wasn't anything to do with him, even though there are rumours that this could have been because Brock wants to save himself for a UFC return.
“Is the idea that he’s saving his body because he’s going back to fighting? When he went back fighting for the Mark Hunt fight, he had the WrestleMania match with Dean Ambrose where he didn’t do much of anything really. So, if he is going back he’s probably going to do less.”
This does raise a few questions now when it comes to Brock's scheduled WrestleMania match against Roman Reigns and how long many fans expect that to actually be.
What's next?
Lesnar has a number of other WWE Live events lined up over the next few weeks before he gets to WrestleMania as well as being advertised to be in Detriot for March 12th episode of Monday Night Raw. It will be interesting to see if Brock attends Raw next Monday night or if this is another way for the company to build up his match against Rei.
Author's take
Brock Lesnar isn't a superstar who is used to having lengthy matches, over the past few years the company have thrown a number of stars at him that he has been able to defeat in record time. It seems that Kane became another one of these stars last night in Chicago and many other men could be handed the same fate in the coming weeks as The Beast prepares to take on Roman Reigns in just five weeks time.
