What’s the story?
We know that the top WWE stars get paid a lot of money, but this is a pretty crazy statistic. According to a discussion on Reddit, the sum total of the time Brock Lesnar has spent in the ring since his title match with Dean Ambrose last year has been just 17 minutes and 39 seconds.
This statistic does not include live events, of course. The number encapsulates all the three matches that he has been a part of since last year’s Wrestlemania pay-per-view.
In case you didn't know...
Unlike other members of the WWE roster, Brock Lesnar is a part-time performer. This essentially means that he makes limited appearances and only wrestles on pay-per-view and certain special live events.
The 17 minutes, 39 seconds that he has wrestled so far includes the following matches: Summerslam against The Viper Randy Orton (which lasted 11 minutes, 45 seconds), the match against Goldberg (1 minute, 25 seconds) and the Royal Rumble Match (4 minutes, 29 seconds).
As per Heavy.com, Brock Lesnar signed a $6 million dollar contract for the last 10 months (April 2016-January 2017), taking that into consideration, we have calculated that $4,793 per second of in-ring action.
The heart of the matter
This has been an object of discussion and debate for ages in the professional wrestling world. Should part-timers, who don’t put in the same hours as the full-time roster does, be granted the deals and contracts that the full time roster can only aspire to?
Brock Lesnar is also exempt from the drug tests that the WWE roster undergoes as well. He earns an obscenely high amount to just show up, and either throw suplexes or gets beaten in no time by Goldberg. As he has claimed several times, his heart is really not in the wrestling business.
What's next?
After a dominant streak ever since he defeated The Undertaker, Lesnar was vanquished by Goldberg at Survivor Series. He was subsequently even eliminated from The Royal Rumble by Goldberg.
Last week on Raw, Lesnar challenged Goldberg to a fight that ends their saga, at Wrestlemania 33. Considering their track record, that match is not expected to go very long.
Sportskeeda’s take
It’s unfortunate but it’s true. Part timers draw eyeballs to the product and boost ratings like full timers cannot. Vince McMahon pays Brock Lesnar obscenely for a good reason. Lesnar equals ratings.
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