5 positives from Brock Lesnar's 2017 WWE run

#3 His feud with Samoa Joe

Better than it needed to be.

After his victory over Goldberg at Wrestlemania 33, the WWE put together a pretty decent program based around who would be next to challenge the Beast for his WWE Universal Championship. It was a clever way to keep things interesting while the champ took some time away from the screen and led to an entertaining set of matches and promos.

After Samoa Joe emerged as the victor over the likes of Roman Reigns, Finn Balor and Braun Strowman, fans were preparing themselves for a dream match - Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar, up until then, had been one of those bouts that only existed on video games or in people's imaginations.

Now, with both men in the same company and interested in the same title belt, the stage was finally set. And while the match itself certainly delivered, it was actually the feud leading up to it that took many us by surprise.

The WWE was clearly interested in giving fans something a little different to the traditional promo/match/promo formula that so often gets utilised. After the two men had to be separated by the rest of the RAW roster, the pair spent most of the remainder of their rivalry away from each other, forced to communicate via three-way interviews with Michael Cole.

This gave the feud an extra layer of intrigue and allowed Lesnar to showcase his talking skills, which are much better suited to the sit-down interview format than in-ring mic work. The match at Great Balls of Fire, whilst good, left us feeling a little underwhelmed, but the scenes leading up to it will not be forgotten anytime soon.