5 positives from Brock Lesnar's 2017 WWE run

#4 Having a 'match of the year' contender with AJ Styles

Match of the year?

If there is one criticism people have of Brock Lesnar, it's that his matches normally follow a certain formula that makes the action far too predictable. In the vast majority of cases, the Beast looks to establish dominance early on, attacking the other wrestler straight after the bell rings, delivering multiple German Suplexes and shoulder charges.

One man who was able to elevate Lesnar above this in 2017 was AJ Styles. Their match at Survivor Series 2017 was arguably one of the best of the year for the WWE and most of that has to do with the fact that something different from the norm was offered.

Yes, Styles did have to endure the typical Lesnar onslaught initially, being thrown around the ring like a ragdoll. But that did not last long, and soon enough the WWE Champion was even holding his own, coming close to victory on more than one occasion.

Paul Heyman had built this match up as a meeting between a wrestler and a fighter, and in typical Heyman fashion, he was exactly correct. The two men told a terrific story of a wrestler being not quite ready to face a fighter and a fighter being not quite ready to face a wrestler.

Lesnar's eventual victory didn't come as much of a surprise to anybody, but the fact was that the two men did what they needed to do and more. Nobody was really expecting to come away from Survivor Series 2017 talking about this match, and considering how terrible the main event turned out to be, this pleasant surprise came just at the right time.