5 Problems with Braun Strowman vs Brock Lesnar at No Mercy 2017

#5 It deprives us of a better WrestleMania 34

Imagine the heat if Strowman did this to Lesnar at WrestleMania to force him out of WWE!

This week, we saw the tease of Roman Reigns vs. John Cena—a match which is undoubtedly the absolute biggest pairing the company can do at this point.

That should be our Universal Championship match at WrestleMania, not a redo of Lesnar vs. Reigns, which needed Seth Rollins to be added into the mix just to save it from being booed to the heavens several years ago.

If we were to have Reigns against Cena, that would have opened up Lesnar to face Strowman at WrestleMania and to hand the keys over to him while he made his exit from WWE.

Brock's contract is over at WrestleMania and it seems like he wants to get back into UFC. If that's the case, he needs to put over someone on his way out so that person can take the mantle as the top destroyer.

There's no benefit to having Lesnar leave on top and there's nothing to gain from having Reigns be the guy again when the crowd doesn't want to budge on its criticism of The Big Dog.

Strowman, on the other hand, could have been the perfect guy for the job.

His performance at SummerSlam could have been a marking point in their feud where he becomes someone that Lesnar actually fears and Paul Heyman does everything in his power to avoid having to set up the two of them going one-on-one.

Heyman manages to get Lesnar to escape having to face Strowman at No Mercy, setting up a different opponent instead, who Lesnar can more easily defeat.

Then, let's say Survivor Series is coming up and Lesnar is scheduled to fight Roman Reigns. Strowman interferes in the match and costs Lesnar the title, infuriating The Beast Incarnate.

The two momentarily clash during the Royal Rumble match, where they both eliminate each other and brawl to the back, setting up their inevitable fight at WrestleMania.

Then, Strowman makes good on his promise to take Lesnar out of commission and defeats him, sending him away from WWE for however long he wants to stay away to do his UFC dealings.

Lesnar gets a good storyline for months, the Universal Championship gets to be defended on a more regular basis, Reigns vs. Cena headlines WrestleMania, Strowman gets positioned as the go-to unstoppable monster in the company and everybody wins.

Having their confrontation happen here deprives us of the possibility, as there's no way to book either of them winning here and then doing another rematch at WrestleMania without it feeling like it's retreading familiar ground and not having the same market value as their "first-time ever" singles fight.

Instead, we'll just get Lesnar defeating Strowman the same way he did with Samoa Joe, doing Strowman no favors, opening the door for lame opponents for Lesnar and then having a WrestleMania main event where the fans still don't want to see Reigns end the night as the figurehead of the company, just as they didn't want it to happen at WrestleMania 31.

Meanwhile, Strowman will probably be thrown into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal or something after spending the next few months going nowhere but down.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]