Brock Lesnar's 2019: Year in Review

Brock Lesnar is one of WWE's biggest draws ever, still going strong as the ultimate part-time heel champion. He has been the WWE's final boss for a while now, reigning as champion on multiple occasions. This year has been no different.

In fact, Lesnar has wrestled more televised matches this year than any other since his return to WWE in 2012. It must be said, however, that over half of those matches lasted for less than five minutes.

It has been an interesting year for "The Beast Incarnate" character-wise, taking part in a couple of intriguing angles and some character development. As of right now, it is unlikely that Lesnar will show up again on WWE TV in 2019.

With that being said, here is a review of how 2019 transpired for Brock Lesnar.

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#3 Marching into WrestleMania as Universal Champion

Has the Beast ever walked out for a fight in daylight?

2019 began in the same way for Brock Lesnar as 2018, with the Beast standing on top of the RAW mountain with Paul Heyman by his side and the Universal Championship around his waist. He was set to defend his title against Braun Strowman, the man he defeated to regain the gold, at Royal Rumble. However, plans changed and we got a much more exciting match-up, as Finn Balor stepped up to challenge Lesnar.

The match between the two contrasting Superstars was great, lighting up an already stacked Royal Rumble card. Lesnar came out on top and would defend his belt against Royal Rumble winner, Seth Rollins, at WrestleMania 35. Not sticking around until later in the show, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman crashed the opening of WrestleMania and demanded that the Universal title match take place immediately.

Seth Rollins came out and what happened next was one of the hottest starts to a WrestleMania ever. A pre-match assault was not enough for Lesnar, as Rollins hit him with a low blow and three Curb Stomps to pick up the victory and the Universal title.

#2 Beast in the Bank

Look at how happy he is!

After losing the Universal Championship, Brock Lesnar predictably wasn't seen for close to two months. He re-emerged at Money in the Bank, showing up as the 'mystery' eighth entrant in the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Lesnar crushed Mustafa Ali's dreams and knocked him off a ladder before climbing it himself and retrieving the briefcase. For many fans, it was a very disappointing end to a fantastic match.

From there, Lesnar proved to still have the personality and the chops to be more of an entertainer, not a single-minded machine. He would pretend that the briefcase was a boombox and dance his way to the ring, taunting Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston. Lesnar even tried cashing in on Rollins at Super Showdown, but "The Architect" prevented it from happening. The Beast eventually cashed in on his arch-rival after the mixed tag team main event at Extreme Rules, winning the Universal Title for the third time.

At SummerSlam, Seth Rollins challenged Brock Lesnar for the big red belt once again. This time in the main event. Lesnar and Rollins lived up to their billings as the top stars in the company by putting on an absolute barnburner. The Beastslayer finally came out on top, putting a permanent end to the Beast's dominance on Monday Night RAW, or so we thought.

#1 To SmackDown and back

Of course, he ends the year on top.

Brock Lesnar was not done flirting with a World Championship after SummerSlam. He showed up on the post-Clash of Champions edition of SmackDown and challenged Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship on the Blue brand's premiere on FOX. Lesnar's first TV match in fifteen years sure did get a lot of hype but before that, he stopped over on RAW to destroy Rey Mysterio and his son, Dominick. It was one of the most savage assaults of the entire year.

The big championship match only lasted nine seconds. The Beast quickly disposed of Kofi before feeling the presence of a familiar foe, Cain Velasquez. Lesnar's former MMA kryptonite rushed to the ring and took him down, setting up the challenge for Crown Jewel. The highly-anticipated WWE Title match between Lesnar and Velasquez ended up disappointing, possibly because of the Mexican figher's limitations due to a knee injury and general inexperience in the ring. A bigger story was yet to be told.

Mysterio attacked Lesnar with a chair after the match and after The Beast quit Friday Night SmackDown and moved back to RAW, the match was made official for Survivor Series. The Lucha legend came so close to capturing the WWE Championship, after both he and Dominick hit 619s and top rope splashes on Lesnar. In the end, The Beast stood tall and will end 2019 in the same way that he began it, as the top champion of RAW.

Hopefully, Brock Lesnar will have some more fresh matches and help to create more new stars in 2020. Then, and only then, will his WWE Championship reigns be a success.

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