RAW Superstar of the Week (15th April, 2013) - Brock Lesnar

After last week’s boisterous crowd took over RAW, the crowd this week was tame enough to let the focus be on the action in the ring and the WWE superstars. Given the monumental hype that precedes WrestleMania, it’s always a tough ask to make the ‘RAW After’ a good show to watch, something that I don’t envy the WWE writers for.

This week’s RAW, in general, lacked the shine of a big event and did not feature a lot of compelling performances which would have made it hard for me to choose from. But it doesn’t mean that all the performances were bad. Ryback‘s transformation into a believable monster heel should be interesting and the work was laid out on this edition of RAW through a promo backstage where he addressed his issues with Cena. It wasn’t a bad effort given the limitations of his character, which is pretty one-dimensional. However, a lot of the intensity was undone towards the end of the show when he basically got called out by John Cena who proceeded to destroy him verbally and then walked away when Cena offered to fight. Poor writing to say the least!

But the one character who continues to be strong and believable despite coming off a huge loss is that of Brock Lesnar, the ‘Beast Reincarnated’! At WrestleMania 29, he dominated his duel with ‘The Game’ and was put down by Triple H only after a sledgehammer shot and a pedigree on the steel steps. More than the match, just the way he looked and the absolute mayhem he caused was awesome and thrilling to watch. His unpredictability makes for exciting TV and thus, when The 3MB were waiting for the Shield to show up, the live audience could not be happier when his music hit.

Lesnar’s gig of an a**-kicker who doesn’t talk to anyone is the best for him and he proceeded to destroy the group in terrific fashion. The raw power and athleticism was on full display as he dismantled the gang of 3 in no time and proceeded to issue a challenge to Triple H through his mouthpiece, the brilliant Paul Heyman. It isn’t very often in today’s times that a heel is able to invoke such genuine fear and awe that Lesnar seems to be able to do every time he shows up on TV, and for that reason alone, he is the ‘Raw Superstar of the week’.