Lesnar Pulled From Raw Last Night?

[Jack-Hammer]

This seems to be a repeat of the events of three years ago: Brock works both sides until he gets what he wants - and inordinate amount of cash for limited appearances in worked fighting while getting the benefit of cherry picking his fights in legit fighting. It's shrewd, the only difference is the UFC need him more now than they did three years ago, and the E' don't need him as much as they did three years ago., thus the outcome may very well be different.

Yeah, that sorta seems to be the top rumor floating around right now: that it's something of a negotiation tactic on Lesnar's part. And yeah, the UFC potentially "need" Lesnar a lot more than WWE does. I was reading a story a few days ago comparing WWE's ratings with that of other sports like NBA on TNT, Major League Baseball, the NHL, etc. on television and, on average, both Raw and SmackDown draw more than anything else, other than pro football. For 2017, the average US viewership for Raw and SmackDown, not counting DVR viewership, was something in the neighborhood of a little more than 3 and 2.5 million respectively while UFC's TV viewership on FS1 is somewhere in the 870,00 range on average. The UFC on Fox specials saw something like a 22% decrease in viewership from 2016 and UFC on FS1 is down like 20%. The reason I remember that is because the report mentioned that both WWE and UFC are in negotiations with Fox regarding TV deals and that UFC's decline has a lot to do with big draws like Lesnar, Rousey or Conor McGreggor either being with WWE or, in McGreggor's case, doing other things while kinda sorta trying to hold the UFC hostage. WWE is making more money than ever before, the company's stock is worth close to $3 billion right now, and Lesnar's presence, not to mention the hefty price tag that goes with it, hasn't really been a factor in TV ratings, house show attendance or network subscriptions. So yeah, Lesnar's bargaining position with WWE doesn't look to be nearly as strong now as it was a few years back. Besides, the guy reportedly gets $12 million a year and, in my opinion, is far beyond what he's been worth and he sure as hell isn't worth more than that. So yeah, if this is part of a negotiation tactic and he wants even more, then I think WWE should kick him to the curb.

[jmt225]

Whatever led to this segment happening, it was perfectly done and exactly what Reigns needed. I have no complaints either way.

If Lesnar's being a dick, oh well. Brock being Brock.

If it's all a work, bravo. Great writing.

[TheManTheyCalledNorCal]

It's come out that this was a work in an effort to get reigns more cheers.

To which I say, that's an effort long overdue.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

It's a work.

Portary Lesnar as the guy who doesn't care about the business or the fans. Have him "walk out". Then Reigns "shoots" on him and talks about how dedicated he is to WWE.

It's actually a pretty good idea. That was Reigns best promo he's ever done.

Edit - Well it just came out that this is a work. Makes sense. Reigns won't be cheered at Mania, but at least the build should be good.

[Dave]

It's a work.

Portary Lesnar as the guy who doesn't care about the business or the fans. Have him "walk out"

Reigns "shoots" on him and talks about how dedicated he is to WWE.

It's actually a pretty good idea. That was Reigns best promo he's ever done.

Incorrect. The best promo he ever did was the on Raw the night after beating The Undertaker after Mania. A sheer thing of utter beauty.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Incorrect. The best promo he ever did was the on Raw the night after beating The Undertaker after Mania. A sheer thing of utter beauty.

The one after Mania was because of the crowd though, rather than what Roman actually said.

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Well, if it was a work then bravo. Now what do they do for the rest of the year? Keep saying Brock isn't interested in showing up at Raw? That will only work so many times and with so many crowd types.

[Yaz]

Incorrect. The best promo he ever did was the on Raw the night after beating The Undertaker after Mania. A sheer thing of utter beauty.

A shame they never took advantage of that either. They had Roman cut the promo of the year, and fuck errbody who disagree, had massive heel heat, then the next week he was back to the whole "I'm the big dog of WWE, catchphrase, please cheer me" act they keep pushing.

The one after Mania was because of the crowd though, rather than what Roman actually said.

Yeah, a very large part of being good with promos and matches is getting the crowd to respond properly. Yes, the post Mania crowd is always rowdy, but it isn't like he could have come out and said just anything and got that reaction. Roman is very capable of doing things well, it is just that WWE rarely allows him to work to his strengths.