Brock Lesnar Spoke The Words Of Millions On Last Night's WWE Raw

It happens so often these days. WWE put a segment together thinking they're telling one particular story, but in my eyes at least (and my eyes and entire being are weird so I could be completely wrong with every conclusion I come to) they end up telling the complete opposite. Whether it be painting Kevin Owens as the biggest sympathetic babyface we've seen since Daniel Bryan when I guess we were supposed to be laughing along with that massive bully Braun Strowman, or just last night, when they had Elias - who got the biggest pop of the night up to that point - attack Bobby Lashley for butchering a classic even though we were supposed to be cheering that bathurd for getting his own back (we all know we would have done the same as the drifter), it feels like WWE aren't as in touch with their audience as they perhaps should be.

This isn't going to be one of those "ooooo Vince McMahon is as old as time and isn't down with the kids, yo." It's just the fact that WWE seem to get the wrong end of the stick in terms of fan reaction to the #content we see each and every week on their shows.

Lashley and Elias was just the tip of the iceberg last night, as Brock Lesnar's big return stole any and every headline. The Beast Incarnate made his first appearance on a WWE televised show since The Greatest Royal Rumble in April and anticipating a chorus of boos being aimed towards their Universal Champion, WWE tried to make it abundantly clear that Brock is an obnoxious arsehole interested in nothing but the money ALL THE STINKING MARKS pay him.

Brock was backstage for almost the entire show, as WWE reportedly started an experiment with Raw that will see more segments away from the ring take centre stage. During these segments, we saw Lesnar reading - some would say the wrong way but I'm going to let him off personally - magazines, admitting that he likes his steaks medium-well done when I'm sure that to a man woman and child we all thought he killed the animal himself before ravaging its flesh raw; and finally, telling Paul Heyman they weren't friends. We learned a lot about Brock last night, but one particular detail stood out for me...



Now we all know that Stone Cold Steve Austin achieved the success he did because of two major reasons. First of all, because he had arguably the greatest villain WWE has ever seen in Vince McMahon opposite him, and secondly, because fans the world over lived vicariously through him. Fans resonated with everything Stone Cold did - every single person wants to kick their boss in the teeth and Austin was the first person to do that in the company, achieving success so great Vinnie Mac has tried to recreate The Texas Rattlesnake's respective magic roughly 879 times at this point.

So then, to last night's Raw, and on a night where WWE did try to have Lesnar come across as a man who fans should hate, he resonated with them like no other performer has done since the days of Austin's battles with the evil Mr. McMahon. It was only one line, but what a line it was. It was something we all knew already about The Beast, but it was something that when heard in the clear light of day, hit home like a train... running through your actual house.

Heyman: "Tell me you heard what Roman Reigns said about you?"

Lesnar: "Obviously I didn’t, Paul. I don’t watch the show, Paul. Why would I watch the show?"

Bazinga. Brock Lesnar said something that's on the mind of an overwhelming majority of the WWE Universe.



Now of course, we can see why WWE had Brock say this, as it no doubt rilled up every single WWE fan who watches Raw religiously each and every week. However, so far this year we've seen record low viewing figures for both Raw (which had its highest for six weeks last night, by the way) and SmackDown Live, clearly telling us that more fans within the WWE Universe are choosing to skip the weekly shows - or at least watch the clips on the company's YouTube channel for a more streamlined viewing process - for one reason or another.

Knowing this, and surely hearing the pelters that seemingly arrive every single day following one of their shows, surely somebody within WWE should have realised what Brock said was going to resonate with so many people, but not in the way they intended. Once again, with the likes of Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley and others in mind, WWE's intentions were flip-reversed and taken the other way by the masses.

Obviously, everything is open to your own interpretation when it comes to professional wrestling. It's a subjective art form with no right or wrong answer (in most situations). But with a number of things that we're seeing on WWE's programming each week so glaringly open to being construed in more than one way, it really does make you wonder why they include such scenarios with the threat of the narrative they're trying to convey at a severe risk of being trashed.

But hey, Brock Lesnar - who hates us all - is our new People's Champion. The people's poet. He's the voice of the voiceless. He's essentially Cliff Richard, and we're Rick from The Young Ones in a reference roughly two people reading this twaddle will understand.

"Lesnar 3:16 says don't worry, lads, I'll tell them what you're thinking. I've got your back. I'm the People's Champ."