Has WWE ever explained in storyline how Brock Lesnar gets away with not defending his title for months? I want to say in kayfabe they’ve invoked a “Champion must defend the title within 30 days or they will be stripped” clause on numerous occasions. I think one of the times was with Shawn Michaels and the European Title in late 1997. Brock has gone well past 30 days multiple times.
Now that I think about it, do they even explain his absence in general? I recall one time where he got suspended for going crazy and F5’ing everyone post-Wrestlemania where Seth Rollins cashed in. That’s the only time I can recall that they’ve explained his extended absence between matches.
If the Universal Championship truly is the most valued prize in all of WWE, shouldn’t there be more outrage in a kayfabe sense that Brock isn’t on these shows giving people opportunities to get the grandest prize?
They’ve made allusions (by Roman Reigns… maybe others too?) to him being “Vince’s boy” and the preferential treatment he gets because of that. That’s the closest thing I remember to a storyline reason for his infrequent title defenses and appearances in general.
Yeah I think in the feud with Reigns leading up to Wrestlemania we got an explanation of why Lesnar gets to hold the title without defending it every 30 days and why he doesn’t appear regularly on Raw or PPV’s. Vince McMahon said on TV that he has a special contract with special privileges.
I don’t know why WWE is that inconsistent in their logic. Is it that demanding to have common sense ? If you have a rule then apply it. It should be the same for everyone. The last time they applied the 30 day rule was with Naomi. Meanwhile, Brock was still away with the belt.
In the Naomi situation, I actually liked that they had Daniel Bryan explain that, because we were coming up on Wrestlemania, they couldn’t risk not having the title available for that show, and thus they would have to adhere strictly to the “30 Day Rule”.
Unfortunately, they didn’t do this for the more than two million viewers of Smackdown Live, but for the small fraction of that number who tuned in to Talking Smack.
Even with Brock having special privileges in storyline, it just seems sloppy to me that he’s barely even mentioned on TV. Like at least give us a video package or at home interview with him. Or maybe have Paul Heyman show up once every few weeks to represent his client. He’s a complete non-factor on TV at the moment.
I understand he’s a “special attraction” but if that’s the case keep him as that without the title. The universal title means absolutely nothing at this point.
I fully agree, that title has had 4 people hold it. The first got injured the match he won it, the second did do well with he title, the third was an old, sweaty Goldberg and the fourth is never there. They needed to keep that title on TV or at least on PPV’s so that it’s important, I personally don’t care about Brock at this point or that title.
At this point, I think being “the guy who goes over Brock” has surpassed “the guy who wins the Universal Title” in terms of importance. Hoping they choose wisely and whoever gets this spot is able to capitalize.
My biggest fear right now is that it’s going to feel obvious if Brock drops the strap (at Summerslam or otherwise) on his way to a hiatus for fight camp and such. I don’t think it would be all that bad for business if he goes into the Cormier fight as the Universal Champion - what’s a few more months of not having the strap on TV? - so long as you’ve got him contractually bound to come back and defend and/or drop the thing no matter what.
It’s not bad for a champion to miss a show or even a PPV here or there. Brock Lesnar is on another level of absent to the point where it’s ridiculous. There was a period of time from 2013-2016 when his special appearances meant something, but that window has closed.
There isn’t much of a story you tell with Brock at this point, except that he is a part-timer with special privileges.
Even with a potential UFC bout’s buzz lingering, there is still a significant portion of the wrestling fanbase who doesn’t care for MMA and will respond with apathy.
