ironworks
08-08-2012, 02:16 AM
Feed Source: Bleacher Report
In two weeks, Brock Lesnar finally gets in the ring for his second match since returning to WWE in April. In two weeks, Triple H dons his wrestling gear for the first time since his epic battle with The Undertaker at WrestleMania. A first-time meeting at the 25th anniversary of Summerslam.
Worthy of its hype?
Absolutely.
For starters, the storyline between Triple H and Lesnar is the one true outlier in the current PG era of WWE. Look at both men. They're more representative of the Attitude Era/post-Attitude Era of 2002-2006. Their draw is predominantly and overwhelmingly with the older audience of the WWE Universe, which is what most of the disgruntled older fans have clamored for. Something they can rally around like the End of An Era match between Triple H and Undertaker at WrestleMania.
What also benefits the Triple H and Lesnar storyline is the slow burn their feud has taken since May. To some, painfully slow and slightly underdeveloped because Lesnar's limited appearances (written into his contract) kept him off the air for all of June and most of July.
But it kept almost everyone writing and commenting the entire summer.
And, especially with Lesnar needing to go over in a big way to give him any kind of momentum in his second run, this likely leaves the ending for Summerslam to be a complete annihilation of Triple H at the hands of Lesnar, which could be a signature moment for the end of the summer. Plenty worth waiting for.
In terms of the match quality? Probably not a mat classic by any means. But who the hell would want one? Lesnar and Triple H both have the ability to take the violence to the next level in different ways.
We're almost guaranteed Lesnar to go even more UFC in his offense, Triple H to work fairly snug, hopefully get a little juice, and maybe even get a cameo appearance by the sledgehammer. It should all add up to a bigger match than Extreme Rules, and we all know Triple H can work a better match than John Cena.
And finally, the supporting cast.
Since May, we've seen the return of Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Between all three, Heyman's return has provided the biggest spark by taking the microphone away from Lesnar to create some great promos with Triple H to keep the momentum building to Lesnar's return at the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw.
McMahon's return at the same episode gave Triple H a foil to Heyman and again created a nicely heated war of words.
And then the announcement last night that Michaels will be in Triple H's corner for the match at Summerslam adds another wrinkle of watchability factor with the possibility of him getting mixed up in the action at the August 19th show as well.
WWE caught a lot of flack for building Rock and Cena for a year with week after week of promos. Triple H and Lesnar caught similar flack for Lesnar, again, not being on television for most of the buildup. But in the end, it harkens back to even days even before the Attitude Era when only four pay-per-views ran in the calendar year. The company was challenged to build a storyline and feud for months to get the big payoff and the big buy-rate.
Not to say that Triple H and Lesnar is on par with Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage's buildup to WrestleMania VII (for example), but it certainly has a lot going for it with the potential for a great payoff itself.
...And then come the thoughts of every way they can screw it up. Hopefully not.
In two weeks, Brock Lesnar finally gets in the ring for his second match since returning to WWE in April. In two weeks, Triple H dons his wrestling gear for the first time since his epic battle with The Undertaker at WrestleMania. A first-time meeting at the 25th anniversary of Summerslam.
Worthy of its hype?
Absolutely.
For starters, the storyline between Triple H and Lesnar is the one true outlier in the current PG era of WWE. Look at both men. They're more representative of the Attitude Era/post-Attitude Era of 2002-2006. Their draw is predominantly and overwhelmingly with the older audience of the WWE Universe, which is what most of the disgruntled older fans have clamored for. Something they can rally around like the End of An Era match between Triple H and Undertaker at WrestleMania.
What also benefits the Triple H and Lesnar storyline is the slow burn their feud has taken since May. To some, painfully slow and slightly underdeveloped because Lesnar's limited appearances (written into his contract) kept him off the air for all of June and most of July.
But it kept almost everyone writing and commenting the entire summer.
And, especially with Lesnar needing to go over in a big way to give him any kind of momentum in his second run, this likely leaves the ending for Summerslam to be a complete annihilation of Triple H at the hands of Lesnar, which could be a signature moment for the end of the summer. Plenty worth waiting for.
In terms of the match quality? Probably not a mat classic by any means. But who the hell would want one? Lesnar and Triple H both have the ability to take the violence to the next level in different ways.
We're almost guaranteed Lesnar to go even more UFC in his offense, Triple H to work fairly snug, hopefully get a little juice, and maybe even get a cameo appearance by the sledgehammer. It should all add up to a bigger match than Extreme Rules, and we all know Triple H can work a better match than John Cena.
And finally, the supporting cast.
Since May, we've seen the return of Paul Heyman, Stephanie McMahon and Shawn Michaels. Between all three, Heyman's return has provided the biggest spark by taking the microphone away from Lesnar to create some great promos with Triple H to keep the momentum building to Lesnar's return at the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw.
McMahon's return at the same episode gave Triple H a foil to Heyman and again created a nicely heated war of words.
And then the announcement last night that Michaels will be in Triple H's corner for the match at Summerslam adds another wrinkle of watchability factor with the possibility of him getting mixed up in the action at the August 19th show as well.
WWE caught a lot of flack for building Rock and Cena for a year with week after week of promos. Triple H and Lesnar caught similar flack for Lesnar, again, not being on television for most of the buildup. But in the end, it harkens back to even days even before the Attitude Era when only four pay-per-views ran in the calendar year. The company was challenged to build a storyline and feud for months to get the big payoff and the big buy-rate.
Not to say that Triple H and Lesnar is on par with Ultimate Warrior and Randy Savage's buildup to WrestleMania VII (for example), but it certainly has a lot going for it with the potential for a great payoff itself.
...And then come the thoughts of every way they can screw it up. Hopefully not.