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New Directions

© Christian R. Bonawandt

My problems with Brock Lesnar are well documented on this site alone. However, My hat goes off to his feud with The Big Show. Not because of anything he's doing, but because of the psychology of his face turn. Granted, six or so months as a heel is not enough time to build sufficient character for a bad guy's defection to the side of good to make an impact or boost ratings (let alone make a suitable champion, but that's another matter). But if there was ever a good way to do it, this is it:

Lesnar's character is built entirely around his size and untainted winning streak. He's called an animal, and has proven himself to be unbeatable -- even in two consecutive pay-per-views against The Undertaker. So how to make someone whose only ounce of character is in the fact that he tosses everyone (including Smackdown's No. 1 announcer) all over the arena? Put him up against someone he can't pick up.

I had zero faith that Big Show's trade to Smackdown (for who, we don't know yet, but that's another matter) would put him in main event status. My fiancée said it would, and in the tradition of all great men, I was proven wrong. Granted that I'd rather Show be a face, but that's another matter. Lesnar can't toss The Big Show, he likely can't F5 him. So now we have an undefeated champion against a man who's immune to his signature moves. And as we saw on Halloween, Lesnar is not immune to him. The feud breaks the mold. Instead of having a face No 1 contender that loses every match against the evil cheating champion until the pay-per-view where he extracts his revenge, it makes the WWE Champion the underdog. Can he keep the title? He's beaten everyone that he can throw, but he can't throw this guy. As long as Lesnar and Show don't get involved in any tag matches against each other, the crowd will be so built up for this match that it can't suck. Even if it's terribly slow, the audience will watch with baited breath for that Lesnar-Show F5, just as everyone waited for the Hogan-Andre bodyslam so many years ago.

Also breaking ground is Angle versus Benoit. Unlike other reluctant partners -- like Rico and Rikishi or, even better, Tommy Dreamer and Raven from peak-ECW, or any of the number of tag teams that began to feud before or after tag team title reign (reference Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, the Rockers) -- neither of these competitors is truly a heel or face. Edge, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy, Rikishi and Dreamer were all clearly faces during their respective gimmicks. But Angle and Benoit began feuding as heels, continues acting like heels, and are getting even more mixed heel and face than ever before. Just this past Halloween, a number of "Let's go Angle" chants broke out during his bout with Eddie Guerrero.