Brock Lesnar is arguably the most physically dominant, and almost certainly the most physically intimidating WWE Superstar of the 21st Century, so it's not surprising that he has been given an up-to-date biographical DVD. Despite a long sojourn in MMA and Japanese wrestling, Brock's run at the top of the WWE card should give this video plenty of material; those looking for an insight into the home life of the notoriously terse and private Lesnar, I expect will be disappointed.
'...I am Brock
Lesnar. What makes me happy? Beating people up, that makes me happy.' The first
of the three discs open with the man himself delivering the 'Nuts and Bolts',
as he puts it, of being Brock Lesnar and finishing with this ominous, but apt,
quote. This soon gives way to some
background on his dominant youth in amateur wrestling as 'The Manster', an
appropriate appellation considering his size, and the advantages this gave him
with his start in the professional sphere.
Brock Lesnar teams
with fellow former collegiate wrestler Shelton Benjamin versus Chris Michaels
& Sean Casey in the first match, from WWE developmental territory OVW in October
2000, showing his explosive potential. Friend
and Mentor Mr. Perfect is his opponent from a Non-Televised Match on RAW (Jan
2002) next, and has to use every ounce of sly experience to defeat the young
Lesnar. A couple of tidy matches of
rarity to open the DVD and give it some collectable value.
The winner of The
King of the Ring is usually tipped as the Next Big Thing in WWE, so it was no
surprise that Brock Lesnar beat Rob Van Dam in the final of the 2002 iteration
to earn a match against the Rock at SummerSlam for the Undisputed Championship,
but first we get a re-match of the final, also for RVD's Intercontinental
Championship. Paul Heyman makes his
first appearance as Lesnar's manager, interferes when it looks like his client
is going to get pinned, and suffers at the hand of his former employee for his
troubles.
Becoming the
youngest WWE Champion in the aforementioned Rock bout, he feuded with Kurt
Angle and regained the title, that he lost to The Big Show, at WrestleMania
XIX. Angle returned from injury to
challenge for the title at SummerSlam 2003 in our fourth match of the disc, a
classic bout that for its amateur grappling influence in which Kurt reclaimed
his crown. After Brock became champ for
the third time, he defended the title in WWE's brutal first ever Biker Chain
Match against The Undertaker at No Mercy 2003. Like most Superstars of the
nineties and noughties, he faces an Undertaker acting as the gatekeeper to
greatness.
Greatness is not
necessarily a barrier to disillusionment though, and Brock's exit feud with
Goldberg following his title loss to Eddie Guerrero is dealt with the haste of
distaste to round out Disc 1.
Disc two begins
with Brock's return in 2012, and his feud with Triple H over his lack of
respect and outrageous contract demands; their visceral meeting at SummerSlam
2012 is first up, the match ending with Lesnar
breaking Hunter's arm for the second time within a few months, and the
subsequent fantastic feud-ender in a Steel Cage at Extreme Rules 2013 upon
HHH's return.
With Lesnar's
return, his former mouthpiece, Paul Heyman, reprised his role too, abandoning
his managerial duties to CM Punk in the process. The former 'Paul Heyman Guy' meets 'The Beast'
in a No Disqualification Match
from SummerSlam 2013 , in which Punk's
resilience and determination are the only defence against being rag-dolled by
the bigger Beast.
The third Disc
starts with Brock's WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory over John Cena
at SummerSlam 2014, truncating the offence of Cena with 16 suplexes and two
F-5s to utterly rule the match and start his fourth title reign. The Triple Threat Match for the WWE World
Heavyweight Championship at the following Royal Rumble (Brock Lesnar vs. John
Cena vs. Seth Rollins) is hard-hitting for a modern-day WWE fight, but Lesnar
overcomes a bust rib to make sure he faces Rumble winner Reigns at Wrestlemania
XXXI in a bloody encounter. This match spawned the 'Suplex City' catchphrase
with Lesnar's opening ringside threats.
Seth Rollins finally cashes in his 'Money in the Bank' contract to interject
himself late in the match to opportunistically steal the title with his 'fresh
legs'.
Despite running
wild on the following RAW when Rollins refused his re-match request, Brock
finally gets his wish at Battleground in July, taking Rollins to the, now
legendary, Suplex City (13 this time) before Undertaker gets some slight
revenge for his Streak loss by costing The Beast the championship in
interfering. It sets up one last match between the two historical foes, and
this time it is Hell in a Cell. Notably, all three discs finish with Brock beating
the Dead-man; however the fact that it is the Undertaker's own 'back yard' of
The Cell that gives this a finality that the feud needed, and really underlines
the dominance of Lesnar over an athlete that has consistently maintained his
position at the top of the WWE Roster.
Each match of
this DVD set is interspersed with vignettes of Lesnar (some new, some not) in
various interviews, and well compiled highlights of the build-up to each
match. Although that means a lot of
recycled footage, WWE have avoided repetition from the 'Here Comes the Pain'
DVD in disc One, and used what they have
to build a compelling narrative for his more recent matches. Brock fans, and those of us that love a 'Big
Fight Feel' to a main event, will love this set, but with little new footage
collectors and completists might not snap this one up.
Out now in
various DVD and BluRay options from www.WWEDVD.co.uk!
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