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Ruthless Aggression Era


Thomas Bugg

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Where there any other wrestlers, at the time, directly impacted by Brock leaving? I'm not talking about money wise, but as far as time off, planned angles, etc.

 

 

JBL for sure. No way he's getting a 10-month reign if Brock's there to fall back on.

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I actually wonder how much more Brock Lesnar could've done. I remember reading rumors that Lesnar was supposed to be fed to Taker in his first post-WM feud. I think Lesnar would've done well with a switch to RAW in the draft and a feud with Evolution and an eventual heel turn and feud with Chris Benoit. I think Lesnar had pretty much exhausted his opportunities on SmackDown. 

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I actually wonder how much more Brock Lesnar could've done. I remember reading rumors that Lesnar was supposed to be fed to Taker in his first post-WM feud. I think Lesnar would've done well with a switch to RAW in the draft and a feud with Evolution and an eventual heel turn and feud with Chris Benoit. I think Lesnar had pretty much exhausted his opportunities on SmackDown. 

I love the Viking Space Lord as much as the next guy, but I think people overrate how much he screwed WWE by leaving. He had a tremendous look and was a very good wrestler, but he couldn't talk and at the time, didn't have as much ring charisma as he's shown since his return. With the benefit of hindsight, I feel like he left at the right time because I'm not sure what else he'd have been able to do in order to remain a fresh top tier guy.

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He definitely left at the right time for himself, but WWE would've benefitted greatly from him sticking around. Even if they booked him to job a few times, he would still have been a top guy. Between him, Cena, and a potentially-not-ruined Orton, they could've pushed the old guard to the back burner a lot sooner. The flow of the talent would have been a lot more even and they probably wouldn't be relying on HHH to make guys well into the 2010s.

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FWIW via Wiki: Lesnar had previously signed a no-compete clause in order to be released from his contract with WWE, which prohibited him from working for any other sports entertainment or mixed martial arts companies before June 2010.

 

I'm guessing his contract didn't run out anytime soon (isn't the standard contract 2-3 years and I am sure if Mark Henry was able to get a 10 year contract, Lesnar was able to at mimimum get a 5 year deal). If Lesnar stayed, would WWE have ran Lesnar/Austin at WMXIX instead of Austin/Rock? The Old Guard vs. New Guard storyline would have already been built in and add in the real life shoot of Austin walking out and there is magic to be had! Austin wrestled only 2 matches prior to his last match at WMXIX. Because Austin's last match was going to be against The Rock (who Austin trusts and is safe in the ring), this makes the  Bischoff matches fine tune-ups. The danger of facing Lesnar would have lead to:

 

A. The Bischoff matches not happening due to WWE having too much banked on the Mania encounter.

 

B. Austin walking out of WWE (again) due to safety/healthy concerns steaming from facing Lesnar. Thus causing WMXIX to be exactly what is was as WWE would have to appease Austin and give him The Rock, which will saddle Lesnar with Angle.

 

Yeah that contract dispute went all through his time in NJ, where he was calling the F5 the Verdict as a troll. Does anyone have any word on how relations thawed between Brock and WWE in the end?

 

A judge pretty much told WWE they could fuck off with their outrageous claims and Lesnar was free to do whatever he wanted. If Lesnar would have failed not only the NFL but MMA as well, I could see no WWE interest in him years later. Lesnar would have been known as the best big man in WWE at the time who faded out just as quick as Ahmed Johnson. Supposedly Brock pissed of NJPW and he would have NEVER gone to TNA, ROH, CMLL, or AAA. Does Lesnar try his hand at acting or boxing?

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FWIW via Wiki: Lesnar had previously signed a no-compete clause in order to be released from his contract with WWE, which prohibited him from working for any other sports entertainment or mixed martial arts companies before June 2010.

 

I'm guessing his contract didn't run out anytime soon (isn't the standard contract 2-3 years and I am sure if Mark Henry was able to get a 10 year contract, Lesnar was able to at mimimum get a 5 year deal). If Lesnar stayed, would WWE have ran Lesnar/Austin at WMXIX instead of Austin/Rock? The Old Guard vs. New Guard storyline would have already been built in and add in the real life shoot of Austin walking out and there is magic to be had! Austin wrestled only 2 matches prior to his last match at WMXIX. Because Austin's last match was going to be against The Rock (who Austin trusts and is safe in the ring), this makes the  Bischoff matches fine tune-ups. The danger of facing Lesnar would have lead to:

 

A. The Bischoff matches not happening due to WWE having too much banked on the Mania encounter.

 

B. Austin walking out of WWE (again) due to safety/healthy concerns steaming from facing Lesnar. Thus causing WMXIX to be exactly what is was as WWE would have to appease Austin and give him The Rock, which will saddle Lesnar with Angle.

 

Lesnar left after WrestleMania 20......

 

He main evented WM XIX against Kurt Angle.

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Yep, was talking about Lesnar and transitioned to talking about Austin, while still thinking about Lesnar. The 'what if' is mainly for Austin.Austin left around May 2002 due to not wanting to lose to Lesnar amongst other things. He was gone for good sometime in June of that same year. He came back in 2003 and fought Rock at WMXIX.

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-Shelton Benjamin's Mama

-JBL 9 month reign as world champ

-Word Life Cena

-Evolution

-the resurgence of Ric Flair

-Rated R Superstar Edge

-Evil GM Kurt Angle feuding with Cena in the summer of 04

-Eddie and Chris as Champs

 

Theres more but Ruthless Aggression was really fun yeah the angles were goofy but atleast there was angles.

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I think various eras get remembered fondly not for angles or specific matches, but for which stars came to the forefront and really broke through. This is where the Ruthless Aggression era runs in to issues because there is a perceived failure of a lot of the people tabbed to be the future. I'm not sure it's true, because plenty of stars were made in this time period, but instead of discussing Cena's rise in prominence and match quality, we are still talking about Carlito and Shelton Benjamin failing.

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I don't think anyone holds creating new stars against the early brand split/ruthless aggression era. Lesnar, Cena, Orton, and Batista was a strong group to build around. It's that late brand split/PG era that really screwed the pooch creating new stars. CM Punk is about the only success story between that group and Bryan/whoever that's coming into shape now. I guess you could say Sheamus too.

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I think all the people who failed did so for their own reasons. They all have their problems and there's none you could say WWE threw money away in not bringing up. Plus Cena and Orton were both very young and serve both periods up until now. So not many get up in the second wave but rightly or wrongly they didn't feel the need.

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