Brock Lesnar: WWE Universal Championship Aim At CM Punk

Is WWE making a statement by keeping the Universal Heavyweight Championship around the waist of Brock Lesnar? It might seem that way. While Punk’s historic run with the company strap lasted 434 days, it was full of drama, controversy,  and consequences.

Per Tim Fiorvanti of ESPN.com, “As of Friday afternoon, Brock Lesnar has held the WWE Universal championship for 425 days. Over the next two weeks, he’ll eclipse CM Punk’s 434-day WWE title reign and become the longest-reigning world champion in WWE since Hulk Hogan’s first stretch as WWE champion — a historic 1,474-day run that began in 1984.”

The title run by Lesnar is anything but exciting. The “Beast Incarnate” wrestles who he wants and when he wants and flipped the script on the end result of WrestleMania 34 when he was supposed to drop the title to Roman Reigns, but instead beat the “Big Guy” after signing a new deal with the company.

I’m not sure keeping the belt around Lesnar’s waist was best for business, but if it means besting anything that had to do with Punk, WWE’s former resident bad boy, the McMahons are all in for reminding people just how much they loathe the “Second City Saint.”

At some point, Lesnar must drop the title. At some point, the Universal Title must have some relevance. At some point, WWE must decide the Reigns’ experiment was as bad as pushing Maven as the Intercontinental Champion or thinking Eva Marie would be a serious contender for a women’s wrestling title.

There are two schools of thinking in this company. First, it’s OK to keep the red brand’s biggest title locked in Lesnar’s clutches. The other is having AJ Styles come out every week and promote the WWE Title on SmackDown Live. The later isn’t doing Monday Night Raw any favors in terms of the importance of a champion. Braun Strowman looks to be the heir apparent, but at the right place and the right time.

It’s a sad state of affairs.

“Lesnar’s absentee stretch as Universal champion has damaged Raw’s ability to tell stories and build up new stars. The ultimate pursuit of every member of the Raw roster should be winning either the Universal championship or the Raw women’s championship, and yet the Universal title has become a complete impossibility for all but the top one or two contenders,” Fiorvanti wrote.

I agree with him more than 100 percent.

Lesnar’s M.O. is to come out and beat the hell out of opponents, claim to be the baddest man on the planet and keep the belt for himself as he walks out of an arena with a fat check, with Paul Heyman in tow. Now, fans may not care how big and bad the former UFC champion is, all the while he holds the company, the red brand and the belt he possesses hostage.

For everything Punk was – and that’s a lot to swallow when you look at the turmoil during this time in WWE – he was a superstar, top draw, and a fighting champion. He had 22 title defenses in televised matches, and more than 150 times overall including dark matches and live events, as Fiorvanti explained. Lesnar has defended the Universal championship 13 times since besting Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 — six of which happened on TV or pay-per-view.

And who is the better man for it?

WWE must decide when Brock Lesnar’s run will come to a screeching halt and who will be the man to make that happen. I am not excited about a Bobby Lashley confrontation (take that over to UFC and see how that does). I know Strowman is set for a huge summer and Reigns still believes he is the best performer in the company today. It just has to happen.

Looking at how his has all broken apart and how WWE could let Lesnar steal money and glory from Monday Night Raw, it’s no wonder fans still chant Punk’s name in the arenas and at pay-per-views. It makes you wonder if the hassles and haggling between the former wrestler and the company that made him great were worth it. After seeing how Lesnar has been a de facto champion, there is no other reason to believe the company has kept the strap on the current champion’s waist other than to make a statement.