The most interesting moment of Saturday’s UFC 184 pay-per-view (besides Ronda Rousey garroting Cat Zingano in 14 seconds for running at her arms-first) might’ve been the unexpected appearance of former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. Former UFC Heavyweight and current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar. The guy who walked out of last week’s Raw unexpectedly and is about a month off from defending WWE’s top championship at its biggest show of the year. That Brock Lesnar. The guy in Vince McMahon’s suit.
The Wrestling Observer has already claimed that Lesnar wants to perform in WWE and fight in UFC simultaneously, and that WWE’s refusing to pay him the kind of money that’d earn exclusivity. Brock reportedly doesn’t like the lengthy non-competes clauses WWE’s been pushing since the departures of CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio, and is frustrated that what’s said in verbal agreements doesn’t always translate to paper. Lesnar popping up on a UFC event sends a message that might as well have been accompanied by Johnny Manziel money fingers.
The latest wrinkle from the Observer claims that WWE creative is so worried about Lesnar holding up WWE for more money and no-showing WrestleMania that they’ve been coming up with alternate, Lesnar-less plans for the event just in case. Vince McMahon has apparently told them not to worry about it, as he’d “sue for breach of contract” if Lesnar purposely missed the show.
Vince’s legal optimism aside, I think it’d be a good idea to see all that writing on the wall and come up with a backup plan, just in case. In my brain, the easiest way would be to simply start off WrestleMania with Seth Rollins in the ring holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The idea of the Money in the Bank contract is that you can cash it in anywhere at any time, isn’t it? It’d rob the fans of a great moment, but the easiest route to a new champ is to say Rollins (with the help of an Authority referee, possibly Scott Armstrong) jumped Brock in a parking lot at the airport or something and defeated him. You probably need a ring and a crowd and sanctioned WWE rules for the Money in the Bank contract to work, but hey, he’s the Authority’s golden boy. They’re on the damn Board of Directors now. They could just change the rules to benefit Rollins and change them back when he’s done. If you’re doing Rollins vs. Orton and that’s been announced by the time there’s no turning back, toss in Reigns and make it a triple threat. It sucks, but promoting wrestling sometimes means desperately trying to spin gold out of crap.
Alternate idea: give Lesnar all your money, job him to Reigns with extreme prejudice and never make this mistake again.
