MID-Tier Match Reviews: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton – WWE SummerSlam 2016

When people look back at Brock Lesnar’s storied career there’s a clear distinction between his two runs. Though his more recent one has been more successful for him, his career, and his wallet, it was his first run from 2002-2004 that not only put him on the map but also gave the fans more of their money’s worth. Lesnar’s matches with Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, The Undertaker, and others, during that first run produced not just the best work of Lesnar’s career, but some of the best matches in WWE history, and this was with a guy who was still fairly new and inexperienced. Come 2012 and his second run, though, Lesnar has taken a different turn.

While he has smartened up and protected himself to the point of being formulaic in the ring, his actual matches have, at times, left a lot to be desired. This match serves as a great example of that: it had nothing going for it for the first ten minutes and then it had a shocking ending that caused a huge stir backstage and online. But was it really any good?

The Story

Lesnar had a one-off appearance at UFC 200, which was an enormous deal since, at the time, WWE and UFC were opposing entities. Lesnar faced Mark Hunt in a fight that was later decided as a no-contest due to Lesnar testing positive for a USADA banned substance. Lesnar faced no repercussions in WWE for this since, a) WWE justified his exemption from their Wellness Policy as his being a part-time performer; and b) it’s Brock fucking Lesnar, who in their right mind is going to confront him or tell him he can’t do something? Did no one learn anything from his IWGP situation?

Anyways, to follow-up on Lesnar’s high-profile UFC appearance, WWE promoted a SmackDown vs. RAW interpromotional match for SummerSlam, with Lesnar representing RAW and SmackDown being represented by a returning Randy Orton. WWE billed this as a match “fifteen years in the making”, stemming from both guys starting in WWE around the same time. Upon Orton’s return he made a “no enhancement needed” comment towards Lesnar which got under Lesnar’s skin. The two men traded finishers on episodes of RAW and SmackDown in the weeks leading up to the show, leaving things at a stand-off going into the PPV.

The Match

This took place on August 21, 2016. It was rated *** out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer.

They circle each other to start but then Lesnar runs out of patience and rushes Orton into a corner. Lesnar lands some extra brutal looking corner shoulder thrusts and stiff shots. Orton blocks a German suplex and lands a dropkick. Lesnar blocks and RKO and lands two German suplexes. Orton tries keeping Lesnar away but Lesnar hits back and lands two more Germans. Orton tries fighting back from another corner but Lesnar ignores this, manhandles him a bit more, and lands two more Germans for a total of six.

Orton bails to ringside and tries fighting back once again but Lesnar overpowers him and powerslams him onto one of the commentary tables. Orton tries bailing into the stands but Lesnar launches him over the barricade and onto that same table which explodes this time around. Back in the ring Lesnar lands a seventh German and Orton falls out of the ring yet again. Lesnar teases a big move on one of those commentary tables when Orton hits an RKO OUT OF NOWHERE!

Orton returns to the ring first and cuts off Lesnar’s re-entry with a draping DDT. Orton follows with a second RKO but only gets two. Orton teases his Punt Kick. He charges…and runs into an F-5. One, two, Orton survives. Lesnar removes his gloves, which is something we’ve never seen before. Lesnar without his gloves on looks far more menacing and he’s about to prove why. Lesnar mounts Orton and punches his head. Orton covers up for dear life. Then he hits two shots with the point of his elbow right to Orton’s forehead. Orton covers up instinctively (and may or may not have bladed, it’s hard to tell). A pool of blood appears on the canvas as Lesnar rains down more clubbing blows. The referee makes Lesnar back off and he calls the doctor to check on Orton. As Lesnar backs off a steady stream of blood can be seen pouring from Orton’s head. 0.7 Muta. The crowd reacts loudly to this but then their tension dissipates as the doctor comes in. Lesnar’s patience runs out so he attacks Orton again. The crowd responds to this with a momentary cheer…and then some GOLDBERG chants. Lovely. Lesnar shoves the ref aside and begins another ground-and-pound. Then the match is finally called off with Lesnar being declared the winner.

Winner as a result of a TKO/referee’s decision after 11:45: Brock Lesnar

Post-match Lesnar lays one more beating on Orton when out comes Shane McMahon, because of course he does. Shane gets in Lesnar’s face, presumably to tease a possible match between the two men which is an idea that only one person in the world is good with. Thankfully Lesnar puts the kibosh on those ideas and F-5s Shane right then and there, because Lesnar.

Review

Most people remember this match for only two things: the finish and the controversy it caused. For anyone who might not be aware, Lesnar’s shoot elbows to Orton’s skull was kept secret from basically everyone else in the company, including one Chris Jericho. Jericho was incensed at Lesnar’s actions and confronted Michael Hayes, the producer of the match, who gave Jericho the runaround. Then Jericho confronted Lesnar when he came back backstage and, according to a recent interview, was about to channel his inner Haku and bite Lesnar’s nose off over the whole thing. Now obviously this needs to be taken with a grain of salt (since Jericho has, unfortunately, earned a dubious reputation in recent years for embellishment and exaggeration, to his serious detriment). But the fact that this finish shocked so many people, both fans and those within the business, speaks volumes of how unique it was.

However, “unique” here doesn’t necessarily mean “good”. Just because it was bloody, violent, and bloody violent doesn’t mean it was an all-timer. A shocking conclusion to an otherwise meh match, but nothing special, all things considered.

The ten minutes leading up to that finish were composed of your typical Lesnar sprint-style match: basic moves, stiff shots, and enough Germans to make Poland sweat nervously. It was a fast-paced match with Lesnar controlling most of it and Orton only making inroads in short bursts. Most of the time Orton just took a beating for the first half until he tried to turn things around. But when his RKOs failed and Lesnar avoided his punt kick, there wasn’t much left for Orton to do. He had no ace up his sleeve, no special secret weapon, no final salvo. But then when Orton kicked out of an F-5, Lesnar decided to avoid repeating things and just decided to do something that WWE’s audience had never seen before.

And while Lesnar and Orton deserve some credit for at least trying something creative (and Orton deserves extra props for willingly take such brutal punishment), the finish would’ve been better had the other people involved done a better job playing their roles. Specifically, the referee and the doctor slowed the finishing sequence down to a crawl and stretched the segment out. The sense of shock and urgency vanished as the doc and the ref dragged things out. Instead of calling the match immediately upon realizing Orton was a bloody mess, they just kept stalling, which left Lesnar literally standing around doing nothing. To really amp up the shock they should’ve called for the bell much earlier and left the doctor check up to after the bell was rung. That would’ve added more immediacy to Orton’s dire situation and would’ve taken away the fans’ opportunity to chant Goldberg’s name. You know the audience is deflated when they start chanting the name of a wrestler who isn’t even in the match.

Final Rating: **1/2

The sad thing about this match is that out of the twenty plus minutes between the start of the entrances and the closing credits, only one minute featured any truly standout action. The rest of it was underwhelming given the names involved. It could’ve been a bit more explosive and better paced but that’s largely a matter of individual taste.

Though no one should’ve expected a historic classic out of these guys, the match would’ve been better with a tighter ending that gave off a greater sense of urgency. It’s never good when the wrestlers have the audience in the palm of their hands watching everything with shock and concern, only for that control to disappear seconds later and the fans get bored to the point of random fan chanting.

Then again, there might also be a silver lining in this match as it served as the origin story for Chris Jericho, Locker Room Leader.

Thanks for reading.