Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena

A few weeks ago on Raw, "Plan C" was revealed as Paul Heyman announced Brock Lesnar as the next challenger for the WWE championship. It was known to some fans that there were plans for Lesnar to return to the company because a video package to hype Summer Slam surfaced online, which advertised a Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena main event. Regardless of the marketing material that announced the match early, there's still a ton of buzz around it, mostly because of the tremendous promo skills of Paul Heyman and he's currently delivering the best promo work in WWE.

John Cena and Lesnar clashed for Lesnar's first PPV after he returned to the company two years ago in a very physical, entertaining match, which is also what can be expected at Summer Slam. As I've said previously, Lesnar delivers in major matches and considering the WWE network is at a pivotal point of international distribution, the main event of Summer Slam must live up to the hype. It's a wise decision to book Lesnar in the main event spot for the title, as it capitalizes on the heat generated from breaking the streak. A side note about the Lesnar/Undertaker match, I don't think the streak should have ended and while it garnered a crowd reaction at the time, it could have soured many fans on the event. The outrage among fans seemed to be more that it was Lesnar, a part timer, who is there strictly for the the money ended it than it was that the streak actually ended. I would guess that if CM Punk, someone that fans know sacrificed for the wrestling business or even Kane ended the streak, there would be a different reaction.

That being said, Lesnar ended the streak and he has a lot of heat because of it so Summer Slam is the WWE's opportunity to cash in on the end of the streak. That cash in opportunity is the reason why Lesnar must win the title at the PPV because if he doesn't, the end of the streak was just to set up another challenger for John Cena. As I've said previously, Lesnar is a draw and despite the prospective of some fans, Cena is probably more of a draw than Lesnar. I mentioned in a column a few weeks that Cena is the most marketable star in the WWE and some of the feedback claimed that Cena was to blame for the lack luster network number, which isn't a fair assessment of the situation. Cena is a work horse and he sells more merchandise than anyone on the roster so there's no doubt that he's the most marketable star. The bottom line is, fans pay to see John Cena and it doesn't matter if they pay to cheer him or pay to see him lose, as long as they are watching the product.

As I said, the network is at a pivotal point, as it gets international distribution, which could be a major success for the WWE and the winner of the title match at Summer Slam could determine if fans will continue to invest in the network in the next few months. That's another reason Lesnar winning the title is a key for the WWE because while John Cena wrestles on a regular basis on Raw, Lesnar just works PPV matches, which is a wise decision. As a result of Lesnar's limited schedule, it's more of a "special event" when he actually wrestles a match and if he wins at Summer Slam, the Lesnar title matches would be a network exclusive during the next few months.