My latest column on upgruv.com looks at Samoa Joe as the No.1 contender to face Brock Lesnar. Here’s an excerpt:
To believe an opponent can compete with Lesnar, WWE must offer somebody who physically looks the part. As fans, we need to be fully engaged in the possibility that a sports entertainer can take what a former UFC champion will dish out.
Samoa Joe can is built to absorb an assault. His physique is hardened — not from hours lifting weights in a gym, but rather weathered from what looks like were actual fights who knows where. If his look has ever hurt him in the past, it’s now a signficant factor in Joe’s advantage for a program against Lesnar.
Think of it this way: David may have beaten Goliath, but customers wouldn’t pay to see David wrestle Lesnar.
A waste of money, right? A “David” doesn’t even look like he could get through the door at Lesnar’s “Suplex City.” A “David” surely isn’t going to stay there for more than a few minutes.
Samoa Joe isn’t a “David.”
In Samoa Joe, we’re looking at a guy who can bust down the door and, if not trash it, at least make a mess inside “Suplex City.” He looks tough enough to take on Lesnar. His background as a stiff-working submission specialist gives him credentials to rival those of Lesnar.
Lesnar is real. Joe is starting to be and can be booked to seem real.
The realism of a Lesnar-Joe angle is something WWE needs for Lesnar and Lesnar needs from WWE.
CLICK HERE to keep reading and how it protects Finn Balor.
