WWE universal champion Brock Lesnar did not get his week started off right as it pertains to advertised appearances. Scheduled to show up Monday night on Raw to confront WrestleMania 34 challenger Roman Reigns, Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman were conspicuous by their absence, which of course led to one of the best promos that Reigns has ever cut in his career where he ran down Lesnar's lack of loyalty to the company and his cushy schedule.
Saturday night, Lesnar was set for his second scheduled appearance of the week at a live event in Chicago where he would take on Kane. The champion actually showed up for this one -- as promised earlier this week in a tweet by Heyman -- but there was a catch.
That catch? Well, Lesnar showed up to work in Chicago and defeated the "Big Red Machine" in a whopping 35 seconds, leaving the crowd understandably a little perturbed for not getting their money's worth.
It wasn't just the paying fans in Chicago that had an opinion, however. Lesnar's part-time schedule is widely criticized by fans, so when Twitter caught wind of the 35-second bout there were some takes there as well.
I can't wait for Brock Lesnar's time in WWE to be only a funny memory.
— fat kid posing in front of Mick Foley (@DoubleChin1999) March 4, 2018
Brock，Please go away
— Fh (@Fh19930901) March 4, 2018
#RAW Everything Roman Reigns is saying right now is correct...Brock Lesnar doesn't give a crap about the #WWE
— Mike (@MikeEx80) March 4, 2018
I need Brock Lesnar gone from Wrestling.
— #BIAC 2104 (@JayWrasslin) March 4, 2018
Way to job out a legend (Kane) to Brock Lesnar at our #WWEChicago #wwelive
— Phantom_ 👻 (@itsPhant0m_) March 4, 2018
Because jobbing out a future HALL OF FAMER to A PART TIMER makes sense.#youscrewedkane
Between the "no-show" of Raw, which appears to have been a purposeful part of a storyline, the ensuing Reigns worked-shoot promo and what took place in Chicago on Saturday, it seems pretty clear now what WWE's plan is ahead of WrestleMania 34.
In their best effort to get the polarizing Reigns cheered in New Orleans on April 8, WWE is aiming to get all the heat it can on the former UFC heavyweight champion by presenting him as the most selfish worker in the company.
It is well known that Lesnar's contract is rumored to contain a provision that his so-called "house show" matches last under five minutes each, and the champion -- despite holding the title for a calendar year -- has not wrestled on television in 2017-18 and barely been in the ring a full hour on pay-per-views.
We won't know for certain until we hear the crowd reactions at WrestleMania whether this plan will work, but I must admit they're off to a pretty solid start thus far in making Lesnar the insufferable heel you just want to see eat the 1-2-3 on April 8.
