One of the greatest things about professional wrestling is its ability to surprise, even in this modern age with everything that’s anything being on the internet for all to see.
It doesn’t perhaps happen quite as often as it should nowadays, but sometimes – once every so often – the WWE can catch you completely off guard with something and it’s awesome. That rare, pure, “HOLY SHIT” moment – Rhyno‘s unexpected return to NXT is a prime example of that.
There’s a mere handful of performers who can achieve this kind of reaction. Brock Lesnar is at the top of that pile, simply because of his presence alone. He’s a physical beast. Something to be marvelled at. And the way he carries himself has immense weight. So whenever his part-time schedule requires him to drop back in to storylines, he does so with a bang. That entrance music sting hits and immediately fans know that things are about get real in a big hurry.
A surprise Brock Lesnar appearance is one of the true great crowd pumping moments that the WWE has in its hand – a total trump card.
And then an arena goes and spoils it all by doing something stupid like Tweeting about his return a month in advance.
The Fieldhouse in Indiana – home of the Pacers for those playing along at home – is playing host to an upcoming edition of WWE Raw. The company normally forward on talents lists for arena staff to create local area press releases in order to drive up ticket sales. For whatever reason, the Fieldhouse found out that Lesnar would be in the house, and made no attempts whatsoever to keep that little titbit under their hats.
Grumble.
WWE officials subsequently pulled an annoyed “Well, cat’s out of the bag then,” and revealed Lesnar’s first batch of dates for his upcoming swing back through the land of the squared circle.
July 6th – WWE Raw @ Allstate Arena, Chicago IL
July 13th – WWE Raw @ Philips Arena, Atlanta GA
July 19th – WWE Battleground PPV @ Scottrade Centre, St Louis MO
July 20th – WWE Raw @ Sprint Centre, Kansas City, MO
Announcing the dates in advance does put a curious question mark on storyline events, which currently have Lesnar indefinitely suspended by Stephanie McMahon and the on-air Authority for destroying the ringside area and assaulting cameramen the night after WrestleMania. How that manages to get resolved with the blurring lines of reality and fiction hanging over their heads will certainly be interesting to see.
Lesnar’s return kicks off the push towards the WWE’s second biggest event of the year, Summerslam, and Brock is clearly going to be a focal point of the event.
So that big “WOW” moment gets diminished a little bit with this news. Still, it’ll be bloody nice to be back in Suplex City again.
