Real Beef Between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar
Credit: WWE.com
Undertaker and Brock Lesnar exist on a different plane than their WWE counterparts; they are Typhon and Zeus battling in the sky above the gladiators of the squared circle.
To understand their feud, fans need to let go of the standard dichotomy between wrestling's babyfaces and heels. WWE has largely abandoned those distinctions here. This rivalry is instead a tale of two fearsome titans with personal issues.
That became especially obvious when Lesnar returned to Minnesota, the site of his college wrestling exploits, on Monday's Raw.
Lesnar strode down the entrance ramp with a wolfish grin. The Minneapolis crowd welcomed him with applause, signs and cheers. Confetti then floated down on The Beast Incarnate.
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman soak up the response from the Minneapolis crowd. Credit: WWE.com
Why offer a monster a hero's welcome? This goes beyond the hometown treatment; this is indicative of how WWE has presented Lesnar of late.
He's the snarling animal you root for. He's the destructive force directed at WWE's miscreants.
To call him a babyface, though, is to ignore his recent actions.
Regardless of Kane's alignment, Lesnar's breaking his ankle with a set of ring steps was a heel move. Toying with Kofi Kingston, as he did at Beast in the East, is not exactly something your standard wrestling superhero does. And whether he is chasing away Seth Rollins with just a glare or taking an ax to a Cadillac, he comes off as more monster than savior.
One may point out that Lesnar directed those attacks toward heels, which would seem to point to his babyface status, but surely this raging powerhouse would be as vicious in his dealings with anyone—heel, face or anything in between.
His SummerSlam opponent is straddling that heel/face line as well.
Undertaker's actions on Monday night felt like something out of Edge's playbook. He pounced on Lesnar, cracking his boot against the man's testicles.
He then hovered over his prey and waited for him to stand before laying him out.
That marks the second time that Undertaker has hit Lesnar with a low blow. That's the second time he attacked him in response to a fair-and-square loss he suffered a year-and-a-half ago.
It's no wonder that fans were confused about whether they were supposed to consider The Deadman the villain in this story:
Ahmed Al-Sagheer @ OneAhmedSagheerAre they trying to make the undertaker the heel? #BrockHomecoming #RAW
xio loves hyunjin and his lil eye mole !!!!! @ hhjlovebotIDGF IF UNDERTAKER IS SUPPOSE TO BE HEEL HOW DO YOU BOO THE UNDERTAKER ???
Tuo @ SlickTuoSo is Undertaker heel now? Low blows, sore loser... Or are they going the good/bad is in the eye of the beholder route? #RAW #TeamLesnar
Kicking a man in the balls is not exactly heroic, but Undertaker doesn't exactly feel like a heel, either. He's out for revenge against a savage who has spent the last few years barreling through the roster, breaking arms without a shred of mercy.
So in a way, Undertaker is a monster-hunter.
But the lines are even more blurred in this narrative. As he becomes obsessed with paying Lesnar back for his WrestleMania 30 defeat, he's become darker and angrier, morphing into a monster himself. As for Lesnar, he isn't poised to take down Undertaker in the name of all things good; it's an issue of self-preservation.
Both men reside in the gray area between good and evil, babyface and heel.
When they are done with this clash, they can morph back into clearer roles. Should Lesnar start being buddy-buddy with The Authority, that will be a clear sign of his villainy. Should Undertaker pursue Sting post-Lesnar, count him among WWE's heels.
For now, this is a different kind of story. This is the collision of two forces of nature. The heel and face roles are too limiting and don't apply.
The folks at The Steel Cage podcast summed it up perfectly:
The Steel Cage @ thesteelcageThere is no heel. There is no face. There is only Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker. That much is now clear to me. #RAW
There is neither a heel nor a face in King Kong vs. Godzilla. There's no good guy and bad guy when a tiger fights a bear. The same logic applies to Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar.
Good won't triumph over evil in SummerSlam's main event; one beast will simply outlast another.
Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2547305-undertaker-vs-brock-lesnar-feud-defying-traditional-babyface-heel-roles
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