Brock Lesnar defended his WWE Universal Championship this weekend for the first time since meeting Braun Strowman at WWE No Mercy. You can see Fightful coverage of the match below.
WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) vs. Sheamus (w/ Cesaro)
Lesnar opens by ducking under a lockup attempt for a German suplex on Sheamus. After a shoulder in the corner, Sheamus is whipped into the opposite buckles and caught on the rebound by a Brock Lesnar belly-to-belly suplex, with another German to follow. Lesnar catches ringpost when he charges the corner again, and is welcomed by a neck snap over the ropes from Sheamus' second, Cesaro.
Sheamus hits a Brogue kick, but Lesnar recovers well enough to meet a knee from the Irish star. Kicks and punches follow until Sheamus works Lesnar into the corner. This is messy and sloppy. Lesnar doesn't look like he's that interested in bumping tonight. Sheamus manages a White Noise anyway. He's quickly reversed by a German suplex from Lesnar. They recover at about the same pace, allowing Sheamus to get Lesnar with a couple of Irish Curse backbreakers.
It's Suplex City time. Sheamus is caught coming off the top rope with a belly-to-belly suplex, but gets up and Brogue kicks Lesnar several times for a two count. He misses another one. A Lesnar German Suplex and F5 get the job done.
Winner: Brock Lesnar via pinfall to retain the WWE Universal Championship at 4:32
SRS rating 3.5/10
SRS Analysis: This one wasn't too hot, and honestly may have been my least favorite Lesnar match since his 2012 return. This was a guy who during his original run was one of my favorite workers in the world. Initially I looked past the limitations on his matches because of the feeling they all provided. Now I find myself looking forward to his next multi-man matches more than anything.
Lesnar didn't seem too keen on bumping early on, which eventually changed. I have no doubts Lesnar and Sheamus can have an awesome one-on-one match, but this wasn't that night. I do love the idea of putting matches like this on live events and highlighting them on the company Youtube later, though.
