25 biggest pro wrestling ‘what ifs’ of the past 25 years

17. What if Brock Lesnar hadn’t left/never came back to WWE?

As you can see, we’re throwing two into one here so let’s start with the first scenario. What if Brock Lesnar doesn’t leave WWE in 2004 following WrestleMania XX? The first thing there is maybe we don’t ever get that monstrosity that was Goldberg vs. Lesnar that night at Madison Square Garden and I think we’d all be thankful for that.

So let’s say Brock Lesnar doesn’t leave the company in 2004. How does that career path look? Obviously, we never see Brock in UFC with this timeline. How long do you think his career would have lasted if he had chosen wrestling and only wrestling? Lesnar works a very aggressive style and I honestly don’t know if he would have made it 15 years traveling up and down the road 300 nights a year working that style. He is all in, all the time and that wears on a body, something that he’s had problems with anyway. Would John Cena or Batista become as big as they became with Lesnar around? Brock was billed as “The Next Big Thing” back then and Vince usually likes to see things like this through. Would Brock have taken out The Undertaker at WrestleMania sooner than he did? How many reigns as champion would we be looking at right now? There’s a lot of things that could have changed if Lesnar decided to stay.

This second scenario has Brock taking the career path that he took. He left WWE to try his hand at football and then went on to become a champion in UFC. However, when he makes his choice about what to do in 2012, he chooses not to return to WWE. That opens up a world of possibilities, including not having a part-timer as a world champion a lot of the time. Who takes Lesnar’s spot? Cena was already Cena by this point so we can rule him out as his spot is always what he wants it to be or needs it to be. Is CM Punk moved into a bigger role? Does Batista’s return go better if Lesnar isn’t around? Is Roman Reigns rushed into the top spot? Does Vince try and convince The Rock to come back for more matches to fill that void? Speaking of which, that creates yet another argument.