WWE Has One Chance with Brock Lesnar, Must Protect Him

Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena is a Cadillac Escalade traveling down what seems to be a dead end highway.

In the two weeks Lesnar has been back in WWE, he has been handled the right way in my opinion.

If Cena tried to get in a war of words with Lesnar...wake me up when it's over. You rarely get an opportunity with anybody like WWE now has with Lesnar. The guy is a trained professional wrestler.

He is established with the mainstream and pro wrestling audience. He isn't viewed as a “pro wrestler” in the culture.

Lesnar is still looked at as the former UFC champ. He is a real fighter. You have to protect and cash in on that for as long as possible.

A match against John Cena at Extreme Rules, how do you book it and not take all of the wind out of the bad-ass sails?

You can't have Lesnar in a 15 minute pro-wrestling, sports entertainment match where he is selling arm bars, clotheslines and don't even get me started on Cena applying the STF to him.

I understand WWE wanting to get Lesnar billed in a match already on pay-per-view. If you have him for a year and are paying him big money, get every mile you can out of him.

Brock Lesnar being advertised in a match against John Cena could help take a throw away pay-per-view that typically is flooded with WrestleMania rematches and add some meaning.

A PPV that might typically draw a disappointing 200,000 buys, perhaps the addition of Lensar can get it in the 300,000 range.

If Brock Lesnar vs John Cena is going to be on the Extreme Rules card, it can't be a traditional match. Don't give us a back and forth struggle in the ring for 15 minutes.

We don't need the two to tell some drawn out emotional story in the ring because that isn't the book we are all reading. Brock must remain on that legitimate level for as long as possible.

Something special needs to happen. CM Punk vs Chris Jericho will headline the night in front of Punk's hometown crowd of Chicago, so use that to your advantage.

This is a rare occasion where you can book a marquee match like Lesnar vs. Cena and give people a very short exchange and get away with it.

CM Punk and Jericho will end the night, so you can afford to do some kind of swerve to protect the bigger picture you're building with Lesnar. This theory would certainly fit WWE casually saying on RAW that Lesnar and Cena will have a match at Extreme Rules.

They aren't making as big of a deal of it because they know it will be a sideshow to set up for the future. It won't be the full physical payoff of a story that every other match is going to be.

A few ideas. Lesnar knocks out Cena in a matter of minutes. Lesnar injures Cena in a matter of minutes, writing Cena off television for months, helping Lesnar make an impact while maintaining the aura he has around him.

John Laurinaitis, David Otunga, The Miz and anyone else Big Johnny rounds up all beat down Cena before he even gets to Lesnar, then allowing Lesnar to make quick, squash like work of Cena.

Can any of these work? If Lesnar knocks Cena out quickly, where do you go from there in the future? Cena being injured would logically make sense, big impact and solidifies Brock saying he is on top as the face of the company, but I don't think WWE wants to try and survive for months without Cena on programming.

The beat down of Cena would work, although we still really don't know why John Laurinaitis all of the sudden has a problem with John Cena.

All the mention of UFC, the fact Brock did walk out on WWE, is threatening to take out WWE's top star – this is another situation I could see fit for Vince McMahon to come in to the fold on-air.

I thought The Rock vs. John Cena could go in the direction that provided a need for McMahon to step in to the storyline, even if for a week or so. Lesnar and Cena's story already has gone in that direction.

McMahon could react to Lesnar walking back in, wanting to take out WWE's big money maker. McMahon can also react to Laurinaitis deciding it is a good idea to sign Lesnar.

Any way you look at it, an exit ramp is needed for this situation. I am very excited about the build around Brock Lesnar and John Cena's confrontation, but I fear the moment they step in the ring for an official match could kill the rare magic WWE has with who Brock Lesnar is to viewers.

I totally understand Brock being back. Why get paid to fight for real when you can get paid to fight for fake and be protected, but don't come off too fake too quickly.

Right now he is Brock Lesnar, a guy who millions watched compete as a legit ass kicker. If you're not careful with what you have him do in a wrestling ring, he will be a 34-year-old, pudgy version of his original self who is just another sports entertainer who is getting paid $5 million.

Follow @JustinLaBar