WWE: Why Brock Lesnar's Return Has Now Been Rendered Ineffective

Brock Lesnar’s return to the WWE got a lot of people talking. 

When he came back to the company the night after WrestleMania 28 and destroyed John Cena with an F5, the Internet was abuzz after seeing one of the biggest moments in recent wrestling history. 

Lesnar would then stick around for a while for a short feud with Cena, and the two had one of the most unique and entertaining matches I can ever recall seeing at Extreme Rules in April. 

Then, the following night on Monday Night Raw, Lesnar and Triple H brawled, and just like that, Lesnar was gone. 

He has been nowhere to be found on Raw since then—well, at least not in person. 

Lesnar may be under WWE contract and making millions, but for all intents and purposes, he’s gone. Poof. Vanished. 

Really? That’s it? He came and left that quickly? 

Apparently so. 

The provisions of Lesnar’s contract with the company state that he’s expected to make roughly 24 appearances from the period between his debut in early April and WrestleMania 28. 

About a quarter of those dates have already been used up, with Lesnar making a handful of appearances in April during his feud with Cena. 

With Lesnar using up so many dates in such a short span, the WWE backed itself into a corner, severely limiting the amount of appearances he can have during the build to his SummerSlam feud with Triple H. 

Yep, the WWE really screwed the pooch here. 

Bringing Lesnar back was a smart business move that results in short-ratings boosts and increased pay-per-view buys, but giving Lesnar those terms on his contract, well, just wasn’t that smart. 

There’s only so much you can do with a guy in such a limited number of dates, and—here’s a hint—it’s not much. 

Lesnar’s at home raking in millions while his feud with Triple H has to be mediated by Paul Heyman with a ridiculous lawsuit angle as its basis. 

I like Heyman just as much as the next guy, but failing to bring Lesnar around at all in a feud that he is indeed the centerpiece of has rendered his return almost totally ineffective. 

Yeah, he’ll spark some interest here and there, and it’s smart of the WWE not to overexpose him. 

While overexposing Lesnar is one thing, though, underexposing him is another. And the WWE is underexposing him. 

Although The Rock may not have been around every week during his feud with Cena, he was at least around enough to make us care about that major rivalry. 

But why should I care about Lesnar? Why does it matter if he’s returned to the WWE when he’s hardly ever around? 

I’m not sure what Lesnar’s next TV appearance will do to the Raw ratings or what his SummerSlam match will do for the PPV’s buyrate, but I don’t see an equal balance here between what Lesnar is getting and what the WWE is getting out of him. 

Lesnar’s reportedly making $5 million, and to do what? To sit at home and watch Heyman keep his feud with Triple H alive? 

Although I know that Lesnar will likely be around more often after Money in the Bank, I don’t know that it will have the great effect on the WWE that some think it will. 

He hasn’t sent Raw’s ratings through the roof, and he hasn’t popped massive PPV buyrates as of yet, either. 

And if he’s not doing either of those things and he’s collecting a huge paycheck while sitting at home, would you call his return an effective one? 

I sure wouldn’t.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.