Examining How WWE Can Build for Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena

Vince McMahon and his booking team face a significant challenge in the next few months: They’re going to have to try to make the third Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena bout an appealing prospect for wrestling fans.

Cena, of course, became the No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Hell in a Cell when he defeated Randy Orton. It was a deeply frustrating result: Orton vs. Lesnar would have made for a new and interesting feud and an intriguing main event.

Cena vs. Lesnar, meanwhile, is yet another bout in a program that ran out of steam months ago.

Credit: WWE.com

Lesnar soundly defeated Cena at SummerSlam. Then he beat Cena again a month later at Night of Champions in a dull match further hindered by a terrible, messy finish. Cena has now moved on to a feud with Seth Rollins, in which people seem much more interested.

No one seems terribly excited to see him clash with Lesnar once more. (Bear in mind the two also fought at Extreme Rules in 2012.)

That’s not to suggest things are totally hopeless. WWE writers can salvage the third Lesnar vs. Cena match—they just have to take a few astute booking steps.

For one thing, Lesnar absolutely has to appear on television in the run up to the bout. Paul Heyman can’t carry that side of things anymore—his client will have to actively participate in the buildup.

Per reports from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t WrestlingInc), WWE is trying to negotiate more dates for the former MMA fighter.

Credit: WWE.com

Hopefully it convinces the star to be an on-screen regular. Lesnar's constant absence was part of why the Cena-Lesnar program fizzled out in the first place.

Heyman and Cena did their best on promos, but there was only so much they could do. You need one of your match participants to actually be there to build up the angle. Taped interviews and vignettes simply aren’t enough anymore.

Bringing back Lesnar—and his scary, destructive charisma—to television would help revive some interest in the program. He has always been an attraction, and his presence would inject the feud with some much-needed energy and excitement.

WWE could also help things by adding in a stipulation or gimmick whenever the two do face off. Maybe Heyman could be barred from ringside? Perhaps if Cena loses, it will be the last time he gets a title shot while Lesnar is the champion. (He probably does need to be out of the title scene for a while anyway.)

Credit: WWE.com

The bookers should also make a big deal of this likely being their “final” showdown.

In the weeks leading up to the bout, they can promote Cena vs. Lesnar as one of best feuds in the company’s history—not really true, of course, but WWE’s marketing team can work wonders—in a bid to ensure fans will go out of their way to check out the "last" confrontation.

Truthfully, the title bout probably isn’t going to do huge business on pay-per-view or bring in loads of new buys to the WWE Network. It’s just been done too many times before. But there are certainly steps WWE can take to ensure it doesn’t turn into a boring, uninspired bout met only with indifference by fans and critics.