Brock Lesnar Has Finally Shown Signs of Evolution in Samoa Joe WWE Raw Feud

WWE Raw's Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view event this Sunday will be headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe for the Universal Championship, and to say it is one of the most anticipated championship matches in recent WWE history would be a massive understatement.

Initially, fans were skeptical as to whether the feud would live up to their lofty expectations considering every program Lesnar has been a part of over the last few years has essentially been the same. Thankfully, the build to this bout at Great Balls of Fire has been nothing short of spectacular.

Joe has constantly been made out to look like an equal to Lesnar, something we haven't seen from anyone on the current roster in the five years Lesnar has been back with the company. Granted, Goldberg had Lesnar's number, but he had previously defeated his longtime rival at WrestleMania 20 (not to mention that part-timers tend to be heavily protected).

Now, it isn't as obvious as it was one month ago that Lesnar will be walking out of Great Balls of Fire with this title intact. Joe's recent rise to superstardom doesn't necessarily mean he will win the championship, but if WWE is smart and wishes to capitalize on the buzz surrounding The Destroyer, it would do a title change and have Joe beat The Beast.

More importantly, Lesnar has finally shown signs of evolution throughout this rivalry with Joe, and the timing could not have been better as he enters seemingly the last stretch of his latest WWE run.

Credit: WWE.com

When it was announced days ahead of WrestleMania 31 that Lesnar had re-signed with WWE for another three years, fans were excited by all the potential matchups he could partake in with the talent of tomorrow. His stock was higher than it had been in several years, especially coming off his phenomenal performance at 'Mania that weekend against Roman Reigns.

While he didn't do much in that matchup by way of technical wrestling, he did capture the crowd's attention by battering Reigns with suplexes all over the ring and dominating him for a majority of the match in brutal fashion. In the process, he coined the term "Suplex City," which immediately took off as the most popular chant in WWE.

That one-sided style of wrestling worked for Lesnar in the remainder of the year as he vanquished the likes of The Undertaker, Big Show and Kofi Kingston. Audiences ate it up, despite how he was far from the same wrestler he was a decade earlier.

By 2016, Lesnar manhandling his opponents with ease became boring, and fans were demanding to see him expand his repertoire. His descent began at WrestleMania 32 following his disappointing No Holds Barred battle with Dean Ambrose, and his SummerSlam match with Randy Orton was an even bigger letdown.

For too long, Lesnar stood atop the WWE as its most destructive force with no one coming close to matching his dominance, but the equally intimidating Samoa Joe has forced him to show vulnerability for the first time in a great while.

In a way, Lesnar can almost be considered the underdog going into this war with Joe. That obviously isn't the norm for most Lesnar matches, and that is exactly why this program has been a breath of fresh air.

If Lesnar is indeed on his way out of WWE and he doesn't choose to re-sign around WrestleMania time next year, the company should be utilizing him every chance it gets. He will never again be a full-timer, nor should he be, but it is a bit ridiculous that Sunday will mark his first match since WrestleMania 33 in April.

As strong as the build to Lesnar vs. Joe has been up to this point, how the match itself is handled as well as the aftermath is also incredibly important. It would be a waste for Joe to be riding a wave of momentum heading into the event only to be beaten in a matter of minutes by Lesnar.

WWE has something special on its hands with this dream match, and thus it can't squander that by allowing Lesnar to resort to his Suplex City ways. This affair needs to be booked like a competitive contest with Joe giving Lesnar the fight of his life, therefore breaking the tired formula of predictable Lesnar matches.

Regardless of the result of the Universal Championship clash at Great Balls of Fire, it is virtually guaranteed that Lesnar will walk away a different and hopefully more motivated competitor.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.