Ranking Brock Lesnar's 5 Best Matches from the Last Decade

Over the past 10 years, Brock Lesnar has obliterated any and all Superstars in his path en route to one of the most dominant runs in WWE history. He has established his star as one of the brightest in the company, making any impending return the buzziest topic in the business.

With Andrew Zarian of Mat Men Podcast reporting Lesnar's WWE return could be coming as soon as SummerSlam, relive these five classic matches produced by The Beast Incarnate against prominent contemporaries Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Seth Rollins, CM Punk and AJ Styles.

There is something about smaller wrestlers that motivates Brock Lesnar to put on his working boots and deliver a greater effort, and stronger performance, than normal. This list is proof positive of it, beginning with the 2018 Survivor Series match pitting the then-Universal champion against WWE champion Daniel Bryan.

Originally slated to be a rematch of Lesnar's match with AJ Styles (more on him in a moment), Bryan defeated The Phenomenal One to capture the WWE title shortly before the pay-per-view.

Bryan, the consummate underdog, found himself on the defensive early and often in the bout. He absorbed a ton of punishment but, combining resiliency with resourcefulness, fought back into the match and appeared to be on his way to victory after chopping down Lesnar.

Brock's unbridled strength, though, proved the difference, as he fought out of the triangle choke and delivered an F5 for the win.

The match was a reminder that while Lesnar had fallen into a rut and repeatedly produced the same matches against other top stars, he could still deliver a banger when motivated. And on that night in November 2018, Bryan pushed the big man to deliver his best match in a year.

Like Bryan, AJ Styles brought out of Lesnar a work rate fans had not seen from The Beast in quite some time. He demanded effort, and together, the two of them had a match just slightly above the near-classic Lesnar worked with Bryan to deliver a year later.

Styles withstood Lesnar's early onslaught to remain in the fight and target the legs of his opponent. He soared through the air with his trademark Phenomenal Forearm, wiping out Lesnar on the floor. When AJ went for his Styles Clash finisher, Lesnar reminded the world of his reversal abilities, countering into an F5 attempt. Styles, better at it, countered that into the Calf Crusher.

No longer amused by the challenge presented by The Phenomenal One, Brock obliterated AJ with a flurry of clubbing forearms before catching him mid-flight and putting him away with the F5.

It was a reaffirmation from Lesnar that he still cared about his in-ring performance. He just needed someone to bring it out of him the way John Cena and CM Punk had earlier in the decade.

How ironic it is that one of Lesnar's best matches of the last decade does not involve him nearly as much as the others on this list.

At the 2015 Royal Rumble, Lesnar entered as the WWE champion, ready for a Triple Threat match against Seth Rollins and John Cena. With both having felt his wrath before, The Architect and Cena worked together to eliminate The Beast from the equation early, driving him through the announce table.

Cena and Rollins proceeded to have the same excellent match they had countless times before, with some J&J Security interference for good measure. As the match hit its crescendo, though, Lesnar returned and unleashed hell on anyone around him.

He suplexed both challengers right to hell before putting down Rollins with the F5 for the successful title defense.

This was right in the midst of Lesnar's monster heel run, which began several months earlier with a squash of Cena at SummerSlam. It was no surprise he was booked as efficiently and, ultimately, dominantly as he was. Cena and Rollins got to demonstrate their rapidly improving in-ring chemistry, and Lesnar got to explode back into the mix late en route to the win.

It was simple, effective storytelling that made the most of the performers involved and delivered the desired effect. It is very much the sort of thing WWE isn't doing at this point in time.

When Brock reappeared in 2012, he did so as a returning force of nature from UFC, a legitimate badass who would punish and pummel anyone in his path, beginning with John Cena at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

Lesnar beat the unholy hell out of Cena, bloodying him in a way fans had not seen in seven years. The Beast savagely wiped Cena's blood on his chest and cut off every attempt by the former WWE champion to stage a comeback. He applied the kimura and nonchalantly attacked referees.

When it looked like there might be life left in Cena after slamming Lesnar on to the steel steps, Brock simply moved out of the way of a top-rope leg drop and watched Cena splat on the mat below. Lesnar's hubris got the best of him, though, as he launched himself off the steel steps placed in the center of the ring and at Cena on the apron.

The Leader of the Cenation rocked Lesnar with a steel chain, delivered an FU on to the ring steps and picked up the improbable win.

This was the first indication that the Lesnar we were getting following his return to the company was not necessarily the Lesnar who left eight years earlier. He wasn't about mat wrestling or showing off raw athleticism by doing what guys his size simply did not.

He was a smasher. He was a punisher. He blasted the opposition with his strikes, overwhelmed them with his power and relied heavily on storytelling over the course of the match. He was a different worker. A smarter one.

It did not matter, though, because if he put in the effort, his performances would loom large over the rest of the company's talented roster.

Brock Lesnar's greatest match of the past decade may well be the best of his entire career, thanks in large part to an opponent driven to flip the bird to his detractors and prove himself as what he spent the previous year claiming he was: the best in the world.

CM Punk bumped like a madman for Lesnar throughout their epic SummerSlam 2013 encounter. He absorbed everything thrown his way by The Beast Incarnate and fought back, coming within inches of victory before interference from Paul Heyman, Punk's own former friend, derailed his momentum.

Fueled by revenge, he took his sights off Lesnar for a split second and applied the Anaconda Vise to Heyman. Lesnar recovered, bludgeoned him with a chair and put him away with the F5.

This was a great performance by Lesnar, the first of its kind following his return. We knew up to that point that he had no problem working with the John Cenas and Triple Hs of the world, but he had yet to work with a smaller performer. Luckily, Lesnar respected Punk enough to give him the sort of effort befitting a main event worker.

Punk, conversely, reminded the wrestling world that there was no better big-match performer than him and turned in what might go down in WWE history as the best match of the decade.