Brock Lesnar

It's nice to be Brock Lesnar in WWE because he can get away with things virtually no other superstar on the roster would be allowed to do. 

Per Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, Lesnar's decision to break out of his pod during the Elimination Chamber match wasn't a planned spot. 

Given the high standards of chamber matches over the years, Saturday's showdown for the WWE championship was mostly underwhelming. 

The only two spots that stood out were Lesnar breaking out of the pod and Austin Theory taking an F-5 from the Beast off the top of one of the pods. 

Leading up to the show, WWE had been building toward Lesnar and Bobby Lashley as the main focus of the match.

Lashley got taken out before officially entering the match because of a legitimate shoulder injury he suffered at the Royal Rumble, per Kazeem Famuyide on The Ringer Wrestling Show (h/t Geno Mrosko of Cageside Seats). 

Once Lashley was out of the match, it became obvious that Lesnar was the only person who could win. He wound up pinning each of the other four superstars—Theory, Riddle, AJ Styles and Seth Rollins—to win the WWE championship. 

Lesnar's win sets up a champion vs. champion winner takes all match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38. 

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WWE's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on Saturday from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was a fitting conclusion to this year's run to WrestleMania 38.

As expected, Brock Lesnar emerged with the WWE Championship after winning the main event, creating a champion vs. champion scenario with Roman Reigns at The Show of Shows come April 2-3. 

Thus, concluding a 'Mania season that was strictly about Lesnar and Reigns with little room for anything else. 

That will translate to the marquee event itself, too. 

WWE's booking to get to this point says it all. Lesnar initially won the title at Day 1, with Reigns' inability to go due to COVID-19 letting him get thrown into the Raw title match. He then dropped it at the Royal Rumble to Bobby Lashley, only to enter the men's Rumble match, win that, then win the Elimination Chamber, too, securing not just the main event of WrestleMania but also the red brand's top title. 

The mind wanders as to the how and why behind the booking with The Beast Incarnate, who could have simply held onto the title...or, not won it at all while sending Big E back to tag team purgatory in very Kofi Kingston-esque fashion. 

It's somewhat funny that this sort of booking was given to Lesnar. This is, after all, the booking WWE would need to give to an up-and-comer it wants to establish as a top guy. He didn't need any of it, but he got it anyway.

How the men's Elimination Chamber match itself unfolded was a good example of why the company is in this spot in the first place. It can't build legitimate Superstars who aren't part-timers besides Reigns because everyone is made to look so foolish, even on the biggest of stages. 

Seth Rollins, a guy who has wins over Lesnar, is easily on his way to the WWE Hall of Fame and has probably been the best thing going on the main roster for months, was easily dispatched by the former UFC star. And not only that, it's clear fans won't see him get inserted into the Lesnar-Reigns match now. 

AJ Styles, one of the best ever and a man who has had at least one classic with Lesnar, was discarded like a chump. Matt Riddle, who would've made for a shocking underdog story with star-making potential, endured a similar fate. And once it was just Austin Theory left, as fun as it was to see him attempt to escape the carnage, it was painfully obvious what the end result was going to be. 

Oh, and Bobby Lashley? The outgoing champion? Not only did he look weak by needing outside help to win the title back at the Royal Rumble in the first place, he bonked his head and didn't get to defend his title on Saturday (working with the presumption it was part of the storyline, which the spot with Theory at the end would seem to suggest). 

WWE is unafraid to double- and triple-down on what it wants to be—a company headlined by two guys, to the point both men's titles need to be wrapped up in the main event. All roads to 'Mania run through Reigns and Lesnar and that's fine, but some of its top Superstars and guys with company-carrying potential don't need to look like dorks along the way. 

The grander point is this hangs the rest of the 'Mania card out to dry. WWE needs to fill not one, but two nights. And the current bill is the top title match, plus Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair, a pair of matches that, while sure to be good, have effectively run their course in the past. 

What's Lashley going to do? Rollins? Styles? What are the stakes now that so much was invested elsewhere? Is Damian Priest with the United States title and Sami Zayn with the intercontinental belt enough to make the rest of the card worthwhile? How many celebrity and part-timer showcases will WWE throw in at the last minute? 

It's almost ironic that thanks to a rough build and lack of stakes, none of the potential WrestleMania contests appear to have meaningful ramifications. Fans have been told not to care about anything else and will treat it that way.

And on that ironic note, the main event itself is a no-win situation. If Reigns wins, he's got two titles and nobody looks like a threat; if Lesnar wins, ditto, but it seems obvious he's losing before disappearing again until the next 'Mania season. 

So what's the move? Lesnar derails a historic run? Or Reigns potentially gets both program's top titles and holds them for another year? Or is WWE going to back out of this and suggest only one of the titles is at stake? Or maybe neither of them? Backing out via either option now would sure make a lot of this build is for naught, though. 

Truthfully, this year's Show of Shows has always felt like a holding-pattern 'Mania. It's pretty blatant with Reigns' booking that they're hoping The Rock can come back one more time for a feud that ends at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles. 

But that just makes it all the more unfortunate that WWE went to these lengths to throw so many resources into a match that seems to have a pretty clear result already and no great direction for the fallout. It's unfortunate that the company didn't use this chance to pull some memorable shockers in the face of such predictability. 

While WrestleMania 38 will be a two-night event with a lot of Superstars and buzz, WWE has again signaled by sacrificing the rest of its roster that the only thing that matters is the latest rendition of Lesnar-Reigns, and there's just about no time left to change that perception. 

Brock Lesnar won an Elimination Chamber match at the same-titled pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to become the new WWE champion.

The Beast Incarnate beat a star-studded field comprised of previous WWE champion Bobby Lashley, as well as Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Riddle and Austin Theory.

Lesnar's win cemented a title vs. title match at WrestleMania 38 against Roman Reigns, who retained the Universal Championship over Goldberg earlier in the night.

The match came down to Lesnar and Theory, and while the 24-year-old managed to stick and move for a while, The Beast eventually smashed him through a pod and hit him with an F-5 off the top of one to win.

Lashley was never eliminated from the match, but he still lost the WWE Championship since he was unable to enter.

Rollins powerbombed Theory through The All Mighty's pod, which resulted in medical personnel helping Lashley out of the Chamber. The announce team than said the titleholder was in concussion protocol, meaning he could not compete.

Saturday's bout was announced on Raw two days after the Royal Rumble, and it didn't sit well with Lashley or MVP that The All Mighty was being forced to defend the title in such a grueling contest.

Lashley became a two-time WWE champion at the Rumble when he defeated Lesnar because of interference from Roman Reigns.

The Beast challenged Lashley to a rematch on Raw because of the circumstances surrounding his loss, but the titleholder declined. That led to WWE official Adam Pearce allowing Lesnar to be part of the men's Elimination Chamber match.

Rollins was also granted entry to the contest after beating Reigns by disqualification in a Universal Championship clash at the Royal Rumble.

The remaining three spots were determined by qualifying matches on Raw, and they were all tightly contested affairs.

Theory edged out Kevin Owens, Riddle defeated Otis to get in, and Styles beat Rey Mysterio to qualify in spectacular fashion.

The men's Elimination Chamber match featured four Superstars who had been world champions before and two Superstars who were hungry for their first taste of world title gold as well.

Lesnar was just a few weeks removed from dropping the title to Lashley at the Royal Rumble, but now he is a world champion again for the 10th time in his WWE career.

The Beast made it clear he wanted to face Reigns in a champion vs. champion match at WrestleMania 38, and that can now become a reality.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: profanity).