[2001-07-28-OVW] Brock Lesnar vs Leviathan

[stro]

What a fascinating little match. In under a year, both would be called up to the main roster, but despite being on the same show, they never had a match on the main roster. This is especially weird considering how many times Cena/Orton/Batista had matches against each other. Although, weirdly, it appears they did have a match on a Raw house show in Feb. 2003. No idea why Brock was on a Raw house show then, but whatever.

It's a nice match where Batista mostly dominates Brock, who is treated as something as an overmatched and underdog face during the match. Great timing and cut offs from Batista. Considering this is a 6 minute developmental TV match between two guys with a year of experience, it's shockingly good. Compare this to the Cena/Orton match that was released in the first Hidden Gems collection. Both Brock and Batista seem clearly ahead of where Cena/Orton were 6 months later, and both seem like they'd definitely be bigger stars than Cena or Orton. What's extra strange is Batista looked better and more ready for prime time in this match than he did for his first 2-3 years on the main roster, and he actually came off better than Brock.

That is all made better by the lack of Jim Cornette, who was absolutely DREADFUL as both the color man and play by play analyst in the Cena/Orton match who literally screamed every single move and hold for that entire match without letting anything breath for a second or letting the audience understand the match on their own. It's a really interesting look at WWE's future.