Brock Lesnar def. WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena

At a certain point during John Cena’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship defense against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2014, members of the WWE Universe had to ask themselves, “When does a match stop being a match and start being a televised assault?”

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How many bodyshots did The Beast Incarnate have to lay into Cena’s flesh before The Champ’s insides turned to porridge? How many German suplexes did Cena have to suffer before the referee called it off? How many times did Brock have to F-5 the Cenation leader before the man finally stayed down?

We learned the answers to those questions some 20 minutes into the most one-sided beating of Cena’s WWE career. Two F-5’s, countless punches thrown with bad intentions, and 16 — yes, 16 — German suplexes were rained down upon The Champ by the most dominant force WWE has ever seen before The Beast Incarnate accomplished what he returned to WWE to accomplish: Become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

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If Cena had a game plan going into this defense, it was to get at Brock before Brock got at him. It took guts to charge at Lesnar the way the Cenation leader did at the opening bell, but what could he possibly do? Outwrestle a former NCCA Champion? Outpunch a former UFC Champion? Barely 30 seconds into the bout, Lesnar had battled Cena back and hit him with an F-5. Our hero managed to muscle out at two, but he was barely in the fight from there. 

Lesnar has always been filled with the type of unspeakable confidence that only comes with being a world-class athlete. Snapping The Undertaker’s Streak elevated him to the status of a demigod. Omnipotence was written all over him as he brutalized Cena with the maniacal glee of a cartoon supervillain. He’d stalk his prey, rain verbal abuse down on him and then toss him across the ring like a bag of dirty clothes. Lesnar savored the cruelty the way most men enjoy a cold beer.

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At first, the crowd almost enjoyed it. It’s natural for 15,000 people to shift into the type of ravenous spectators that once filled Roman coliseums. Then, the mistreatment began to mount. An endless series of German suplexes wreaked havoc on Cena’s neck. Punching sessions seemed to last forever. At one point, Brock stood on The Champ’s fingers for at least 15 seconds, smiling down on his victim as all 286 pounds of him buckled tendon and bone.

If Cena had anything going for him, it was heart. But what good is heart against the heartless?

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There were exactly two moments of hope for Cena in this bout. The first came when The Champ connected with a flurry of devastating elbows to Lesnar’s head and then reversed an attempted F-5 into a successful Attitude Adjustment. For two seconds, you almost thought The Champ had done it again. A half second later, Brock’s shoulder was up. Then, Lesnar hinged at the waist and rose up like The Undertaker with a demented smile on his face. Brock was mocking The Champ, The Deadman and the WWE Universe all at once, and having the time of his life while doing it.

When Cena’s second opportunity arrived, it was already too late. Brock — by now behaving like a Bond baddie with the amount of time he was taking to punish his target — had taken his attention off the WWE World Heavyweight Champion for a moment, allowing Cena to slickly apply the STF. The man put everything he had left into the maneuver, but Lesnar powered out of it and went right back to pounding the living daylights out of his opponent. From there, he yanked Cena up, threw him into a fireman’s carry and executed the decisive F-5.

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Where was The Champ’s rally? The Five Knuckle Shuffle? That knowing grin he loves to throw the WWE Universe as if to say, “Yeah, I got this one”? They weren’t on display at the STAPLES Center. The only thing that was there was a monster with a black heart and two championship titles in his death grip.

For much of the match, the voice of a lone child could be heard chanting, “Let’s go, Cena!” By the time Brock Lesnar’s hand was raised in victory, the kid had fallen silent. Dreams had been dashed. Hopes had been crushed. And a Beast had become king.