WWE: Brock Lesnar Breaks The 30 Day Title Rule Over Vince McMahon’s WWE Network Cost-Cutting?

Brock Lesnar may hold the WWE Championship belt, but apparently Vince McMahon and Triple H are fine with the wrestler violating the 30-day title rule. But is the reason they are letting a part-timer disregard the the WWE rules due to the the costs associated with the WWE Network?

In a related report by The Inquisitr, originally the Big Show was scheduled to take on Brock Lesnar at Hell In A Cell 2014, but since Lesnar already trounced him at Royal Rumble, previously the match was expected to end like the John Cena rematch. Now reports are claiming this plan was axed and Lesnar may not return until Royal Rumble 2015. This would mean the Beast would only work four WWE PPV events this year, and a handful of non-PPV events, even though rumors claimed Lesnar’s WWE contract would have him working Monday Night RAW on a more routine basis.

As everyone in the WWE Universe knows by now, Vince McMahon has been working hard to cut as many corners as possible in order to ensure the success of the WWE Network streaming service. Providing the WWE Network incurs a hefty cost, and it’s been said they need at least one million subscribers just to break even. Since the company is now losing money every quarter, McMahon has responded by laying off wrestlers, reducing the amount of fireworks, and even cutting the props used by certain wrestlers if they were deemed too costly. (Obviously, this means Vince is hardly going to let WWE superstars have three months of vacation time per year as “Stone Cold” Steven Austin is suggesting.)

Now reports are suggesting that the main reason Brock Lesnar will be missing so many WWE PPV events is because of the WWE Network. It used to be that the WWE always made sure to have big title matches as main events for each WWE PPV event so fans would be certain to buy the one-time purchase. Now that the WWE Network’s Over-The-Top (OTT) service provides these PPV events for “only $9.99 per month,” it’s possible management does not feel obligated to show off their top talent all the time.

There’s also the major factor that Lesnar apparently charges a very expensive fee every time he makes an appearance. Based upon that premise, it’s possible that keeping the Beast a limited part-timer is merely another one of Vince McMahon’s cost-cutting measures. Some sports writers have claimed in the past that the less fans see of Lesnar the more they like him, so perhaps Vince feels it’s a calculated risk of balancing how much to show of the WWE Champion.

Brock Lesnar Breaks The Rules Over Money?

We all know Vince McMahon is all about the business, but Lesnar’s schedule is also blatantly ignoring their own rules. Technically, the WWE supposedly still has the 30-day rule on the books that says a WWE Champion must defend his WWE title belt at least once if a WWE PPV event is within a 30-day calendar period, or a WWE Superstar will be forced to drop the belt. The exact rule includes exceptions for large gaps of time between PPV events, and each year WrestleMania is always about five to six weeks after Elimination Chamber.

But this “rule” has only been enforced when management desires it to be part of the storyline, and in the past Paul Heyman hinted that the 30-day title defense rule should be ignored in favor of a lasting reign by Brock Lesnar. Still, if it’s true that Vince McMahon is purposefully scheduling Brock Lesnar part-time due to the WWE Network, then it may be the first time the 30-day rule has been violated over the company trying to save money.

WWE Universe: Do you think it’s fair that Brock Lesnar won’t have his WWE Championship belt taken away when Daniel Bryan was stripped of his title because he could not defend it due to his continuing problems with arm and neck injuries?