What will happen if Brock Lesnar wins?

The answer to that question isn’t quite as cut-and-dry as it was just last week, when Lesnar’s Extreme Rules Match against John Cena was a matter of pride. Those are high enough stakes in and of itself in the dog-eat-dog world of WWE, but it’s safe to say that things are no longer quite so straightforward. Seven days later, and now Lesnar vs. Cena has become something much, much more. ( PREVIEW: CENA VS. LESNAR)

Raw and SmackDown General Manager John Laurinaitis made a bid for “legitimacy” in bringing Lesnar back to WWE, and it’s easy to imagine that the GM thought he was simply bringing in a fighter when he roped Lesnar back to the squared circle. He wanted a pure athlete who could thrill the WWE Universe and put an end to John Cena’s boobirds by supplanting him as the face of the company (People Power!). But that’s a steep challenge for even the most talented of athletes, and after the events of this past Monday’s Raw SuperShow, it’s becoming clear that it carries an appropriately steep price.

Lesnar has turned the contest into a power play in the way that The Rock never considered when he faced the Cenation leader less than a month ago at WrestleMania. Brock realizes what Laurinaitis is asking him to do, and he’s made a host of demands that Mr. Excitement will find himself hard-pressed to ignore if he really thinks Lesnar is his man to change the structure of WWE. Already, Lesnar has assaulted Josh Mathews because he was unhappy with the questions presented to him ( WATCH), demanded a schedule of his own design (basically, he shows up when he wants), refused reprisals for any of his actions, and gone so far as to insist he be given, quite literally, top billing on the show and that it be renamed “Monday Night Raw Starring Brock Lesnar.” ( PHOTOS)

The pressure is now on Cena, perhaps more than ever before, to rise to the occasion against Brock at Extreme Rules. That could be easier said than done at this point, as The Cenation Commander-in-Chief has not been himself since falling to The Rock at The Show of Shows. He’s been humbled and bloodied by Lesnar himself already, and last week he was blinded by Lord Tensai in an Extreme Rules Match on Raw SuperShow ( WATCH). He still looms large in the eyes of the WWE locker room, but a combination of wounded pride and a cold streak puts the odds against Cena in a way the WWE Universe is not accustomed to seeing. Even now, it’s a fair question to ask whether Cena can rise above and overcome in the face of this newest, and greatest, obstacle.

The fact is - just like WWE Hall of Famer Edge insisted - that Cena will have to win ( WATCH: EDGE ADMONISHES CENA), because Laurinaitis caved to the wrecking machine’s terms. A Brock-themed takeover of WWE is now officially in play, and with Laurinaitis already having wagered Pandora’s Box to get Lesnar into the ring, it begs the question once again: what happens if Brock Lesnar wins? What if the box is opened?

It goes without saying the power structure of WWE will be in a state of flux. Lesnar will rule the roost by default and he clearly has no intention of stopping with Cena. WWE Champion CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus will obviously be among the first with targets on their backs. And Laurinaitis, for all his hard-earned titles, will be no more than a figurehead GM, a puppet on the wrecking machine’s strings.

What will happen if Brock Lesnar wins? The short answer, really, is that things will never be the same again.