Brock Lesnar is back, and the plans for his return were reportedly put in motion weeks ago.
On the June 17 episode of WWE SmackDown, “The Beast Incarnate” appeared on WWE programming for the first time since WrestleMania 38, where he lost to Roman Reigns in the Winner Takes All Championship Unification Match. Lesnar confronted Reigns on Friday, moments after “The Tribal Chief” retained the titles against Riddle. WWE subsequently announced that Reigns will defend the gold against Lesnar in a Last Man Standing Match at WWE SummerSlam.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, WWE has been considering having Randy Orton challenge Reigns at the pay-per-view, but when it was apparent that “The Viper” wouldn’t be cleared for action, the company looked Lesnar’s way. Ross Sapp noted that a few hours before SmackDown began on Friday, word of Lesnar’s potential return starting getting around backstage, but he was not listed on internal rundowns prior to the show.
Some fans questioned the timing of Lesnar’s return, which came the same day of the announcement of Vince McMahon’s decision to step back as WWE CEO due to the ongoing investigation. Ross Sapp wrote that WWE made plans to bring the former champion back three weeks ago. While the investigation was already underway at that point, it hadn’t been public knowledge yet.
RELATED: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns Set For WWE SummerSlam
