WWE: How should Brock Lesnar be booked upon his return?

For the first time in what I would consider years, the speculation of a Brock Lesnar return to WWE is actually exciting! That is because from 2016 until last year, Lesnar’s sporadic appearances within the world of sports entertainment usually consisted of the same formula.

Show up.
Wreck Everyone.
Leave.

Wait, where have I heard that before?

All joking aside, it was a repeat occurrence more often than not. Following his Universal Championship win over Goldberg at WrestleMania 33, we would see Lesnar go on to face guys like Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, and Seth Rollins. While there were some good matches in there, particularly against guys of smaller stature, the story leading to those matches was usually quite repetitive.

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A heel Lesnar dominating the baby-face. Baby-face either losing in a challenging effort following a half-dozen german suplexes or eeking out a narrow win after a half-dozen of their own finishing move.

This repetitive booking slowly grew stale, and while a Lesnar appearance would still put butt’s into seats, it usually left much to be desired. For the first time in years, however, things could be quite different when the Beast decides to again, make his presence known.

While we really have no idea of when Brock might make his WWE return, it seems rather unlikely — at least for now. There is a reason we haven’t seen him featured on WWE programming since his losing effort vs Drew MacIntyre at WrestleMania 35, and that reason is a lack of fan attendance. While it was great to see limited attendance from the WWE Universe at ‘Mania 36, we have still yet to receive word on when they might return to programming on a regular basis. Conditions seem to be improving in terms of the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic, but WWE is still using its “Thunderdome” for TV tapings and I have yet to hear when this might eventually change.

Until it does, I believe we will continue to see Lesnar-less RAW’s and Smackdown’s, at least for the immediate future. If you’re like me, however, you believe absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the longer we go without him the more we’re going to be happy to see him back.

The question then becomes, what does WWE do with Brock once he does make his way back to the squared circle? There is one of his recent opponents that we left off of the above-mentioned names, that I can easily see Lesnar sliding into a feud with when he comes back. That guy is the head of the table, and current Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.

Baby-Face Lesnar vs Heel Reigns for the Universal Championship on Smackdown

Before we dive too far into this, yes, it would mark the 476th time (roughly) that the two have met on our television screens over the last half of a decade. The difference is this time though, that it would be the first time ever that the two could have a feud with this face/heel dynamic and with manager Paul Heyman in the opposing corner of the Beast Incarnate.

I’m here for this.

Roman Reigns has undoubtedly been the best thing on WWE TV since last summer, with Vince and co. finally pulling the trigger on a Roman heel run. It’s something the fans have been clamoring for since 2015, and Reigns has played the ”head of the table” gimmick perfectly. The natural foundation for a re-birth of their feud is already laid, with Lesnar’s former advocate, Heyman, now in the corner of his long-time rival.

I think it would be very interesting to see Lesnar back as a babyface, as it’s something we haven’t seen since his first run in the company back in the early 2000s. Seeing the reaction of Heyman whenever Lesnar’s music hit for the first time is something I have already been excited to see, and this fresh aspect of the good guy/bad guy allegiance would be great for TV in my opinion.

You have to believe that whoever takes the title off of Roman at some point will either be a young superstar ready to catapult upward on the card, or a well-established draw like Lesnar. The same guy WWE felt confident with ending the WrestleMania streak of future Hall-of-Famer, Undertaker.

Re-aligning with Heyman on RAW, facing Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship on RAW

This one is a bit harder to book in my opinion, but it is a match fans have wanted for quite some time nonetheless. Brock Lesnar vs Bobby Lashley has been fantasy booked by many over the years due to both being rather successful in the octagon of the UFC.

Similar to the foundation for the feud above, the groundwork here is a natural fit as well. Adding the element of mixed martial arts training to WWE storylines is something the company tried to do with Cain Velasquez, yet failed to book properly. Hopefully, they have learned from their booking mistakes and could write an impactful story for this dream match ten years in the making.

The face/heel aspect of this is a tough one though if Heyman is involved. Obviously, as Reigns’ confidant on Smackdown, Heyman has to remain an evil “bad guy”, but perhaps Lashley is the one who eventually turns to the light. I could easily see this happening, as the WWE Universe has been rather supportive of Lashley as WWE Champion, and his pairing with MVP as his mouthpiece is nothing short of great.

MVP and Heyman squaring off on the sticks would be money for television and the two could put on one hell of a pay-per-view match if given the right booking. Perhaps Heyman as the manager for two monster heel champions could give way to even more future storylines?

Maybe the return of the Dangerous Alliance?

Only time will tell which direction WWE decides to go when one of their biggest draws to this day returns to the company. I am just glad we will be looking at fresh feuds and aspects to any angle they decide upon.

Which of the two above-mentioned ideas do you prefer? Or do you have an idea of your own for a feud? Let us know in the comments below!