WWE News: Brock Lesnar ‘RAW’ Dates For June And July Confirmed, But What’s Next For ‘The Beast’?

It’s not every week that one can see Brock Lesnar on Monday Night RAW. That applies even as he holds the red brand’s number one belt – the Universal Championship – as he has yet to defend his title since he won it from Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 early last month. But with “The Beast Incarnate” scheduled to make that first title defense at WWE’s July pay-per-view Great Balls of Fire, it would stand to reason that he should be more visible on television in due time. This was confirmed in a new report earlier today confirming his Monday Night RAW schedule for the months of June and July.

According to Wrestling Inc., Brock Lesnar’s next RAW dates should have him mostly hyping up his Universal Championship match at Great Balls of Fire, with his last confirmed date for the meantime taking place one day after the unusually-named RAW-exclusive PPV. All in all, Lesnar is scheduled to appear on the following dates and venues: June 12 in Lafayette, Louisiana, June 26 in Los Angeles, July 3 in Phoenix, and July 10 in Houston.

This may suggest more intriguing promos from Brock’s manager and “advocate” Paul Heyman, and more beatdowns from the Beast himself, but Brock Lesnar having RAW dates doesn’t always mean he’ll be on television for those appearances. For example, Cageside Seats reported in January that Lesnar was going to be unusually busy in the lead-up to WrestleMania 33, with RAW appearances scheduled for all but one Monday from January 16 to March 20. The only exception was the February 13 Monday Night RAW in Las Vegas, due to Lesnar’s Nevada State Athletic Commission ban for failing drug tests around the time of his match against Mark Hunt at UFC 200.

As it turned out, Brock Lesnar’s RAW appearances on the “road to WrestleMania” weren’t all televised; in fact, he had often made appearances in pre- or post-show segments, instead of engaging with then-rival Bill Goldberg on a near-weekly basis.

Then again, that was a different situation, as Goldberg was on his own short-term deal and wasn’t a weekly fixture on Monday Night RAW either. This time, Lesnar is sure to be facing a regular, full-time member of the RAW roster, as he prepares to make his first defense of the Universal Championship at Great Balls of Fire. But who will his opponent be, assuming Braun Strowman remains injured and unable to compete by the time the pay-per-view takes place on July 9?

Earlier this week, the Inquisitr wrote that WWE may be considering two possibilities as an alternate challenger for Lesnar’s Universal Championship. Regardless of which of the two gets the nod, having Finn Balor or Seth Rollins face Brock Lesnar for RAW‘s most prestigious title would result in a “David versus Goliath” type of match at Great Balls of Fire. But when it comes down to which smaller man would be penciled in against Lesnar due to Braun Strowman’s injury, Forbes believes the “Demon King” Balor would make a better choice than Rollins.

“Rollins has struggled majorly lately as, for whatever reason, he just hasn’t clicked as a face the way he did as a heel. Throw in the fact that he’s already faced Lesnar on pay-per-view in the past (in a disappointing match, nonetheless), and the stars are aligned for Balor to be Lesnar’s next challenger.”

Due to the real-life terms of his WWE contracts, Brock Lesnar’s RAW schedule has always been limited since his return to the company in 2012, and now that he’s Universal Champion, many have pointed out that he’s in outright violation of WWE’s “30-day rule,” wherein champions are required to defend their titles at least once per 30 days, lest they get stripped of their belts. But even if WWE is obviously making an exception in his case, it should be something to look forward to in the coming weeks – the return of the Beast, and the reveal of his first Universal title challenger.

[Featured Image by WWE]