Brock Lesnar Was Going To Be The Number One Overall Pick In WWE Draft Prior To USADA Failures

Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar has been in the news quite a bit over the last week, but not because of anything he’s done in WWE. News broke last week that Lesnar had failed an out-of-competition drug test leading up to his fight with Mark Hunt at UFC 200. Then, just a couple of days later, it was revealed that the ex-WWE Champ had failed yet another drug test, with the second failure stemming from an in-competition drug test.

According to Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times, Lesnar has tested positive for clomiphene, which is the same thing that Jon Jones tested positive for. Clomiphene is an estrogen blocker that is typically used by an athlete when they’re coming off of a steroid cycle.

I'm told by an official with knowledge of Brock Lesnar's positive test that the substance is clomiphene, the same one found in @JonnyBones.

— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) July 19, 2016

Lesnar was tested by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) eight times, with six tests being out of competition and two tests being in competition. It’s been reported that Lesnar passed his first five out-of-competition tests, while he failed his sixth out-of-competition test. The seventh and eighth test were in competition tests, and as of this writing, we don’t know the results of the eighth test, but most are expecting that he’ll fail that one as well.

Since returning to WWE in 2012, Brock Lesnar has been one of the company’s biggest stars. You can actually make an argument that he’s the biggest star the company has. His win over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 raised his popularity in both the WWE and UFC world, and according to Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer, WWE was going to make him the first overall pick in Tuesday’s WWE draft because of his win at UFC 200, but his two USADA failures prevented them from doing so.

“Raw drafted Brock Lesnar [with the fifth overall pick], who, by the way, had Brock Lesnar not failed his first and his second USADA tests, he was going to be the number one draft pick.”

As of today, WWE has barely acknowledged the fact that Lesnar has failed two drug tests. Typically in WWE, a first-time wellness violation offense calls for a 30-day suspension. However, Lesnar’s two failures were USADA failures and not WWE wellness violations, so because of that, WWE probably won’t take action against him.

#TheBeast heads to #RAW as @StephMcMahon & @RealMickFoley select @BrockLesnar in the 2016 #WWEDraft! pic.twitter.com/gwwEZbLQLf

— WWE (@WWE) July 20, 2016

Brock Lesnar is currently scheduled to return to WWE at next month’s SummerSlam, where he’ll go one-on-one with Randy Orton. Both Lesnar and Orton were drafted on Tuesday night, but they were drafted to separate brands. For now, WWE is hyping the match by saying it’s the very last time the two men will be in the ring together. Of course, the two men have faced each other once in WWE, but it was way back in 2002 when Orton wasn’t the superstar he is today.

The common belief is that WWE is waiting for the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s verdict on the Lesnar situation, and if he’s punished, WWE will punish him as well. But, due to the part-time nature of Lesnar’s relationship with WWE, a suspension won’t really impact how he’s used.

If Brock Lesnar is unable to prove that he was taking a tainted supplement, then he’ll be suspended by USADA for two years, which would likely mean that his UFC career is over. Of course, if he still wanted to fight, he’d have to join another organization like Bellator or Rizin in Japan. But, WWE probably won’t allow him to do that as long as he’s under contract to them, so it’s possible that Lesnar’s fight with Mark Hunt at UFC 200 will end up being the last fight of his career in mixed martial arts.

[Image via WWE]