Brock Lesnar’s Role In ‘WrestleMania’ Match With Shane McMahon Getting Canceled

Since his memorable return to the WWE in 2012, Brock Lesnar has engaged in memorable feuds with the company’s top stars, including John Cena, Undertaker, Triple H, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Goldberg. But it was the lukewarm reception to Lesnar’s WrestleMania program with Dean Ambrose that sparked Vince McMahon to make Brock a top priority heading into this year’s big event in Orlando.

In the immediate aftermath to WrestleMania 32, albeit a show that was marred by injuries to several of the WWE’s marquee names, Vince was telling WWE officials that he wanted Brock Lesnar to headline the 2017 showcase against The Rock. Once it became clear that The Rock wouldn’t be available for a lengthy feud or match, they switched gears with every intention of putting Lesnar in an attractive position.

With the exception of John Cena, Brock Lesnar is the highest-paid WWE superstar, and because of his limited schedule, Vince wants to get his money’s worth out of every appearance. The feud with Dean Ambrose failed to accomplish that, but Lesnar’s plans to pursue another fight in the UFC shed a little more light on that. Brock’s main goal coming out of AT&T Stadium last year was to remain healthy, thus shooting down every hardcore proposal Ambrose had for their match.

Nevertheless, Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE several months later and was immediately thrust back into the spotlight. Brock would face Randy Orton in the main event of SummerSlam, despite both the WWE Championship and Universal Championship being defended on the pay-per-view. Lesnar would go on to win via the rare TKO decision after bloodying Orton and giving the Viper a legitimate concussion. The decision was planned but the concussion was obviously not.

As fans recall, Shane McMahon came down to ringside as doctors were attending to Orton. This was the first inter-promotional match since the brand split in July. Shane wanted to make sure Brock Lesnar wouldn’t inflict any more damage, but instead, Lesnar planted the SmackDown commissioner with an F-5. There was some brief interaction between Brock and Shane during the build to SummerSlam, but the pay-per-view angle was designed to cement a future match between Shane McMahon and Brock Lesnar on a big stage.

Remember, Vince wanted to have Brock Lesnar in one of, if not the most important match on the WrestleMania 33 card. Shane McMahon’s Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker last year proved to be the biggest draw that weekend, so Vince figured Brock and Shane could do the same, if not more, in Orlando. However, as fans have discovered, it was not meant to be, and now they know a little bit more about why.

According to a new report, the reason Brock Lesnar and Shane McMahon are not facing off at WrestleMania 33 is because of Brock Lesnar. Vince and Shane both saw money signs in a potential angle with The Beast, but Brock used his influence to get the match scrapped once Goldberg returned to the fold. As previously noted, Goldberg was originally supposed to come to the WWE for a one-time match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series and then ride off into the sunset.

Goldberg and the WWE, with some apparent pushing from Brock Lesnar, agreed to extend their agreement. Lesnar pushed for the idea of jobbing out to Goldberg last November to give the icon the 2-0 advantage in singles matches between the two, only for the final encounter to go Lesnar’s way this April. Brock was also apparently influential in the decision to have Goldberg win their Survivor Series match in such shocking fashion to create even more buzz.

Shane McMahon was also on that Survivor Series card, aligning himself with Team SmackDown in the most significant traditional elimination match against Team RAW. However, there was no interaction between Shane and Brock Lesnar that night, or any other night thereafter. Shane is now poised to square off with AJ Styles at WrestleMania, his runner-up prize after Lesnar decided he wanted to continue working with Goldberg.

[Featured Image by WWE]