WWE Rumors: Brock Lesnar Could Be Headed To ‘SmackDown’ After Title Loss At ‘SummerSlam,’ ‘Forbes’ Speculates
As fans witnessed on Sunday night at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Brock Lesnar’s third Universal Championship reign was much shorter than the first two, as he lost his title to Seth Rollins at SummerSlam after less than a month with the belt. However, that loss might not mark the beginning of another long hiatus for “The Beast,” as a recent report suggests that the former UFC and WWE champion could soon be switching brands.
According to Forbes‘ Blake Oestriecher, Rollins’ victory over Lesnar at SummerSlam didn’t come long after an analysis of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live attendance figures suggested that he was one of the poorest drawing world champions in recent WWE history. That led to speculation that WWE would book Lesnar to successfully defend the Universal Championship, but with Rollins becoming a two-time champion following Sunday night’s title win, Oestriecher pointed out that Lesnar is now free to jump from Raw to SmackDown, where he could help kickstart the blue brand’s ratings.
As further noted, Lesnar is still expected to be booked on a part-time basis until the end of his current WWE contract, which has been rumored to run until May or June 2020. However, Forbes‘ Oestriecher explained that the 42-year-old wrestler had previously been advertised as a SmackDown Live performer in the lead up to the blue brand’s move to Fox in October.
During his unprecedented 503-day second reign as Universal Champion, Lesnar’s status as a part-time champion who was hardly around to defend his title was blamed for a number of steeply declining WWE metrics, including live event attendance figures and TV ratings. On the other hand, WWE’s continued faith in Lesnar’s ability to attract audiences was also mentioned as a possible factor that could make a move to SmackDown Live very likely at this point.
#WWESummerslam 2019 Results: #SethRollins conquers The Beast #BrockLesnar to win #UniversalTitlehttps://t.co/iKhZiyo61F #WWE @WWE @WWERollins
— Pinkvilla (@pinkvilla) August 12, 2019
“WWE still views Lesnar as one of its biggest draws and undoubtedly wants to load up SmackDown on FOX, which is something it can do now that Lesnar is free to leave Raw,” Forbes wrote.
Despite the above predictions of a move to the blue brand, there’s a chance that Brock Lesnar might have to wait in line before he gets a shot at the WWE Championship currently held by Kofi Kingston. Forbes also forecasted the possibility of WWE giving tried-and-tested veteran Randy Orton another reign with the WWE Championship, as the company might want SmackDown Live to have a more “familiar and marketable face” as its top champion. Much like Seth Rollins, Kingston was also among the poorest drawing world champs listed in the aforementioned analysis of Raw and SmackDown attendance figures, as previously reported by The Inquisitr.
