The past few weeks have seen both WWE and Fox heavily promote Brock Lesnar ahead of the October 4 premiere of Friday Night SmackDown . As previously noted by The Inquisitr , this includes a WWE Championship match between reigning champion Kofi Kingston and Lesnar, which the former UFC heavyweight champion is heavily expected to win. However, the latest from Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter suggests that “The Beast” might not be as sure of an addition to the Friday Night SmackDown roster as once thought.
Citing this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer , WrestlingNews.co wrote that Lesnar’s presence on ads for Friday Night SmackDown appears to have been a case of WWE trying to improve ticket sales ahead of the show’s move from the USA Network to Fox. Furthermore, it was noted that WWE’s advertising team only receives “bits and pieces” of the company’s creative plans, which means there’s a chance it isn’t actually aware of a possible brand switch for Lesnar from Monday Night Raw to SmackDown .
Despite the apparent lack of certainty regarding Lesnar’s brand affiliation at this point in time, WrestlingNews.co opined that it won’t be surprising if “The Beast” gets moved to SmackDown , as WWE wants to present the blue brand as “at least” an equal to Monday Night Raw . That, the publication added, would also make it logical if Lesnar defeats Kingston for the WWE Championship on the Friday Night SmackDown premiere, as this would make the show even more special as a debut episode on a new network.
It’s @TrueKofi vs. @BrockLesnar for the @WWE Championship on the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown on FOX. pic.twitter.com/c5OMcfKQwT
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) September 28, 2019
On the other hand, there’s also a possibility that even if Lesnar wins the WWE Championship on Friday night, he might not get to wear the title for too long while specifically representing the SmackDown brand. WWE’s next brand draft will be held on the October 11 episode of SmackDown and the October 14 episode of Raw , and much like the company’s previous drafts, certain titles — and their respective holders — may switch affiliation with each other.
Regardless whether Lesnar changes brands or not, there has been some speculation that his next title run may be a lengthy one, assuming he does beat Kingston next week on Friday Night SmackDown . Earlier this month, a tweet from the WrestleVotes Twitter account suggested that the broader creative plan is for Lesnar to hold the WWE Championship until WrestleMania 36 in April 2020, where he will then drop the title to Roman Reigns in a rematch of their main-event battle last year at WrestleMania 34 .
