Surprise! It’s Brock Lesnar After All!

In the immediate aftermath of arguably the biggest news drop in WWE history, with Vince McMahon announcing his retirement due to a seemingly neverending stream of controversies, word got around online that Brock Lesnar was not a happy camper as a result.  20 years and a month since “Stone Cold” Steve Austin walked out on WWE and refused to job to Lesnar, Brock decided to give it a try himself.  Or did he?  Let’s take a look at last night’s WWE SmackDown on FOX.

So with every wrestling news source swearing up and down that Brock Lesnar screamed out, “If he’s gone, I’m gone!” upon hearing of Vince McMahon’s immediate retirement and storming out of the building, it appeared last night’s WWE SmackDown and next weekend’s SummerSlam main event were in a state of flux. Fans and analysts wondered aloud if Lesnar would be replaced by his sporadically appearing counterpart Goldberg in the SummerSlam main event or if Money In The Bank winner Theory would cash in against WWE Super Duper Ultimate Champion of the World Roman Reigns?  But alas, in classic Lesnar fashion, he showed up suddenly just when people thought it was safe.

After a 6-man Tag Team match main event on WWE SmackDown that saw The Street Profits team with Madcap Moss against The Usos and Theory that ended via DQ when Theory used his Money In The Bank briefcase as a weapon, Brock Lesnar hit the ring, and Theory with an F-5 to end a stunning and confounding day and SmackDown episode with even more befuddlement.

So, did Triple H and Stephanie McMahon go grab a coffee with Brock and have a heart-to-heart and talk things out to bring him back last night?  Or was this a nice little work on us all by a new creative regime?  Only time will tell, but it certainly was an attention-grabbing end to last night’s SmackDown, for better or for worse.

In other WWE SmackDown match results:

Ludwig Kaiser def. Shinsuke Nakamura

The Viking Raiders def. Jinder Mahal & Shanky

Raquel Rodriguez def. Sonya Deville

The Street Profits & Madcap Moss def. The Usos & Theory

And in some non-match action on WWE SmackDown:

Stephanie McMahon opened the show and thanked her father

Ronda Rousey and SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan had a backstage confrontation

Happy Corbin and Pat McAfee had a nice brawl

Lacey Evans tried to stay in everyone’s consciousness

We met Maxxine Dupri

Ok, so, as I’m sure you remember, the great LA Knight was brought up to the main roster and turned into a goofy model agent named Max Dupri some time ago, which completely wasted the talents of a guy who could be one of the company’s biggest stars.  Well, now we meet his sister with him nowhere to be seen and the allusion that she will be in the main role of this story going forward.  Is Triple H putting his stamp on things already and thankfully turning him back into LA Knight?  Or is WWE truly as progressive as Titus O’Neil claims they are (potentially while at gunpoint), and they’ve introduced us to the first non-Santino gender-changing character?

Drew McIntyre and Sheamus set up a fight for next week

Sorry, wrong clip.

And that’s that for this week’s WWE SmackDown.  I could jump all over them for not doing too much to energize fans for SummerSlam next week or Roman Reigns again being MIA a week out from one of their biggest shows of the year (that he’s main eventing).  But it was a hell of a day for them and us and it just is what it is.  I’m sure everything is in the air for them right now and things probably won’t start to take any form until after SummerSlam, which could serve as something of a bookend on this era.

Till next time friends.