Note On Brock Lesnar’s WWE Return, When Plans Were Set

Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE on Smackdown for a SummerSlam showdown with Roman Reigns, and a new report has details on his return. As noted earlier, Lesnar came out at the end of the show and attacked Roman Reigns, setting up a Last Man Standing match for SummerSlam.

According to Fightful Select, the plan for Lesnar to return was put into place once it became clear Orton would not be coming back anytime in the near future. Orton was the original plan for Reigns’ SummerSlam opponent but as has been noted, Orton may miss the rest of the year due to a back injury.

The site notes that it began to spread backstage shortly before 5 PM ET that Lesnar may be returning, but Lesnar was not listed on any internal rundowns giving out before the show. The report also notes that despite some speculation that Lesnar was brought back after the investigation into Vince McMahon became public, they have been told that the plans were put into place about three weeks ago.