WWE News: Big Backstage Update On Plans For Brock Lesnar Shane McMahon Feud

SummerSlam is routinely billed as the WWE’s biggest party of the summer and the second-biggest event of the year, behind only WrestleMania. The aftermaths of both of this year’s pay-per-views have a striking similarity in that many of the marquee superstars the company relied on to sell the shows disappear immediately afterwards.

Triple H lost his WWE World Heavyweight Championship to Roman Reigns back in April and hasn’t appeared on television since. Brock Lesnar dismantled Dean Ambrose before returning to the octagon for a fight in the UFC. The Undertaker and Shane McMahon had the most on the line in their showdown inside Hell in a Cell, but the fallout has seen Shane assume an authoritative role on camera, while the Deadman continues to contemplate retirement.

For Lesnar, the formula remained the same four months later. Eat, sleep, conquer repeat. The opponent may have changed, but the results, albeit controversial, remained the same. John Cena’s match with AJ Styles may have stolen the show at SummerSlam, but Cena will now go on hiatus to film the second season of American Grit. And then there’s Finn Balor, who became the first-ever WWE Universal Champion, but an injury during the match will force him out of action for the foreseeable future.

Much like after WrestleMania, WWE officials will have to rely on its healthy, full-time performers to carry the load following SummerSlam, and do so on two different brands, both of which will produce their own brand-exclusive pay-per-views. Instead of Triple H, John Cena, the Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Shane McMahon and even Finn Balor, the top spots will be occupied by the likes of Styles, Ambrose, Reigns and Seth Rollins, with opportunities a plenty to help fill out each card.

In light of the brand split, the company has promised more long-term storytelling and recent reports have surfaced that they’ll also try to incorporate more realism into their storylines. The main event of SummerSlam accomplished both. Lesnar’s brutal and bloody attack on Randy Orton left many wondering if Brock went off script or if it was all part of the plan. And then Lesnar’s F-5 on Shane after the match planted a seed for a major program sometime down the line.

Earlier this week, the Inquisiter reported that that post-match interaction between Brock and Shane would set the stage for a match between the two, most likely to take place at the Royal Rumble in January. However, those plans may have been altered a bit, according to Daily Wrestling News. While a Brock Lesnar-Shane McMahon match may still take place, Lesnar will face another opponent before stepping in the ring with the Prodigal Son.

The current plan will see Shane find an opponent for Brock, instead of being the opponent for Brock, at least at first. Reports continue to claim that Lesnar won’t be back in WWE until the build to the Royal Rumble, so this would indicate that The Beast’s next big match will come at that time, but against a Shane proxy. So if the plan is to put Shane up against Brock one-on-one at some point, that may not happen until after the Rumble, perhaps at next year’s WrestleMania.

The idea of Shane finding Lesnar’s next match supports the WWE’s plan to incorporate more cross-branded angles at some of their bigger pay-per-views. The Rumble is already cross-branded, but it’s more likely that Shane would recruit a superstar from Smackdown Live to take on RAW‘s Lesnar in a singles match rather than someone else from the red brand.

The more powerful and destructive that Lesnar is portrayed, the list of potential opponents diminishes. The top stars on Tuesday nights include John Cena, Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. The Viper would certainly stake his claim for a rematch after the way things ended last Sunday. Cena and Ambrose have history with Lesnar, while Styles does not. Wyatt remains the wild-card after they engaged in a mini-feud earlier this year that never saw a culmination.

One of Vince McMahon’s top priorities has been to book Lesnar as the company’s most dominant star in the biggest match of the show. There’s been plenty of talk of having him challenge for a World Championship upon his return, so the only question is whether a championship match or a showdown with Shane is the bigger draw.

There is no doubt that the storyline has progressed. After it was revealed that Stephanie McMahon fined Lesnar $500 for his attack, Shane said things weren’t over between the two and that neither Brock nor his sister were taking things seriously. His on-air comments followed a tweet where he claimed Lesnar had crossed the line.

[Image via WWE]