The black cloud of Brock Lesnar’s failed drug tests from his fight at UFC 200 are still hanging over his head, but now they’re impacting his schedule with WWE during Wrestlemania season. Last year, Lesnar was fined a quarter of a million dollars and suspended by the USADA for a year as punishment for his failed drug tests after his fight with Mark Hunt. That means Lesnar only has WWE for the next year.`
WWE officials are more than aware of that, so they’ve decided to do a couple of interesting things with The Beast Incarnate. The first thing was to have Goldberg dominate Lesnar at WWE Survivor Series in less two minutes. The reason was to generate buzz and build towards their rematch for Wrestlemania 33.
The other thing WWE has done is expand Brock Lesnar’s schedule for Wrestlemania season. On tonight’s edition of Monday Night Raw , Brock will return to WWE television for the first time since losing loss to Goldberg at WWE Survivor Series. However, it’ll be the first of many because he is scheduled for every episode of Raw from tonight all the way through Wrestlemania 33 with one exception in February.
According to a new report , Brock Lesnar won’t be appearing during the February 13th edition of Raw for a specific reason. WWE will be Las Vegas for the episode of Raw because Brock is currently banned from competing in the state of Nevada due to the ruling of the Nevada State Athletic Commission. UFC 200 was held in Las Vegas last year, so this is yet another consequence of the trouble he got into last year.
Thankfully, WWE doesn’t hold events in Nevada too often, so this one of the few times that Brock Lesnar will not be able to commit to a date over the next couple of months. Despite missing one edition of Raw , WWE booking Lesnar for so many dates through Wrestlemania season means he’s going to be featured a lot of WWE television. Goldberg’s schedule has yet to be revealed, so it’ll be interesting to see how many shows they share together on the “Road to Wrestlemania.”
There is a lot of speculation about how WWE is going to book the build up of the feud between Goldberg and Brock Lesnar over the next couple of months. WWE’s usual tactic is to keep the two away from each other as much as possible to build the tension for the PPV. WWE has begun advertising Goldberg for WWE FastLane , but Lesnar has yet to be announced, but his schedule strongly suggests he will be soon.
There has been some speculation that WWE may book the final match between Goldberg and Lesnar for WWE FastLane in order for WWE to free up both men for other matches on the grandest stage of them all. It’s also been reported that Goldberg vs. Lesnar is expected to be the main event of Wrestlemania 33 .
The odds are more likely for the latter considering how much work WWE is putting into their feud. The question is what Brock Lesnar will be doing on WWE television. If WWE is planning another feud for him heading into WWE FastLane , who would his opponent be? Depending on what happens during the WWE Royal Rumble PPV, Brock Lesnar could find himself challenging for the WWE Universal Championship.
The fact is WWE has Brock Lesnar for the next year, and Brock is in a position where he’s only going to be featured on WWE programming, so doubling down on his appearance makes sense. WWE will find ways to keep him busy, but the possibilities for WWE having Lesnar available for this many dates on WWE TV is going to make the first few months of 2017 really interesting.
[Featured Image by WWE]