When Brock Lesnar won the WWE Universal Championship from Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 , it marked his fifth world title reign and the second since he returned as a part-time star. The last time he won the world title, he held it for 224 days before losing it at WrestleMania 31 . Brock Lesnar had the longest world title reign in the WWE since CM Punk broke records with his 434-day reign.
During that world title reign, Brock Lesnar lost by DQ to John Cena one month after winning the title from him, won a three-way over Cena and Seth Rollins four months later, and then Brock Lesnar lost the title two months after that to Seth Rollins in a match that also included Roman Reigns. That was three title reigns in 224 days of the Brock Lesnar title reign.
During that time, Brock Lesnar was absent from WWE television more than he was there and the world title wasn’t mentioned for long periods of time. Now, Brock Lesnar is champion again on Monday Night Raw and Bleacher Report mentioned that this new title reign won’t be very different .
Cageside Seats reported that this world title reign might even be longer than the last one . When Brock Lesnar was champion before, he held the title from SummerSlam in 2014 until WrestleMania in 2015. This time, Brock Lesnar is possibly going to hold the title from WrestleMania to WrestleMania , a one-year title reign, before possibly losing the belt to Roman Reigns.
The only positive is that Brock Lesnar is rumored to be willing to work more dates this year than he has since returning to the company. That is important. When Kevin Owens was the WWE Universal Champion, he was on Monday Night Raw every week and had matches all the time.
When Bill Goldberg won the title, he had one title defense and lost to Brock Lesnar. That was rough for Monday Night Raw , who went from having a Universal Champion who was there wrestling every week to having a part-time star show up only on occasion to talk about being the champion.
Brock Lesnar will possibly work more than Bill Goldberg did but nowhere near as much as Kevin Owens. With the WWE superstar shakeup moving Kevin Owens and the U.S. title to SmackDown Live , they now have Dean Ambrose and the Intercontinental and Cruiserweight titles as the only singles titles on Raw that will be defended by full-time stars.
Bleacher Report mentions that the WWE Universal Championship is only a year old and the last two title holders – Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg – were both part-time stars who barely wrestle in the company. The site suggests that it will not only hurt Monday Night Raw but also the legacy of the title itself .
SmackDown Live has Randy Orton as their world champion and while he is not as active as he used to be, he still wrestles regularly on television and on PPV events. Interestingly, it is Orton who will be putting his world title on the line on the next Monday Night Raw exclusive PPV instead of Brock Lesnar, with the WWE claiming it is because Bray Wyatt moved to Raw and this will end their feud.
After Payback , the WWE will not have another co-branded PPV until August with SummerSlam . One match at Payback that is rumored is Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns. There are also rumors that Brock Lesnar will defend his title at Extreme Rules against Braun Strowman .
Monday Night Raw has Payback, Extreme Rules, and Bad Blood coming up before SummerSlam and there is no word on what Brock Lesnar will do through those months. Brock is not scheduled for any Monday Night Raw events before Payback and that means the Universal Championship and Brock Lesnar will have no role in the storylines for the next month.
If Brock Lesnar does not lose his WWE Universal Championship until WrestleMania 33 , the WWE will have to figure out what they will do to push their major Monday Night Raw title through the next year.
[Featured Image by WWE]