Backstage Notes On Brock Lesnar's SmackDown Walkout [Report]
Andrew Patterson Fortunately for WWE officials, Brock Lesnar appeared at the end of SmackDown last week just hours after walking out of the show.
As previously noted, Lesnar walked out of SmackDown after hearing the news that Vince McMahon was retiring from WWE. Vince made the announcement via Twitter, and WWE announced that Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan would serve as the co-CEOs of the company. Triple H (Paul Levesque), was named the new Head of Talent Relations as well as the new leader of the creative team.
Lesnar came back in plenty of time, however, and closed out the SmackDown show by delivering an F5 to Money in the Bank winner, Theory. And so, the planned Last Man Standing match with Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam will still go on.
Dave Meltzer provided more details on Lesnar's brief walkout in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required). According to Meltzer, precise details on the matter "have been kept confidential", though he noted that Lesnar was back around 8:30 p.m. for the event.
RELATED: Updated WWE SummerSlam 2022 Betting Odds Released
Meltzer noted it's believed "when Lesnar walked out, management kept in contact with him and made a deal with him to return". Although Lesnar did end up returning, Meltzer reported that WWE made backup plans for SmackDown just in case. Meltzer heard that Lesnar "seemed very happy" when he returned.
It was reported that WWE considered Goldberg as a replacement for Lesnar at SummerSlam, but WWE obviously never had to come to that decision. Goldberg currently isn't on the SummerSlam 2022 card.
WWE Avoided A Disaster
Lesnar remains a giant main event draw for WWE, and countless fans have come to embrace the babyface version of him. Having Lesnar walk out eight days before SummerSlam would have been disastrous, and it would've greatly affected WWE's long-term booking. Fortunately, WWE was able to convince Lesnar to come back, and now we wait and see if he can end Reigns' record-setting Universal Championship reign which is now pushing 700 days.
TheSportster Podcast has returned! Check out latest episodes of the show where Jim Parsons and Norman Quarrinton cover the latest news and events happening in the worlds of WWE, AEW and more!
