Backstage News On Brock Lesnar Returning To WWE SmackDown

As noted, last night's episode of WWE "SmackDown" ended with the surprise return of 'The Beast Incarnate', Brock Lesnar.

The closing moments of the Undisputed WWE Universal Title match between Riddle and Roman Reigns saw 'The Tribal Cheif' thwart off an RKO attempt and then spear Riddle for the pinfall. As Reigns celebrated and claimed that he's wrecked everyone so it's time to leave, Brock Lesnar's music hit. He made his way down to the ring and, at first, offered his hand to Reigns in what appeared to be a sign of respect. But then Brock scooped Roman up and gave him an F-5, followed by a couple of F-5s for The Usos as the show concluded.

A new report from "Fightful Select" sheds some light on how another Brock vs. Roman storyline came to be. This time around, it wasn't in the original plans heading into the next major Premium Live Event, "SummerSlam". Before Brock was booked for the show, the original plan intended for the main event was to have Randy Orton return and face Roman at "SummerSlam". But with the latest updates on Randy suggesting that 'The Apex Predator' needs surgery and will have an extensive recovery time, Brock was called to take his place.

People backstage started being informed of Brock's return to "SmackDown" around 5 p.m. ET, however, he was not featured on the internal rundowns handed out just before the show.

The report notes that the plan for Lesnar's return started gaining traction three weeks ago, so while the investigation into Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis was ongoing at the time, the decision to bring Brock back was made long before the WSJ story originally ran. It is believed the call to bring Lesnar back was in no way reactionary to the allegations made, which you can read more about at this link.

Full results from last night's WWE "SmackDown" are available here.