Brock Lesnar Not Defending the Universal Title at The Royal Rumble?

Dave Meltzer indicated on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that Brock Lesnar may not be defending the WWE Universal Title at the upcoming Royal Rumble event.

Meltzer said that Lesnar is scheduled to appear at the show but he may not be defending the championship on the card. Coming out of Monday’s RAW, it appears that they don’t have a suitable opponent for Lesnar for the annual show. Meltzer broke down the storylines — they are as followed:

– Meltzer explained that judging by the way they are booking Strowman, he isn’t going to face Lesnar at the Rumble.

– Reigns is out because he’s facing him at Mania’ and the company doesn’t intend on changing those plans.

– Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins are out because they are currently in the tag team division.

– Bray Wyatt would be a “complete waste”, according to Meltzer.

– Meltzer said they could go with a rematch with Joe challenging him but it appears that the company is working on Joe vs. Reigns for the Intercontinental title heading into next year.

As previously noted, Vince McMahon doesn’t believe Finn Balor is “over” enough as a challenger for the Championship Title. With all the top names on the RAW brand having storylines that will carry over into The Royal Rumble, it will be interesting to see what direction they go with in terms of an opponent for Brock.