Why Roman Reigns Name-Dropped Brock Lesnar During WWE SmackDown

Brock Lesnar has not returned to WWE since WrestleMania 36, but his name keeps getting brought up. It’s impossible to ignore his absence as live fans return to WWE events, but there doesn’t seem to be any momentum to bring him back at this juncture.

Ringside News asked around about Brock Lesnar’s current status with the company and, according to a top level source in talent relations, there has been no conversation with Brock Lesnar at all.

Paul Heyman changed his Facebook profile picture to feature Lesnar. We were additionally told by a tenured member of the creative team that Heyman did the Facebook profile picture update “just because Heyman likes to plant seeds that he and Roman can use in the future.”

Roman Reigns mentioned Brock Lesnar’s name during a promo on SmackDown, and we were told that “was either something between Roman, Heyman, and Vince [McMahon], or it was just Roman and Heyman once again just throwing out names” that might work in the future. Nothing is planned at this point.

Brock Lesnar’s name was brought into the picture during SmackDown in a way where it’s impossible to tell whether it is a slow build for a future storyline or it was simply “let’s reference Brock as part of history.” We were told that it was done to “leave it to the audience as a talking point,” because “they like for there to be guessing games played.” Obviously, fans took the bait, because they are talking about it this morning.

At this time there is no working plan to bring Brock Lesnar back to the company, but that won’t stop hype from building around his name. Lesnar’s deals are also always kept very close to the vest, so when he does return it will likely be the biggest surprise WWE can make out of it.

What’s your take on Brock Lesnar’s current situation with WWE? Sound off in the comments!