After a hiatus that lasted two and a half months, Brock Lesnar made a surprise return at the end WWE SmackDown last week to set up another title match with Roman Reigns.

Following Reigns' successful title defense against Riddle in the show's main event, The Tribal Chief grabbed a microphone and told the Minneapolis, Minnesota crowd to acknowledge him. Lesnar then showed up unexpectedly and confronted Reigns, delivering an F5 to the champion before quickly fighting off The Usos.

WWE later announced that Lesnar and Reigns would rekindle their rivalry in a Last Man Standing match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at the July 30 SummerSlam 2022 pay-per-view. The show will run at Nissan Stadium (home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans) in Nashville, Tennessee.

In the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required), Dave Meltzer provided some notes behind WWE's decision to have Lesnar challenge Reigns again. Meltzer previously reported that Randy Orton was initially the planned opponent for Reigns at SummerSlam.

But injuries to Orton and Cody Rhodes left WWE with few options, Meltzer noted. He also explained that though SummerSlam may seem "way too early" to run a rematch, Lesnar's star power ultimately led to WWE running another match between him and Reigns:

"Following injuries to Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes, and blowing off Riddle on Smackdown, the WWE title picture looked empty again, which led to the return of Brock Lesnar. On one hand, since Roman Reigns beat Lesnar in Saudi Arabia, and then beat him clean in a lackluster match at WrestleMania, you’d think SummerSlam is way too early for a rematch.

On the other hand, Reigns and Lesnar are the only two people truly pushed and protected at PPV level with the exception of the injured Rhodes, and it’s by far the biggest match they can do in the SummerSlam title match."

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Brock Lesnar Vs Roman Reigns

As previously noted, Orton will be out of action long-term as he continues to deal with a back injury. There's apparently fear within WWE that he won't wrestle again in 2022. Rhodes recently underwent surgery on a torn pectoral, and WWE announced that he'll be out of action for nine months.

Reigns Is 3-2 Against Lesnar

Lesnar won the first two singles bouts with Reigns, emerging victorious at WrestleMania 34 and The Greatest Royal Rumble. However, Reigns responded with three consecutive victories: SummerSlam 2018, Crown Jewel 2021 and of course the WrestleMania 38 main event. A victory for Lesnar would even the all-time head-to-head series. Only time will tell if he can solve his Kryptonite in Nashville.

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