Five Potential Brock Lesnar Opponents For WWE Royal Rumble 2018

The current WWE Universal Champion is Brock Lesnar. The last time he defended his title was at September’s No Mercy event, when he beat Braun Strowman clean in under 10 minutes. Lesnar also beat WWE Champion AJ Styles at Survivor Series two weeks ago, but that was a non-title match. If you’re wondering about the “all champions must defend their titles within 30 days” rule that WWE sometimes enforces and other times ignores, they are currently in the “ignoring” phase.

There were reports a few months ago that Lesnar was going to face Finn Bálor, likely at the Royal Rumble on January 28 in Philadelphia. You may recall that Lesnar’s advocate Paul Heyman made it a point to put over Finn Bálor in promos earlier in the year in order to build him up as a future contender. The idea behind that was Lesnar has already beaten Samoa Joe and Strowman in singles matches (at Great Balls of Fire and No Mercy respectively), so Bálor was another top Raw talent that he could beat before the eventual WrestleMania showdown with Roman Reigns that has been the plan since March.

However, last week we reported on the story from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer, noting that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon doesn’t feel like Bálor is over enough and that the plan for Royal Rumble has changed.

Bálor has responded to the “he’s not over enough” stories on Twitter over the last week with various tweets where he mentions the word “OVER” repeatedly. He also included a WWE.com poll where he had overwhelming support as the answer to a fan question of who the WWE Universe wants to see Brock Lesnar face next.

In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote that poll results like that don’t really mean anything, because WWE’s decision makers (namely Vince McMahon) are going to do what they want. Meltzer also noted that it’s not known who the Lesnar opponent for the Rumble might be, and that it’s not a 100 percent guarantee that Lesnar will even be defending the Universal Championship at Royal Rumble if he does have a match (although he will certainly have a match). If WWE does have any plans or ideas for him, they’re keeping quiet about it.

When discussing WWE’s options for a Lesnar opponent, Meltzer mentioned on his radio show that it’s probably not going to be Braun Strowman, because they already had him put him over Lesnar and they want to protect Strowman from further losses. Roman Reigns is unlikely as well, because he is carved in stone to be Lesnar’s opponent at WrestleMania 34.

Lesnar’s next appearance on Raw will be December 18 in Providence. At that point, we may get a better idea of who he might face at the Royal Rumble, but we may have to wait a few more weeks after that, too.

Here are five choices that I think make a lot of sense as potential Lesnar opponents at the first major show of 2018. I’m not picking Reigns (Lesnar’s likely WrestleMania opponent) or Strowman (WWE wants to protect him), so it will be somebody else from the Raw brand.

Kane

This choice doesn’t excite me at all, but with the way WWE is pushing Kane since his recent return, it would make sense to give him a shot at Lesnar. Kane’s main rival is Braun Strowman at the moment. The two have yet to have a blowoff grudge match, although I would expect that to happen at some point in December as a Raw main event, similar to when Strowman faced Big Show three times on Raw in one of the best feuds of 2017.

Lesnar beating Kane would give more credibility to Lesnar’s title reign, because Kane is a WWE Legend that has beaten everybody in his path over the last 20 years, yet he and Lesnar have never had a high profile feud before. Plus, think of Lesnar’s long history with The Undertaker, so Taker’s little brother Kane can match up with Lesnar to see how he does. Perhaps Royal Rumble 2018 is the right time for it.

If it’s about giving Lesnar the best, freshest, or most intriguing match possible, then Kane is a bad choice, but if WWE continues to book Kane as a dominant monster heel, it’s as good an option as any.

Kurt Angle

As the Raw GM, Angle isn’t in a position where he’s booking himself in title matches. However, he has had issues with his boss Commissioner Stephanie McMahon and her husband Triple H, so perhaps it could be a situation where they force Angle to have a match with Lesnar because of the bad blood going back to their memorable feud in 2003, which included the WrestleMania 19 main event. The concern with Angle facing Lesnar is that he’s nearly 50 years old and is obviously banged up, but an event like the Royal Rumble might be the perfect place to do Lesnar vs. Angle one more time.

Angle getting a shot at Lesnar could also cause problems with Angle’s son Jason Jordan, who is going through a heel turn. Let’s say Angle loses this match and Jordan finally snaps on his dad for being a glory hound that is taking opportunities for himself, rather than giving them to deserving talent. It could lead to Angle vs. Jordan at WrestleMania. Just spitballing here.

Finn Bálor

I know that the plan has supposedly changed, but who’s to say it can’t change back? Bálor has been getting his ass kicked by Kane repeatedly in the last month, but if you remember TLC back in October, Bálor beat AJ Styles. It was Styles who nearly beat Lesnar at Survivor Series, so Bálor could mention how he knows he can topple Lesnar via wrestling math.

What WWE should do is have Bálor cut what feels like a shoot promo. Have him say that he was the first Universal Champion, he fought through a shoulder injury that night to win it and he has yet to get another title shot. Set up some four-way match or a mini-tournament to determine the No. 1 contender, with Bálor getting put over strong to earn the match against Lesnar at the Royal Rumble. You know … sort of like how Bálor won the title in the first place.

If there’s one thing we know about WWE’s creative process it’s that plans change all the time. By Christmas, perhaps WWE will realize Bálor vs. Lesnar is the best choice for a Universal title match at the Royal Rumble.

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose

Rollins and Ambrose are former rivals of Lesnar who have been out of the Universal title picture for most of the year as well, which makes me think that was done for a reason. How about setting up a triple threat match between Lesnar, Ambrose and Rollins, where the two tag team partners (who are both former WWE Champions) work together to try to beat Lesnar? It could lead to Rollins and Ambrose fighting themselves, which would open the door for Lesnar to capitalize on the situation and win the match.

One of my favorite Lesnar matches ever was Royal Rumble 2015 when he faced John Cena and Seth Rollins in a triple threat for his WWE title. It was originally going to be Lesnar vs. Cena, but then they changed it up by adding Rollins, who put on a spectacular performance. By putting Lesnar in a triple threat, they can make it more of a brawl, do spots using the table, and build to more believable nearfalls than if he was in a singles match against either opponent.

The storyline also sets up nicely for Reigns. If his buddies Rollins and Ambrose couldn’t beat Lesnar, will people think Reigns can? You can have Rollins and Ambrose tell Reigns he can’t do it because they were unable to do it together. Of course Reigns will pull it off at WrestleMania, because that’s what Vince McMahon wants, but I’m talking about the story going into it. It’s definitely a compelling set-up.

Samoa Joe

This is admittedly a safe pick. The last time Lesnar faced Joe was at Great Balls of Fire on July 9th, in a match that went only 6:25. It was one of the most-anticipated matches of 2017 and a dream match for a lot of us, but when it was over we were left with one question: “That’s it?” Sure, they were both part of the SummerSlam Fatal 4-Way main event one month later, but that was more about building to Lesnar vs. Strowman. I think what WWE needs to do at Royal Rumble 2018 is give us Lesnar vs. Joe one more time, except it needs to be a much more competitive match, a longer match and a better match. They certainly have the talent to do it.

It would be an easy match to sell. Joe can say that he got a taste of what it was like to be against Lesnar, but he wants another shot. I don’t think Lesnar beating Joe would hurt Joe too much, since Lesnar beats nearly everybody anyway. The key thing is that it’s a competitive match that makes Joe look good instead of finishing him off in under seven minutes again. We want more of this rivalry, so please give us more.

There are other names that are possible, such as The Miz, Bray Wyatt or getting somebody from Smackdown in a Shake-Up or as a “free agent” (Jinder Mahal?), but I think I’ve come up with some good choices. For now, your guess is as good as ours.