Examining What WWE Can Do to Get the Most from Brock Lesnar's Title Reign

Per recent reports, Brock Lesnar’s future in WWE is looking decidedly precarious. According to Dave Meltzer on a recent edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (via Wrestling Inc), Lesnar may very well be returning to the UFC when his current contract with Vince McMahon's company expires in April of next year.

If Lesnar does depart, it will obviously be troubling news for WWE.

It has invested a whole lot in the star since he returned in 2012. He’s been booked as a major monster heel. Most notably, he ended The Undertaker’s legendary undefeated streak at WrestleMania 30. At SummerSlam, he utterly destroyed John Cena en route to winning the WWE world heavyweight title.

Credit: WWE.com

This is some first-class treatment. Few have been treated so well by the writers. And the idea that it all may have been for naught must be rather depressing to McMahon right now.

Nonetheless, WWE must strive to get every single thing it can out of Lesnar’s current WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, especially if it will be his last one. It’s the only smart option, booking-wise.

The most significant thing the writers can get out of Lesnar’s remaining time with the company—if indeed he is leaving—is to use it to get a Superstar over on his way out. 

Let’s assume the former MMA fighter defeats Cena at the Royal Rumble and heads into WrestleMania with the title. (Cena leaving the event with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship doesn’t make much sense anyway—he’s held that belt too many times for it to truly mean anything anymore.)

Roman Reigns is the likely option to be his challenger at the Santa Clara show.

Reports, including one from Meltzer (via Wrestling Inc), surfaced earlier this year that WWE is planning a Lesnar vs. Reigns showdown at WrestleMania 31.

This is smart, logical booking. If anything is going to get Reigns over as the star McMahon wants him to be, it’s solidly defeating Lesnar and taking his belt. It will gain him instant credibility with the fans and get his big main push off to the best possible start.

However, there is a new candidate for Lesnar’s WrestleMania foe: On Monday’s Raw, Daniel Bryan announced that he would be competing in the Royal Rumble match. This was a major deal and easily the highlight of the programme.

It’s hard to see how he’s not one of the favourites to win the 30-man Battle Royal. As the loud and frantic fan reaction to Bryan on Monday illustrated perfectly, even with all the time he's missed due to neck surgery, he’s still as popular with the fans as ever. And Bryan coming back from injury to emerge as the winner of the 30-man match would make for a great story, more so than Reigns or anyone else on the roster winning.

Some fans feel that way, too, looking at the Twitter reactions to Bryan’s speech after the show went off the air:

There probably is more appeal to Bryan vs. Lesnar than Reigns vs. Lesnar.

And the idea of a scrappy underdog in Bryan taking on—and defeating—the industry’s most dominant and powerful monster heel would make for a massively memorable WrestleMania moment. This may very well be the best way for the bookers to salvage Lesnar’s patchy WWE run and end it on a high note.