Brock Lesnar's Upcoming Appearance Signifies WWE's Commitment to SmackDown Brand

Brock Lesnar is set to square off with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at WWE Fastlane on Feb. 21 to determine the No. 1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. But before that, he will be appearing on Thursday's episode of SmackDown.

This will mark Lesnar's first time on the blue brand since March 2004, shortly prior to his departure from the company.

He had yet to show up on SmackDown since returning four years ago, but now that he is being booked for more dates, it was only a matter of time before he was scheduled to appear on the Thursday night program.

From 2002 to 2004, The Beast Incarnate spent a majority of his tenure on SmackDown, mixing it up with the likes of Kurt Angle, Big Show and Undertaker. It was there that he made a name for himself and was cemented as a star with three WWE Championship reigns to his credit.

In the 17 years SmackDown has been on the air, few Superstars have played as big of a factor in its success than him. He was the face of the franchise during his time on Thursday nights and would have continued to be had he not left when he did.

Most importantly, the decision to have Lesnar appear on upcoming episodes of SmackDown further solidifies WWE's desire to make the show relevant again.

Credit: WWE.com

WWE has done an extremely effective job of building the blue brand back up over the past month since its move to the USA Network. It wouldn't have been the first time it tried to rejuvenate the show before giving up on it shortly thereafter, but its high quality has remained consistent.

From hosting a title change in mid-January to actually furthering feuds, SmackDown feels must-see for the first time in many years.

The addition of the world-renowned Mauro Ranallo to the commentary team has only helped matters.

In an unprecedented move, AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho was hyped one week out for the Feb. 9 episode. As a result, the match had a big-fight feel to it and perhaps enticed a few new viewers to tune in when they would have otherwise caught the replay on Raw.

For too long, SmackDown has been perceived as the Raw recap show, but WWE should be utilizing the extra two hours it has on prime-time TV wisely.

Thankfully, it has been doing more of that as of late, and the progress has been fairly apparent.

Advertising matchups and appearances in advance is a small step toward bringing back excitement to the program. Thus, doing so with Lesnar on this coming Thursday's edition is an encouraging sign that WWE still has high hopes for SmackDown going forward.

As of this writing, what Lesnar's segment on SmackDown will entail is unknown. Obviously, he won't be wrestling, but it is very possible he could address what transpires on Raw on Monday night. Or he might get physical with a SmackDown Superstar.

As entertaining as Paul Heyman is on the microphone, the real money is in seeing Lesnar destroy someone, and there is no doubt that he has been on a tear as of late.

At a time when the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is in the possession of a part-timer, WWE should be doing everything it can to add star power to SmackDown. With John Cena and other top-tier talent out with injuries, Lesnar is the biggest name available at the moment.

Having him make his presence felt on the program was long overdue, but it will be exciting to see what he has in store for SmackDown fans come Thursday night. The best part of all is that he is currently scheduled to show up on SmackDown more frequently in the future, most notably in Boston on March 24.

What will be the nature of the Mayor of Suplex City's SmackDown appearances as WrestleMania 32 draws near? Either way, one can only hope this is only the beginning of SmackDown's stock trending upward.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.

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