Brock Lesnar Is the Perfect Draft Pick to Legitimize WWE SmackDown Brand

This week, WWE shook the wrestling landscape to its core, confirming the long-rumored brand split and scheduling it for July.

There's plenty of speculation about whether SmackDown will have its own identity in relation to Raw, if a new world title is on its way and where various members of the roster will be headed. However, one name seems to have been left out of the discussion—Brock Lesnar.

Of course, an athlete of Lesnar's caliber may well be excluded from the draft. Much like The Undertaker, The Beast Incarnate is the type of competitor who isn't confined to the day-to-day realities of being a WWE Superstar.

However, WWE could use Lesnar to enormous effect during this upcoming brand split—so long as he's drafted to SmackDown.

Credit: WWE.com

At present, Raw is the A-show, and SmackDown is the B-show, which is obvious to anyone who watches all five hours of programming on a weekly basis. The current status quo would suggest Lesnar is a lock for Monday nights.

If WWE is going to establish parity between its two brands, it can't afford a situation where all the biggest stars join Raw. SmackDown needs heavy hitters, too, and few fit the bill quite as well as Lesnar does.

Raw has long been WWE's flagship broadcast, and it has frequently been set up as a broad slice of entertainment, with celebrity guests and ample extracurricular segments that are only tangentially related to wrestling.

However, SmackDown has typically banked on longer matches in lieu of the variety offered up by Raw. If the SmackDown contingent of the roster is going to consist of athletes rather than entertainers, Lesnar would fit in perfectly.

Of course, Lesnar has plenty of history with WWE's blue brand. During the original brand split back in the early 2000s, The Beast and his Undisputed Championship were a recurring highlight of SmackDown programming.

WWE has done plenty of work to rehab SmackDown over the course of 2016; Mauro Ranallo has proved to be an exceptional addition as the new play-by-play commentator, and the match quality is on an observable uptick.

That being said, at present, you can skip the show, especially if you've already seen Raw that week. If that continues to be the case beyond July, the brand split might not last long.

WWE has to put top talent on the SmackDown roster to give people a reason to tune in. Few names can convince fans to make the effort by their presences alone—but Lesnar is one of them.