Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton and Top WWE News from Week of July 9

After weeks of speculation, Brock Lesnar's opponent for this year's SummerSlam pay-per-view was finally revealed on Thursday's SmackDown. But that's not the only newsworthy story from the past week.

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton at SummerSlam

As seen during this week's episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton was revealed as Brock Lesnar's opponent for this year's SummerSlam pay-per-view.

Orton is one of the few top stars Lesnar has yet to face since returning to the company a few years ago, and his name has been on many wishlists of ideal opponents.

The last time these two did battle was back in 2002 when both men were considered rookies. Lesnar dominated The Viper in that confrontation, but things may be different this time around.

Orton has been on the shelf for several months after having surgery on his shoulder, and it would be strange for WWE to bring him back just so he could lose to The Beast Incarnate.

Of course, this is all contingent on Lesnar leaving UFC 200 in good enough shape to compete at the yearly event on August 21.

Zack Ryder Gets Title Shot

Zack Ryder has had a tough few years, but he seems to have found his second wind recently after two big wins on Raw and SmackDown.

Ryder was one of the last two men standing in the Team USA vs. The Multinational Alliance bout on Raw, and he kept the momentum going by pinning Sheamus on Thursday's SmackDown.

Everyone's favorite Broski has been granted a title match against Rusev for the United States Championship on Monday's Raw after challenging the champ following his victory over The Celtic Warrior.

The Bulgarian Brute has been dominant since winning the title from Kalisto at Extreme Rules, so Ryder has his work cut out for him.

Dolph Ziggler Going into Hall of Fame

Dolph Ziggler's amateur wrestling career at Kent State University has been mentioned many times during his WWE run, and he is going to be honored by the school with an induction into its Sports Hall of Fame.

Ziggler shared the announcement on his Twitter account along with a picture of the other inductees. The image used is from Ziggler's time on the wrestling team, so he doesn't look like the man we know today.

Ziggler held the record for most pins in a single season, so it's no surprise to see the university recognizing his accomplishments.

Cody Rhodes Cast in Arrow

Cody Rhodes and Stephen Amell will join forces once again during Season 5 of Arrow, thanks to Rhodes being cast in a mystery role on the superhero show.

In case you have been living under a rock for the last four years, Amell stars as Oliver Queen, aka The Green Arrow, on the show.

Arrow spun off The Flash, and those two programs led to the creation of the team-based Legends of Tomorrow. Those three shows will be joined by Supergirl when it makes its move from CBS to The CW this fall.

Rhodes joins a long list of pro wrestlers who have dabbled in the genre. Several WWE Superstars appeared on Smallville during its run, Kevin Nash had a memorable scene in The Punisher and Randy Savage appeared in the first Spiderman film.

It's unknown at this time if Rhodes will be an ally or nemesis to The Green Arrow, but either way, it will be cool to see him interacting with Amell again.

Updated Battleground Card

This week saw two new matches added to the Battleground pay-per-view. Here is a look at the updated card, according to WWE.com.

• Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship
• Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
• Natalya vs. Becky Lynch
• John Cena and Enzo and Cass vs. The Club

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady will get a lot of exposure in their six-man tag match by teaming up with Cena to face AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

This is one of WWE's top storylines, and being included is a good sign management has big plans for the entertaining tag team after the draft on July 19.

What are your predictions for Battleground 2016?

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