WWE is booking Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar again…and that’s a problem

With injuries plaguing the company, WWE decided to have Roman Reigns defend his title against Brock Lesnar yet again for SummerSlam, and that’s a problem.

WWE is dealing with huge injuries at the top of their babyface depth chart. Cody Rhodes is sidelined up to nine months after undergoing surgery for a torn pectoral muscle. Randy Orton could potentially miss the remainder of 2022 due to a back injury. The latter hurts WWE the most, as reports indicated that Orton was set to challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam on July 30 at Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans.

What was WWE to do?

On the June 17 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, Reigns successfully defended his title against Riddle. Then, Reigns cut a promo saying that there is no one left to challenge him for the title. That is when Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and he attacked Reigns and The Usos to end the episode.

Afterward, WWE’s official Twitter account announced that Lesnar would be challenging Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam in a Last Man Standing Match.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1537980744189898754?s=20&t=Gpyqd5xotx0N8YVj7MGkLA

This is a problem for the company.

Booking Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar highlights WWE’s biggest problem

Now that Reigns and Lesnar are set to compete once again, this highlights WWE’s biggest problem — their inability to build credible challengers for Reigns.

Once Rhodes and Orton were out with injury, the list of babyface challengers dwindled. Drew McIntyre is likely slated to challenge Reigns at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales on Sept. 3. For SummerSlam, there was a credible challenger for Reigns in Bobby Lashley, a former two-time WWE Champion. He even motioned that he wanted the title at Hell in a Cell on June 5 after defeating Omos and MVP in a handicap match.

Instead, WWE went back to Lesnar in their time of need.

This will now be the ninth time that Reigns and Lesnar will compete in a match on a premium live event. The number could have been 10, as the two were set to fight for the Universal Championship at Day 1 on New Year’s Day, but Reigns was pulled from the match after testing positive for COVID-19. In total, eight of those nine matches were for the world title.

Take a look at the list, courtesy of Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp.

Reigns and Lesnar last competed at WrestleMania 38, in what was billed as the “Biggest WrestleMania Match of All-Time.” The bout, to be quite honest, failed to live up to the hype. It lasted a little over 12 minutes, which ended suddenly after Reigns pinned Lesnar with a spear.

While Lesnar has been entertaining since his return as a face in 2021, having another match against Reigns is just not enticing as it once was. Some reading this may be hyped about this upcoming match at SummerSlam, and more power to you. The thing is, WWE is going for a title match between these two stars on a premium live event for the third time in less than a year. The mystique feels like it is gone. It is not the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. The Rock feud like WWE is pushing it like it is.

WWE has failed to build up multiple credible babyface challengers since Reigns won the Universal Championship in 2020. They could have had a handful of worthy challengers for Reigns in this time with all of these injuries. But, they do not. Hence why they are going back to the Reigns vs. Lesnar well again.

Could this be a great match? Sure. But is the interest really there? That is obviously subject to your opinion. With WrestleMania 39 happening next April, who can challenge Reigns up until that point after yet another bout with Lesnar?

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