BROCK LESNAR NEWS AND NOTES

Within WWE, the remark that has been made regarding the future of former WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is that "the door is open" for a return down the line, but all expectations are that he will be focusing on his UFC return for early 2019. When his MMA return has completed its latest journey, WWE would be happy to have him back.

In regard to a rumor that has been making the rounds, there was no version of this week's Raw script that featured any appearances by Brock Lesnar. He was never, actually scheduled for Raw (despite the fact that the company advertised him all the way to the night before the show) and flew home Sunday right after the PPV on a private plane.

One story that has floated online is that the Triple H promo on Raw replaced a Paul Heyman/Brock Lesnar promo, but based on WWE Creative sources, that was never the case. As one source told us, if they needed a Brock-related promo inside the ring, they could have simply had Paul Heyman (who was indeed at Raw) cut the promo in front of the live crowd. Instead, they taped the Heyman-Kurt Angle vignette.

The only major change to the Raw script that we have heard of was Dolph Ziggler wrestling Dean Ambrose when the original idea was for Drew McIntyre to face Ambrose. Beyond that, the script remained the same most of the day and the HHH promo was always in there, designed to be a "local promo" to push the Super Show-Down Australia event.

The Summerslam bout between Lesnar and Roman Reigns went down exactly as planned as well. As I discussed on my post-Summerslam audio for Elite subscribers, Braun Strowman was booked to be out there at ringside to remove any potential hostility from the audience at Roman and Brock, attempting to prevent a situation similar to Brock vs. Goldberg at Wrestlemania 20 where the audience completely rejected the match. As I said on the audio a few nights ago, that sort of booking felt very Heyman-esque and given that he was intimately involved in the creative for Lesnar's storylines, I wouldn't be shocked to see he had input in that decision as well.

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