Who Was Scheduled To Win The Triple Threat Match At Crown Jewel, Update On Brock Lesnar’s WWE Status

In a shocking turn of events, Brock Lesnar put Braun Strowman down with five F-5s at WWE Crown Jewel to begin his second Universal Championship reign.

However, the match was not without controversy. Before the bell, Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin smashed “The Monster Among Men” with the title that had been made vacant weeks earlier after Roman Reigns needed to relinquish it due to illness. This allowed Lesnar to hit his first F-5. Strowman kicked out of that one, sending “The Beast” into a rage.

Lesnar would deliver three more F-5s to his titanic opponent, one of which sent Strowman crashing to the arena floor. Strowman kicked out of all of those, as well. It was a fifth F-5, however, that proved to be Strowman’s undoing, as “The Beast” put him down for the three-count to once again claim the Universal Championship as his own.

At WWE Hell in a Cell, Lesnar interfered in the Universal Championship Match between Strowman and Reigns by kicking in the cell door and attacking both men, rendering them unable to continue, thus ruling the match a no contest and Reigns retained the title. The following night on Raw, both Reigns and Strowman called out Lesnar, resulting in Corbin scheduling a Triple Threat Match between Reigns, Strowman, and Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. On the October 22 episode of Raw, however, Reigns relinquished the title after announcing that his leukemia, which had been in remission since late 2008, had legitimately relapsed. This turned the scheduled Triple Threat Match into a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the now vacant title.

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE originally planned on writing Lesnar’s character off at Crown Jewel and have Reigns retain the Universal Championship. However, with Reigns going on hiatus, WWE creative booked Brock to win back the title.

It was reported earlier that Lesnar signed a new WWE contract which will see him compete in at least two more matches, with his next match scheduled for Survivor Series against AJ Styles. Meltzer further noted that Lesnar signed a new contract sometime last week, but that it wasn’t an exclusive deal. Brock’s new deal with WWE allows him to go back to UFC whenever he wants.