Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton Won't Happen At SummerSlam

A big announcement was made this week on Monday Night RAW, in which WWE announced that they will announce (that’s right) Brock Lesnar’s opponent for this year’s SummerSlam on this week’s episode of Smackdown. The taping has come and gone, and WWE smartly didn’t make the reveal to the live audience, which gives the viewers at home more incentive to watch on Thursday night, because there won’t be anything but rumors on the internet between now and Thursday regarding Lesnar’s first match after this weekend’s fight with Mark Hunt at UFC 200.

News has surfaced that Randy Orton, who has been gone for almost the entirety of this year, is medically cleared and will be returning to action very soon. That makes him an obvious person to peg as the man to stand across the ring from Lesnar in Brooklyn next month, as it would be one match featuring the WWE returns of two big stars in their first big meeting. The last time they wrestled each other was almost 15 years ago, very early on in the careers of both men. Brock was already a star and Orton was the young blue chip athlete who didn’t stand a chance in hell.

Obviously the dynamic would be different in 2016, but will we actually see it happen?

Honestly, yeah. Probably.

But why not try something else?

Rusev, for example, is finally being rebuilt and looks like a threat again. He has leaned out physically and is more imposing than ever. Why not have him step into the ring with Lesnar? Give them 12-15 minutes to go out and destroy each other, ultimately with Brock coming out on top, but giving Rusev more offense than even John Cena himself has been able to get on the monstrous beast. After losing the non-title match, Rusev can proclaim that he may have lost that battle, but he is still the United States Champion and he won the war, because he pushed Brock Lesnar so far that we won’t be seeing him for quite some time.

In fact, Rusev isn’t the example. He’s the right guy for the match.

You can, and don’t let anybody ever tell you anything differently, make a man more legitimate and help him become a bigger star in defeat. They could have done it when he wrestled John Cena for 30 months in a row, but instead decided to feed him to the already stuffed giant superstar (whose name is John Cena!) because why bother making a young wrestler look good? It surely makes no sense to keep a guy who will be around 10 years from now looking strong when butting heads with a man pushing 40 who has been injured so many times it’s surprising he can still walk.

I digress. Randy Orton will likely be announced as Brock Lesnar’s opponent for SummerSlam this Thursday night on Smackdown, but it should be Rusev, because Rusev is awesome.