Brock Lesnar was not planned to win the 2022 Royal Rumble according to a former WWE Star.
The 2022 event is not one that fans will likely rush back to rewatch in the future. With most entrants announced ahead of time, the first major surprise came at entrant 27 with Bad Bunny entering the match for the first time ever. The brief bizarreness would only continue as Shane McMahon entered the match next as the only nostalgia entrant.
Following his WWE Championship loss to Bobby Lashley earlier in the night, Lesnar stormed to the ring as entrant 30 and eliminated everyone in sight in just over 2 and a half minutes to win the match and advance to WrestleMania. According to one of the participants in the match, this was The Beast’s call.
Speaking at Signed By Superstars, Matt Riddle recalled how he was previously told that he was going to win the match. However, Riddle would state that after Lesnar’s loss the former WWE Champion had other ideas:
“I was told at one point I was going to win the Rumble (2022) and then Bobby Lashley beat Brock Lesnar, hit him with the belt. Brock came in, didn’t want to do business with everybody and said he was winning. Nobody stood up to him. I didn’t either.”
Back in 2022, PWInsider did report that Riddle was at one point the frontrunner before the change was made to Lesnar.
Along with Riddle’s claim that Lesnar changed the ending to the match, this was also the same Royal Rumble where Shane McMahon and Brock Lesnar clashed over creative decisions.
When Is Brock Lesnar Returning?
The Beast has been notably absent from recent programming, including not being featured on the Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia back in November. Lesnar’s last match was at SummerSlam, losing to Cody Rhodes to end their rivalry. A Brock Lesnar return update towards the end of 2023 predicts that Lesnar will be making his return either shortly before the Royal Rumble or in the match itself.
During the same signing, Matt Riddle discussed the possibility of a future AEW appearance.
H/t to Fightful.