Brock Lesnar‘s spot in the Royal Rumble was taken by a rising star.
Brock Lesnar was reportedly withdrawn from an expected return at the Royal Rumble after he was implicated in a lawsuit by former WWE employee Janel Grant. The suit contains shocking allegations of sexual assault, emotional abuse, and sex trafficking by both Vince McMahon and the former Executive Vice President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis.
The lawsuit also alleges involvement by “a world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion with whom WWE was actively trying to sign to a new contract (and ultimately did sign that contract).” The Wall Street Journal has identified this wrestler as Lesnar and has included a photo of the former World Champion in its article.
Ahead of the Royal Rumble, it was reported that Lesnar was no longer scheduled for the event, with an NXT star likely to take his place.
Brock Lesnar Replaced By NXT Star Bron Breakker
On the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Bron Breakker was the star who stood in for Lesnar. Not only that but according to Meltzer, Breakker filled Lesnar’s part of the script to the letter.
“Brock Lesnar was scheduled to return at the Rumble and actually did not. This was a change that was made because of the lawsuit, so the change was made probably Friday most likely, perhaps Saturday morning.
“Bron Breakker was, because of that and the match was pretty much scripted out already, Bron Breakker essentially fulfilled the Brock Lesnar role. He came in when Brock Lesnar was going to come in, he threw out the guys Brock Lesnar was going to throw out, he got thrown out exactly how Brock Lesnar was going to get thrown out.”
The reasoning behind using Breakker in that position was that he was one of the few who could fill Lesnar’s shoes.
“It was definitely Bron Breakker. Brock was going to be impressive, so they needed someone to fill those shoes. There weren’t a lot of guys they would’ve given that spot to.”
Bron Breakker entered the Royal Rumble at Number 20. During his short time in the bout, the star eliminated Finn Balor, Ivar, Omos, and Andrade before being sent packing by Dominik Mysterio.
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