Following Brock Lesnar’s shocking walkout from WWE, reports state WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg will replace him against Roman Reigns at SummerSlam.
Plans for tonight’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown are reportedly now up in the air following Vince McMahon’s retirement and news of Brock Lesnar walking out of WWE.
Brock’s walkout came moments after Vince made the shock announcement, as the Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez reported that ‘The Beast Incarnate’ had walked out of tonight’s SmackDown mere hours before it goes on-air. A second report noted that Brock effectively if Vince was gone, so was he.
Cultaholic Wrestling’s Aidan Gibbons has now reported that, according to sources, Goldberg is the planned replacement for Lesnar at SummerSlam. Brock had previously been planned to face Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
The source states that unless WWE can convince Brock Lesnar to return for the match, then Goldberg will be the first choice to battle ‘The Tribal Chief’. There’s no word on if there are plans to have Goldberg feature on WWE programming ahead of SummerSlam if he is to return.
‘Da Man’ hasn’t appeared for the company since losing to Reigns at Elimination Chamber in February. This was noted as being the final match of Goldberg’s current WWE contract, though the former Universal Champion has since commented that he remains under a WWE deal.
Friday Night SmackDown airs at 8pm EST (1am BST on Saturday morning for those in the United Kingdom), marking the first WWE show in a post-Vince McMahon era.