Backstage news regarding Brock Lesnar taking Randy Orton’s spot at WWE Summerslam

As previously noted, Brock Lesnar made his return to WWE during the June 17th 2022 edition of Smackdown. Lesnar will challenge Reigns for the unified WWE Universal title at Summerslam in a Last Man Standing match.

Randy Orton was originally expected to be Reigns’ opponent for Summerslam. However, Orton is reportedly dealing with a legitimate injury and WWE had to come up with a backup plan. During Smackdown, Riddle mentioned that Orton has “a big operation coming up” but did not elaborate.

Fightful Select noted that once it was clear Orton would be unable to face Reigns at Summerslam, plans were made for Lesnar to take the spot. It’s believed that the plan for Lesnar’s return was in the works for around three weeks and it was not a last-minute decision due to the Vince McMahon allegations.

Fightful also noted the following…

“Word started to emerge this afternoon shortly before 5 PM EST backstage that Lesnar could be returning. Still, he was not featured on internal rundowns that were handed out just before the show.”