4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 17)

Brock Lesnar's surprise return; Riddle shows WWE the future; Vince McMahon's worst appearance ever?

by Jamie Kennedy
Brock Lesnar 2022
WWE.com

WWE's summer has been completely rocked by recent allegations about Vince McMahon and the fallout from him stepping aside as company CEO. On Friday afternoon, official social streams announced that Vince would be showing up on that evening's Friday, which...sounded like a terrible idea.

Nothing bad came of it, but why did they even bother?

SmackDown was newsworthy for more reasons than just McMahon trying to rally support behind himself though. Brock Lesnar returned (yes, again) and has been installed as Roman Reigns' next pay-per-view opponent - that pair will collide (yes, again) at SummerSlam in a 'Last Man Standing' match.

Cheerfully, Riddle was able to show off his own main event skills against Reigns before Brocky boy romped out to steal headlines. You need to see that match, and it's well-worth checking out an undercard treat surprisingly served up by the much-maligned Happy Corbin/Madcap Moss duo too.

So, everything is up in the air surrounding WWE these days, but business rolls on. Here's all the good and bad from the latest build towards Money In The Bank and, beyond that, SummerSlam.

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.