5 Ups And 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 4th)

7. Brock’s Opponent Named?

Is it just this writer, or does the fact that Brock Lesnar is showing up on Smackdown this week to announce his SummerSlam opponent feel forced, artificial and less special than any previous Brock match?

Since returning to WWE in 2012, the Beast’s bouts all have been treated as main event-caliber matches, and the announcements of said matches have been must-see TV most of the time. But each time, those bouts have felt like they were building to something, whether it was a world title shot, or conquering the Undertaker, or even answering Dean Ambrose’s challenge.

But the news that Lesnar’s SummerSlam opponent would be named on Smackdown felt… underwhelming in some ways. Brock has been gone since WrestleMania, after winning a match that really carried no stakes. Paul Heyman hasn’t been around to talk up his client. And there’s no real place for Brock in the current dynamic of WWE – unless he’s going to make a place for himself.

So unless Brock is declaring that he will face the WWE Champion at SummerSlam, it’s going to be a somewhat underwhelming announcement. Maybe WWE will prove this column wrong…