Brock Lesnar's Mystery Opponent At WWE MSG House Show...
Bobby Lashley was unable to challenge Lesnar at Madison Square Garden due to injury.
Austin Theory unsuccessfully challenged Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at the company's house show at Madison Square Garden Saturday night, replacing an injured Bobby Lashley.
Lesnar was scheduled to defend the title he won at Elimination Chamber against the previous champ Lashley, who was taken out of the Chamber match without ever entering the bout. The All Mighty One reportedly has an injured shoulder that requires surgery, though WWE in storyline has said he hasn't cleared concussion protocol.
In the lead-up to the MSG house show, Paul Heyman taunted Brock on Raw by noting that he was supposed to defend his title against Lashley, but if Bobby couldn't wrestle, someone would step up to take his spot. There was a fair amount of speculation in the days before the event, with reports surfacing that WWE was very secretive of who would face Lesnar and had cameras at MSG, leading to thoughts that it could be a significant development.
In the end, the mystery opponent was Theory, who was vanquished in short order. But Brock didn't escape The Garden unscathed. Roman Reigns and the Usos attacked the Beast afterward, leaving him bloodied and beaten just four weeks before their title unification match at WrestleMania 38.
"BROCK LESNAR ... ACKNOWLEDGE ME!"#UniversalChampion @WWERomanReigns shocked the @WWEUniverse on The Road to #WrestleMania at @TheGarden by standing tall over #WWEChampion @BrockLesnar following a vicious attack at #WWEMSG!@HeymanHustle@WWEUsos pic.twitter.com/139BzXOJps
Advertisement— WWE (@WWE) March 6, 2022
Theory has his own Mania program on the horizon. Vince McMahon's protégé was announced on SmackDown as Pat McAfee's opponent, just 24 hours after Vince offered the announcer a spot on the card.