Character issues reportedly caused Brock Lesnar to fall in WWE Draft

Jokey headline aside, an interesting tidbit in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter (subscription required but recommended) notes that the order of picks in the WWE Draft was changed around multiple times due to various outside circumstances, including Roman Reigns’ Wellness Policy violation and John Cena reducing his schedule.

The big one, however, may be Brock Lesnar. According to the Observer, he was penciled in as the number one overall pick after defeating Mark Hunt in dominant fashion at UFC 200 on July 9. However, news hit that he failed a drug test (and later, just hours before the Draft went live on SmackDown, he failed a second) and that forced a change.

Ultimately, Lesnar still ended up on Monday Night Raw as was always planned but he fell all the way to the eighth pick overall, drafted behind the likes of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Charlotte, AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Reigns, and Cena.

In its statement on Lesnar’s failed test, WWE noted that he isn’t scheduled to return until Aug. 21 at SummerSlam, where he’s booked to wrestle Randy Orton. Considering “The Viper” was drafted to SmackDown, it makes sense they would simply keep Lesnar off television until it comes time for the match.

Then again, this would also indicate just how much plans change in WWE, as the match itself now makes next to no sense at all and is essentially a lose-lose proposition for the company.