Brock Lesnar to face Sheamus in next WWE appearance

He won't return to television until a few days later (and unlike the Slammy Awards edition of Raw, WWE has confirmed that Brock Lesnar will be in New Orleans on Monday, January 11), but he will be working a house show in Houston, Texas on January 8.

Thanks to an announcement made in the H-Town area during last night's Raw broadcast, we now know who the Beast Incarnate will face at the Toyota Center.

Former WWE World Heavyweight champion Sheamus gets the nod this time. And it should be a proverbial slobberknocker when those two notoriously stiff workers go head-to-head.

It also puts Paul Heyman's client against a second member of the League of Nations faction WWE is intent on establishing as a big heel threat. That seems to confirm their intention to not try to get fans to boo Brock again any time soon. The option of using LoN as Lesnar's opponent or opponents for WrestleMania stays on the table, too, but at this point Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio & King Barrett are feuding with both of the other two top good guys on the roster in Roman Reigns and John Cena, so adding the former UFC champ might be overkill.

But that's all speculation. What we know for sure is that the Beast Incarnate is almost back, and that Houston fans will get a bruising collision of heavyweights on the second Friday night of 2016.