Brock Lesnar May Not Walk Into WrestleMania 38 As WWE Champion; Here's Why

Brock Lesnar is set to defend his WWE World Championship title on a big stage before WrestleMania 38.

Lesnar is going to defend his world title at SmackDown on March 5 at Madison Square Garden, New York, the WWE Company has confirmed in a tweet.

The Beast Incarnate won the WWE Championship fight against Bobby Lashley last week at the Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia. Lashley was removed from the match after suffering an injury. He is under concussion protocol, according to PWInsider. While it appeared to be a storyline injury initially, Lashley actually sustained a shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, when Lesnar was celebrating his WWE Championship title in front of the crowd in South Carolina on Monday Night RAW this week, he was interrupted by Heyman, who called the Beast Incarnate "farmer boy." Heyman then claimed that he represents the only real heavyweight champion in WWE – Reigns.

Heyman announced that Lesnar may not walk into WrestleMania 38 in April as the WWE champion because the latter is scheduled to defend his title next week on SmackDown.

During the exchange Monday with Heyman, Lesnar announced that instead of being at home on Friday night, he would instead be in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for SmackDown to confront the former and the Tribal Chief. Heyman looked terrified on the ramp as the segment ended.

At the Royal Rumble event earlier this month, Lashley defeated Lesnar in the WWE world title fight with the help of Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns. However, Lesnar won the Royal Rumble event and soon after that, he declared he would face Reigns for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania.

While there have been several rumors stating Reigns and Lesnar will lock horns in a "Title vs Title" fight at WrestleMania 38, there has been no confirmation regarding it from the WWE Company as yet.

Reigns defeated Goldberg by technical submission at Elimination Chamber at the Jeddah Superdome to retain his Universal Championship title.