Brock Lesnar WWE
Brock Lesnar, pictured during his weigh-in for UFC 200 at T-Mobile Arena on July 8, 2016 in Las Vegas, is expected to have his next WWE match on July 9. Getty Images

It’s been a month since Brock Lesnar beat Goldberg at WrestleMania 33, and the WWE Universal Champion is nowhere to be found. He hasn’t appeared on WWE TV since the night after WrestleMania and wrestling fans are wondering when Lesnar will have his next match.

Lesnar hasn’t been inside a WWE ring for a while, but his name has been featured prominently on “Monday Night Raw.” Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor have all called out the champ, hoping to be his next opponent. Paul Heyman has indicated that Lesnar wants a match with Roman Reigns since they are the only two wrestlers that have defeated The Undertaker on WWE’s grandest stage.

With Lesnar performing on a part-time schedule, it’s unknown exactly how many matches he will wrestle in 2017. He’s expected to defend his title on July 9 at Great Balls of Fire, the newest “Monday Night Raw” pay-per-view. That means Lesnar will miss both Payback and Extreme Rules, potentially going three months without once defending his belt.

When he does come back, however, the former UFC Champion will take one of the top wrestlers in the company. Who will he face in his next match?

Two things appear to be certain when it comes to Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns--the match will happen at some point before the end of WrestleMania 34 in 2018, but it won’t happen in Lesnar’s upcoming return.

Lesnar is the biggest PPV draw in WWE, and Reigns is the new face of the company. It’s arguably the biggest match that can be made at the moment, and it will headline either SummerSlam 2017 or, more likely, WrestleMania 34. It won’t be wasted at a random PPV in July.

Strowman vs. Lesnar appears to be set in stone, as well, and that match seems likely to happen before the end of the summer. If the former Wyatt Family member doesn’t get his shot at Lesnar in July, expect it to happen in the main event of SummerSlam at Barclays Center on Aug. 20.

Despite the push that Reigns has gotten over the last few years, it can be argued that no one has been booked stronger than Strowman since he made his debut on Aug. 24, 2015. He’s been pinned just once during that time, absolutely dominating his opponents. Strowman defeated Reigns at Payback, and another win against the three-time world champion at Extreme Rules would certainly warrant him a shot at the top championship on “Monday Night Raw.”

Only a few WWE superstars can logically win against Lesnar, who is a former UFC heavyweight Champion and has been pinned clean just once in the last four years. At 6’8 and 385 pounds, Strowman poses an actual threat to the wrestler that ended The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.

While Reigns has a real chance to defeat Lesnar and Strowman has an outside shot of taking the title off the current champion, neither Balor nor Rollins is likely to win the WWE Universal Championship anytime soon.

Even after announcing that he wants a match with Lesnar Monday night, Rollins might not get his shot against the champ in 2017. The two already had a feud in 2015, and Balor is ahead of Rollins in terms of getting a title opportunity.

Balor is still owed a match for the WWE Universal Championship. He became the first person ever to hold the title, defeating Rollins at SummerSlam 2016. An injury forced him to give up the belt 24 hours later without ever being beaten.

In the meantime, all of Lesnar’s potential challengers are involved in feuds that will likely result in matches at Extreme Rules on June 4. Strowman defeated Reigns in the main event of Payback, while Rollins defeated Samoa Joe earlier in the night. Reigns and Joe should get their rematches at the next PPV.

It looks like Balor will enter into a feud with Bray Wyatt, who attacked the first-ever WWE Universal Champion Monday night.

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