Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman Are Top Challengers To Brock Lesnar's WWE Universal Championship

Brock Lesnar became the WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 33, defeating Goldberg in less than five minutes. The former UFC heavyweight champion might hold onto the top “Monday Night Raw” title for some time, though two clear candidates are the favorites to eventually hold the belt next.

Roman Reigns or Braun Strowman could conceivably hand Lesnar his first loss since Survivor Series 2016. WWE has already planted the seeds for a future match between the champion and the two superstars, and they are involved in WWE’s biggest feud in the immediate aftermath of WrestleMania 33.

Only a handful of WWE superstars can be considered legitimate options to defeat Lesnar, considering the way he’s been booked in recent years. John Cena, Triple H and Goldberg are the only wrestlers that have pinned Lesnar clean since his return five years ago. Even The Undertaker was unable to pin the current WWE Universal Champion, suffering two losses and winning one match via a controversial submission.

Reigns is the obvious choice to beat Lesnar. WWE has seemingly chosen him to be the next face of the company, having put him in the main event of WrestleMania in each of the last three years. Reigns appeared to have ended The Undertaker’s career at WrestleMania 33, which prompted Paul Heyman to challenge Reigns on Lesnar’s behalf. Reigns and Lesnar are the only WWE superstars to ever defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

Strowman, however, would be the most realistic challenger for Lesnar. He’s one of the few members of the roster that’s larger than the champ, billed at 6’8 and 385 pounds.

Since he made his debut at SummerSlam 2015, Strowman has arguably been booked stronger than anyone in WWE. He’s never been submitted, and he’s only been pinned by Reigns at WWE Fastlane on March 5.

The loss, however, has done little to slow Strowman down. When Heyman called out Reigns, Strowman approached Lesnar and issued his own challenge. Saying he would first deal with the former Shield member, Strowman has since decimated Reigns on “Monday Night Raw” in one of the most brutal beatdowns in recent WWE memory.

Reigns and Strowman will have a rematch at WWE payback on April 30.

It seems clear that Reigns is headed for a match against Lesnar in the main event of either SummerSlam 2017 or WrestleMania 34. Strowman could potentially headline SummerSlam 2017 against Lesnar as he quickly becomes one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE.

It’s unknown exactly how often Lesnar will defend his WWE Universal Championship, considering he is not a full-time performer. Lesnar defended the WWE Championship just twice between SummerSlam on Aug. 17, 2014 and WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015, though he’s expected to increase his WWE appearances at least somewhat.

In order for Lesnar to drop the belt to someone besides Reigns or Strowman, he would probably have to lose a match that involves more than two wrestlers. He dropped the WWE Championship when Seth Rollins pinned Reigns in a triple threat match at WrestleMania 31.

Lesnar could also potentially lose the belt to someone cashing in their Money in the Bank briefcase, which Rollins did in order to insert himself in the WrestleMania 31 main event with Reigns and Lesnar.