Brock Lesnar's Best, Worst and Most Realistic Options for His Next WWE Feud

An argument can be made for Brock Lesnar's latest run with WWE being among his best ever.

His last eight months had purpose in his program with Roman Reigns, culminating in The Tribal Chief finally defeating him at WrestleMania 38 to become Undisputed WWE Universal champion. It was a decisive loss for Lesnar, and no indication has been given for what his future holds.

With the way it was handled, that could have easily served his swan song from WWE. Reportedly, though, it seems we haven't seen the last of The Beast Incarnate in the ring.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Marc Middletown of Wrestling Inc), the 44-year-old is signed through the spring of 2023, meaning he has at least one year's worth of storylines left on his current deal. Additionally, he's being advertised for next month's WrestleMania Backlash, so expect to see him back sooner rather than later.

We're at an interesting crossroads right now where there's no telling for certain what The Beast will do next. He could well remain in the hunt for a top title or kick off a feud with someone new from SmackDown or Raw.

Let's look at the best, worst and most realistic options for who Lesnar's upcoming opponents could be.

Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley may be the only two men ever in WWE to have unavenged wins over Lesnar.

The Scottish Warrior knocked off The Beast in clean fashion at WrestleMania 36 to win the WWE Championship, while Lashley achieved the same feat at this year's Royal Rumble pay-per-view (albeit with help from Roman Reigns).

Both bouts were solid, but neither managed to live up to the lofty hype for various reasons. That's why it wouldn't hurt for Lesnar to rekindle one of those rivalries for the remainder of the year.

McIntyre vs. Lesnar could have been a real barn-burner in front of fans and with more time, but the pandemic prevented it from being anything special. Lashley vs. Lesnar was also rather underwhelming due to serving as a backdrop for the The Beast vs. Reigns rivalry and The All Mighty suffering a shoulder injury midway through.

If Lesnar wants to get back into world title contention, he should first have to go through the two men he has yet to beat.

Lashley will likely be busy with Omos for the foreseeable future, but nothing is stopping Lesnar vs. McIntyre from being booked as an attraction for WrestleMania Backlash on May 8 now that the Scot is finished with Happy Corbin.

As little as fans want to see it, the idea of Lesnar and Reigns running it back one more time for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship must at the very least be—no pun intended—acknowledged.

No one loves booking rematches more than WWE, and it's entirely possible we get one with these two. Although Reigns' WrestleMania 38 win was fairly decisive, The Beast could demand a rematch and cite The Tribal Chief's mid-match underhanded tactics as an excuse for why he lost.

Due to how many times we've seen them go one-on-one since 2015, it's safe to assume a majority of the WWE Universe would be content with never seeing the match again, especially so soon after The Show of Shows.

Thankfully, Reigns appears to have his hands full with Shinsuke Nakamura heading into WrestleMania Backlash based on what we saw on SmackDown this week, so fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing we won't be getting it at that event.

However, it's realistic to assume Lesnar vs. Reigns could be revisited sometime this summer. The Beast has been consistently involved in the world title picture for over five years, and he'll have to cross paths with Reigns again eventually if WWE wants to keep him involved in the championship mix.

WWE has been trying desperately to get Omos over as a singles threat this year, but the experiment hasn't worked as well as the company likely hoped.

To its credit, the giant has been booked well and amassed some impressive victories in his time on his own, but he isn't remotely ready for a serious singles push at this point. Pairing him off with MVP, who can serve as his mouthpiece, should prove to be the best thing for him in the long run.

Despite that, a Omos vs. Lesnar match would be nothing short of a train wreck.

The Beast has typically had his best bouts against smaller Superstars. For example, his matches with the similarly sized Braun Strowman were largely duds, but he had excellent chemistry with the likes of AJ Styles, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan.

WWE should be using Lesnar to get over younger talent at this stage of his career, but Omos would be the wrong person for that sort of spot, at least until he improves.

A win over the former MMA fighter would boost Omos' stock, but it would be best to keep them apart for the time being.

From his amateur wrestling background at the University of Minnesota and signing with WWE at any early age, Gable Steveson seems to be following in the footsteps of Lesnar.

Based on interviews the Olympian has done discussing The Beast's influence on his career, it's clear that wasn't a coincidence.

WWE officially announced its acquisition of Steveson in September, and he was drafted to the Raw roster soon after. But he didn't make any on-screen appearances for the promotion until WrestleMania 38, where he laid out Chad Gable in the ring with an impressive suplex.

Steveson was nowhere to be found on the next night's Raw, but he's obviously primed for big things in the near future. He could really use a mentor of some sort who could take him to that next level, and Lesnar would be a perfect fit for such a role.

The Beast has always been about himself, so it would be something different to see him take a liking to the 21-year-old on the show and want to see him succeed. It could even plant the seeds for an eventual one-on-one encounter.

Lesnar vs. Steveson shouldn't happen any time this year, but the former's next WWE TV appearance being alongside the latter would be a sight to behold.

In the decade he's been back in WWE, Lesnar has faced almost every top talent the company has had to offer. One of the only notable names from the current roster he hasn't interacted with at all is Edge.

They were both big parts of SmackDown's golden period from 2002 to 2003, but the closest they came to going one-on-one was at Rebellion 2002 when Edge battled The Beast and Paul Heyman in a two-on-one handicap match.

The Rated-R Superstar, of course, returned to the ring at the Royal Rumble in 2020, but the two have been off doing different things and haven't had to cross paths. Now that Edge appears to be on the verge of leading his own heel faction, it may be inevitable that feud finally becomes a reality.

The veteran has already aligned with Damian Priest, and more members may be on the way. They'll need more credible competition to target going into SummerSlam, and Lesnar could be a fun foil for them.

Edge has largely delivered during his latest run, and Lesnar has never been more entertaining as a character. So a storyline between the two would have potential.

WrestleMania Backlash would be a logical place to kick that off once The Ultimate Opportunist wraps up his rivalry with AJ Styles.

Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins hasn't been done quite as many times as The Beast vs. Reigns, but it's still a rivalry that has no business being revisited.

They first feuded in 2015 over the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and again in 2019 over the universal title. They had a series of matches in which Rollins almost always walked away with the gold.

Lesnar has been in his element as a babyface since SummerSlam, while Rollins teased turning last week on Raw by shaking the hand of Cody Rhodes. In other words, there's no real reason to rekindle their rivalry with a face-vs.-face dynamic, especially without anything on the line.

This possibility is solely being mentioned because both men may be free post-WrestleMania Backlash and it could be considered by the company. If Lesnar only has a finite amount of matches or appearances left, though, they shouldn't be wasted on people he's already spent a ton of time with.

These two have been among WWE's most compelling characters in 2022, but that doesn't mean they should be paired off in a feud again, even if the roles were reversed once more.

As strong as their in-ring chemistry is together, this is a feud that would be best left in the past.

Fresh faces are always coming to Raw and SmackDown from NXT. Among the latest prospects is Gunther, someone who would mesh exceptionally well with Lesnar.

The former WALTER debuted as a member of the blue brand on Friday night and made an immediate impact by squashing his unknown opponent quickly and decisively. No hint was provided as to who he'll feud with first, but The Beast must lead the list of potential rivals.

Gunther was basically booked as the NXT UK version of Lesnar for as long as he reigned as NXT UK champion from 2019 to 2021. He had excellent matches and felt like a true attraction, so if they aren't limited with what they can do, they could really rip it up against each other.

Although Lesnar is advertised for WrestleMania Backlash, it would wise for WWE to hold him off television until closer to SummerSlam on July 30. Hopefully by then, Gunther will have scored more high-profile victories and could be viewed as a legitimate threat to The Beast.

Even if he were to look credible in defeat, Gunther can gain plenty from working with Lesnar. Having these two behemoths square off would be the best-case scenario for The Beast's next feud, but regardless of when it happens, it would be a huge missed opportunity if this bout wasn't booked at some point.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.