Samoa Joe will fight Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire in July. (WWE.com)
In less than a month, Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe will go head to head at the WWE’s Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view. So who is going to win the match? Will Brock Lesnar retain, or might Samoa Joe shock the world and become Universal Champion?
As reported by Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio this week, the current plan is for Brock Lesnar to win the Great Balls of Fire match and hold on to the Universal Championship.
Meltzer notes on Wrestling Observer Radio that Brock Lesnar will win unless the company has a complete change of heart between now and July 9th. Meltzer also reports that the Joe vs. Lesnar match is meant to be a one-time thing, although if the ratings are better than expected and the feud builds up a lot of momentum, it’s possible there will be a rematch.
There are certainly plenty of examples in recent history of the WWE altering its plans based on fan reactions and ratings. For instance, at Survivor Series last year, Goldberg was originally expected to return for just one match with Brock Lesnar, and the plan was reportedly for him to lose. But the hype surrounding the Goldberg vs. Lesnar match was so great that the WWE’s plans were altered, and Goldberg agreed to stick around at least until Royal Rumble, leading to the decision to have him win.
If the Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe match builds up a lot of buzz over the next few weeks, then, it’s always possible the WWE will surprise us all by making Joe win. But for now, that doesn’t seem to be the plan, and it’s believed that Lesnar will defeat Joe before moving on to his next opponent: Braun Strowman, who is expected to face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
From there, the rumor is that Lesnar will only defend his Universal Championship a few more times between now and April 2018, and his opponents over these next 10 months will be Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and finally Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.
WWE’s Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view will air on Sunday, July 9th on the WWE Network.
