Brock Lesnar returns to Raw, annihilates his Royal Rumble competition

Published Jan. 16, 2017 8:34 p.m. ET

Nick Schwartz

Brock Lesnar returned to Monday Night Raw for the first time since his embarrassing loss to Goldberg at Survivor Series in November, and he may just have re-established himself as the favorite for the upcoming Royal Rumble.

Roman Reigns opened the show by promising to take Kevin Owens' Universal Championship in their one-on-one match at the Royal Rumble, sparking a revolving door of entrances by Paul Heyman, Owens and Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman and - eventually - Lesnar himself.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/821163281607864320

Sami Zayn appeared out of nowhere to attack Braun Strowman, which started a massive brawl. It didn't take long for Lesnar to clear the ring, delivering a clothesline to Rollins, and German suplexes to Reigns and Zayn.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/821165046357069825

Reigns was also hit with an F5 - but Strowman chose not to challenge Lesnar and had a staredown on the apron instead.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/821164472207216641

While Raw's stars all say they're gunning for Owens' Universal title, WWE hasn't clarified if the Universal Champion will have to face the winner of the Royal Rumble, or if the main event shot will be against SmackDown's WWE World Champion.