Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/09/17/kofi-kingston-defends-the-wwe-title-against-brock-lesnar-on-fox-debut/
On Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown from Atlanta, a big angle was shot setting up Brock Lesnar’s first WWE match on television in over fifteen years.
After the New Day defeated Randy Orton and The Revival in a six-man tag, the unadvertised Lesnar came out with Paul Heyman.
The two issued the challenge to Kingston for a WWE title match on the SmackDown premiere on Fox on Friday, October 4th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lesnar had previously been advertised for the show.
The match was set, and the segment ended with Lesnar hitting Kingston with the F-5.
We were told that this plan has been in the works for several months.
Since returning to professional wrestling with WWE in April 2012, Lesnar has wrestled a match on free television with his matches saved for pay-per-views, network specials, and live events. His last match on a WWE program was against Hardcore Holly for an episode of SmackDown taped on Tuesday, March 2, 2004. Later that month, Lesnar left the company following his WrestleMania 20 match against Bill Goldberg to pursue a career in football.
The debut on Fox will be promoted around the title match and the twentieth anniversary of SmackDown with Bill Goldberg, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, Ric Flair, Trish Stratus, Booker T., Mick Foley, Sting, Mark Henry, and Lita also advertised.