PARKS’S TAKE: The pros and cons of where the rubber match between Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi could take place

The result of the Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar match at Clash in Italy set up real question marks for the two in the upcoming months, leading into WWE’s next major event, Summerslam, in early August.

With the two tied at one win a piece after Lesnar’s Clash victory, a rubber match has to be in the offing. The “when” is tricky. You could do it at Summerslam. A Femi win over Lesnar to break that stalemate, at a show like Summerslam, would be another feather in his cap. The rumors of Gunther retiring Lesnar, though, complicate things. Gunther vs. Lesnar in Lesnar’s retirement makes too much sense for Summerslam, which will be held in Minnesota, where Lesnar became a college wrestling star. Lesnar’s previous tease of a retirement only puts the idea closer to the front burner.

That would leave Lesnar vs. Femi for Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia. But Femi has already advanced in the King of the Ring tournament, and the final is at that show. Does Lesnar cost Femi a spot in the finals, leading to that rubber match there? Or does Femi become King and face Lesnar at Summerslam, pushing back (or eliminating completely) the idea of Gunther retiring Lesnar any time soon?

There’s a Saturday Night’s Main Event in between Night of Champions and Summerslam that you could squeeze Femi vs. Lesnar onto, but that feels like too big a match for what has become a minor show (although it is at Madison Square Garden, which makes it feel bigger). The other problem is we presume Femi wins the rubber match. He better, anyway. Would you want Lesnar, having just lost, going into a retirement match against Gunther? That doesn’t put him in a very strong position; then again, maybe that could be part of the story.

A lot of options are open for Lesnar and Femi, some better than others. It will be interesting to see where WWE lands on the progress of the two over the next few months.

(Read Greg Parks’s feature-length columns weekly in the Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly Newsletter with a paper copy subscription or digitally with a VIP membership. He also produces a weekly podcast based on his weekly single-topic feature columns for VIP members.)