Brock Lesnar's WWE comeback at SummerSlam

Study Finds Overwhelming Fan Opinion About Brock Lesnar's WWE Return

Originally posted on The Sportster | By Shawn Van Horn | Last updated Aug 6, 2025 11:14 AM ET

Everyone was expecting something shocking to happen at the end of SummerSlam's main event match between John Cena and Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship. Maybe The Rock would return. Perhaps Rhodes would turn heel. Instead, the match ended cleanly, with the American Nightmare getting his title back. It's what happened afterward that had everyone's jaws on the floor as, after a two-year absence, Brock Lesnar made his WWE return and laid out his long-time rival, John Cena. Fans in the arena went nuts, but that could be attributed to the shock of the moment. A new study sent to The Sportster from The Action Network looked at fan reaction on Reddit to Brock's return, and it was overwhelmingly negative. WWE could have a problem on their hands.

Reddit Fan Reaction To Brock Lesnar's Return Was Overwhelmingly Negative

Following SummerSlam, The Action Network conducted a study to analyze fan reaction to Brock Lesnar's comeback. They looked at 2,500 Reddit mentions for this, and the results showed that most fans are unhappy to see the controversial star back in WWE.

Out of all the non-neutral comments about Lesnar, a whopping 82.4% were negative, compared to just 17.6% in the positive category. Just 6.4% of fans felt "joy" at seeing Brock Lesnar. The Action Network reported:

Among emotional reactions (excluding neutral), nearly half express “disgust” (22.5%) or “sadness” (22.5%), while “anger” accounts for 17.8%. Joyful reactions are rare, at just 6.4% of non-neutral responses.

Out of 1,362 non-neutral Reddit comments, The Action Network broke down fan reaction into this chart.

WWE Is Taking A Big Risk By Working With The Controversial Brock Lesnar

Before Sunday, the last time Brock Lesnar appeared in WWE was when he lost to Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam 2023. He had been gone ever since due to his name being mentioned in Janel Grant's sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE. It looked like the company would never work with the Beast Incarnate again, but for undisclosed reasons, TKO decided to finally bring him back, although nothing with the lawsuit has changed.

Lesnar received a huge pop at SummerSlam, but that can be attributed to the surprise of the moment. Once that wears off, the reaction could change. WWE is already doing a bad job of addressing it. Not only did they cancel the SummerSlam press conference before Brock returned, but when fans at the WWE post-show chanted "We want Kross" in reference to Killer Kross, Triple H pretended they were chanting "We want Brock."

John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar one last time will be a big deal, but how will fans react to it and any further WWE involvement with Lesnar afterward? If this Action Network study is any indication, it won't be good.

This article first appeared on The Sportster and was syndicated with permission.

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