WWE RAW: 5 reasons why Ricochet confronted Brock Lesnar before Royal Rumble 2020

Brock Lesnar has appeared on all three episodes of RAW this year - which is surprising given that he doesn't have a specific feud for the WWE Championship. In this case, it's simply that he has no legitimate challenger for the title and WWE likely doesn't want to rush anyone into that spot for the sake of it.

Having Lesnar in the Royal Rumble 2020 match isn't a bad idea by any means because it's an easy fix to find his opponent. In week 1, it was just the declaration to enter the Rumble. In week 2, R-Truth had a comedic interaction with him, and on the go-home show of the Rumble, it was Ricochet who Lesnar was confronted by.

Ricochet cut an uncharacteristically good promo as well, with Paul Heyman urging him to go back to the locker room again. The segment ended with Lesnar hitting Ricochet in his groin, responding to him by saying that he isn't scared.

Why did this confrontation happen? Here are a few possible reasons!

#5 Another red herring - to increase suspense for the Royal Rumble

This year's Royal Rumble is centered around Brock Lesnar. It's not the same as 2016 when the build of the entire Rumble was about Roman Reigns, but there's no denying who the most important character in the match is.

Given that he's entering at #1, the stakes have only grown more. There's a general level of suspense about how things are going down, with not many knowing exactly who is going to eliminate Lesnar or who will win the Royal Rumble - period.

The confrontation with Ricochet was likely done with the idea in mind that that "anything can happen" in the Royal Rumble. It was something thrown together by WWE brilliantly.

#4 Gaining as much heat for Brock Lesnar

Paul Heyman has done everything to make you hate Brock Lesnar

It was recently reported that the purpose of Brock Lesnar's recent appearances on RAW was to gain heat heading into the Royal Rumble. Although he's nowhere close to being as hated as WWE would like, Paul Heyman has done a decent job in getting him booed.

Last week's interaction with R-Truth did less to gain heat for him as it was a comedy segment where Lesnar was expected to attack R-Truth. In this case, Lesnar didn't even beat down Ricochet as one would expect.

Instead, Lesnar just hit him in the groin, made a snide comment and walked away. Interestingly, WWE went out of their way to protect Ricochet, especially given that Lesnar walked past him before even striking.

However, we're happy that WWE is continually making an effort to push Ricochet. He lost some momentum in the last few months, but if Drew McIntyre and Bayley are superstars to go by, a year or more of lost momentum can be recovered within weeks if booked right.

Moreover, Ricochet hasn't suffered too much from booking disasters, so he'll be fine.

#3 To tease him as a potential Brock Lesnar opponent

The consensus seems to be that the man who eliminates Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble will be the one to face him at WrestleMania 36. Whether they beat him or not is yet to be seen.

There are a few candidates for that role, with Drew McIntyre being one of the favorites. While Roman Reigns is believed to be one of the favorites to win the Royal Rumble, him eliminating Brock Lesnar seems unlikely as it's both pointless and serves no purpose since they're not revisiting that feud.

The man who eliminates Lesnar doesn't even need to win the entire Rumble match. The second-last spot would be ideal but having a good showing would be enough. The confrontation with Ricochet was perhaps to tease the idea of The One and Only superstar being the man who eliminates Lesnar.

With that being said, we don't believe Ricochet is ready for that spot just yet. He will be, without a doubt - just not right now.

#2 He's going to be the Iron Man of the Royal Rumble

Brock Lesnar telling Ricochet that he isn't scared

We just mentioned that Ricochet isn't ready for that spot to eliminate Brock Lesnar and face him at WrestleMania 36. He hasn't yet matured into his main roster run and is more of a long-term work in progress to reach the top spot.

However, that doesn't mean that he can't have a great showing anyway. He's perfect for the Iron Man spot in the Rumble - which is a valuable one. The best Iron Man that we can remember in recent memory is Finn Balor in 2018 and Chris Jericho in 2017.

We all know that Ricochet isn't winning the Royal Rumble but having the Iron Man spot or even going until the Final Four will be a valuable push for him and raise his stock heading into WrestleMania season.

We all know how important momentum is on the road to WrestleMania and it could mean huge things for him if he continues to get over the way he is now.

#1 Getting a direct push as a Paul Heyman guy

There have been quite a few rumors floating around since the summer of 2019 when Paul Heyman took over as the Executive Director of RAW. There's no denying that RAW has gotten a huge upgrade as a result of that.

The said rumors revealed that there is a "list" of superstars that Paul Heyman has who he is personally invested in and wants to push during his tenure as a backstage official in charge. Some of the names include Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Drew McIntyre, possibly Humberto Carrillo, and Ricochet.

Ricochet is one of the first names who began getting an instant push and the confrontation with Heyman and Lesnar only further affirms that the former United States Champions has big plans lying ahead for him.

Even if he isn't getting a main event push right away, it seems virtually guaranteed that he will in the coming few years. He's a long-term project and Heyman knows the value of the superstars he has on his roster. It's good to see that being acknowledged indirectly.