Paul Heyman knows that sometimes it takes a village to defeat a Beast.
Former WWE producer, writer and current mouthpiece for Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman recently appeared on After The Bell with Corey Graves and explained how it takes a team to defeat ‘The Beast’, Brock Lesnar, crediting Reigns’ toughness after Lesnar busted him open during their match at WrestleMania 34.
“Roman Reigns is WWE’s equivalent of a jiu-jitsu master and the best example that I can give you is, there was all sorts of uproar, backstage, in the arena and in the ring when Brock Lesnar opened up Randy Orton at SummerSlam after Brock Lesnar had fought Mark Hunt, and I say his name slowly for edification purposes. Brock Lesnar fought Mark Hunt at UFC 200, came back and fought Randy Orton at SummerSlam in Brooklyn and opened him up pretty bad and then I saw Brock Lesnar do the same thing at WrestleMania to Roman Reigns. You can look at Roman Reigns’ hairline and he has one nasty scar right up at his hairline…and that’s from Brock Lesnar.
“And unlike anybody else that I’ve seen Brock Lesnar do that to, once Roman Reigns felt the warmth of the blood, the old ‘crimson mask’, once Roman Reigns felt that ‘crimson mask’, he went into savage mode. He wasn’t shaking off the cobwebs, he wasn’t trying to regain his senses, he go up and fought. You can say anything you want about how this business operates and not pulling back the curtain and how the magician does his tricks but when Brock Lesnar elbows you in the face and in the head enough to bust you open and you start fighting, it says something about who you are and how tough you can be. That’s again, the WWE’s equivalent of a jiu-jitsu mindset. I’ve now taken your beating and I’m coming to you and I’m bringing the fight to you and when I witnessed that, it’s just another reason that even back then as I was looking at my own trajectory for many years, I was very into it and went ‘wow, what could I do with this man, with this athlete, what could I do with this attraction?’ Because look at what he can withstand and still get up and make something of it.
“Is Roman Reigns a sure-fire bet against Brock Lesnar? No, that’s what I’ve continued to say publicly and to this day, I’ve told him that I’m here to protect him from Brock Lesnar, it takes a team, it takes a mindset. Brock Lesnar wouldn’t have won a single fight in Mixed Martial Arts if it weren’t for Marty Morgan, who’s his head coach, he had Comprido, an eight-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champion, Caprido was his jiu-jitsu coach, he had Peter Welch as his Boxing coach and Heath Herring can tell you about the effect of a Brock Lesnar punch, he beat Randy Couture on the feet, he didn’t beat Randy Couture wrestling, he beat Randy Couture standing up. He knocked him down and then with hammer-fists. So, it was the team that made Brock Lesnar in the UFC and it’s the team in WWE that makes Roman Reigns. Now, is he a viable threat against Brock Lesnar with his cousins there and with me there and with me as Brock Lesnar’s greatest vulnerability? You now have a completely viable opponent for Brock Lesnar.”
Heyman then mentioned that when you add himself and The Usos to the mix alongside Reigns, there’s now a formidable threat to conquering Lesnar, likening it to Lesnar ending The Undertaker‘s undefeated WrestleMania streak back at WrestleMania 30.
“I’ll liken it to this, these are the same comments that I made heading into Brock’s match at WrestleMania 30 against The Undertaker, these weren’t predictions, these were spoilers but at the time, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker declaratively in a Hell In A Cell in 2002 and now this was The Undertaker with all the momentum and it was The Undertaker at WrestleMania where The Undertaker was untouchable. Just getting a two-count against The Undertaker at WrestleMania was newsworthy and The Undertaker was going into WrestleMania 30 with all of this momentum but Brock Lesnar was the answer to the quandary of The Undertaker and he conquered the streak. I feel like we’re at that same point in history now with who can conquer the conquerer? Not to minimize what Bobby Lashley accomplished but one victory over The Beast is one thing, domination over The Beast, countering The Beast, a consistent record of being able to replace Brock Lesnar as the top guy, the top attraction, the WrestleMania main event, the go-to guy, the unspeakable, the unfathomable, there’s only one person that carries those credentials right now and that’s Roman Reigns.”
Lesnar is set to compete at the WWE Elimination Chamber event on 2/19 for the WWE Championship inside of the Elimination Chamber against Champion Bobby Lashley and challengers Austin Theory, Riddle, AJ Styles and Seth Rollins. Lesnar won the 2022 Royal Rumble match and announced that he’ll challenge Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 regardless of the outcome of the aforementioned Elimination Chamber match.
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