This week’s Monday Night Raw opened with a surprise return, as Paul Heyman started the show in the middle of the ring. “The Advocate,” fresh off being fired as Roman Reigns’ “Special Counsel” last month, introduced Lesnar to the arena as the pair re-established their working relationship. Lesnar kicked things off by calling out Reigns, claiming he was the “real” world champion and told the crowd to acknowledge him. Heyman then ran down every potential challenger for Lesnar’s title, confirming that the winner of Big E vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens later in the night would challenge for the title at Royal Rumble on Jan. 29.
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Heyman claimed Rollins and Owens were formidable for forming a team (but joked about Becky Lynch leaving Rollins), then talked about how impressive Lashley looked during Saturday night’s five-way match at Day 1 by spearing Lesnar and applying him in the Hurt Lock. When he got to E, Heyman claimed to have nothing but respect for the man and said he represented the WWE perfectly as its champion — only to add that he’d lose if he had to wrestle Lesnar at the Rumble.
Heyman gave a number of interviews last year reflecting on his role of working with Reigns, including one with Sports Illustrated where he admitted he was reluctant to work with anyone else besides Lesnar.
“I cannot begin to convey how reluctant I was to ever do anything in this industry after the eight years, let alone the 18 years, that I put together with Brock Lesnar,” Heyman said. “Look at our accomplishments: a 500-day run as champion, multiple world championships, the single biggest, most historic victory in sports entertainment history in the conquering of ‘The Streak.’ There was very little chance of me ever returning on-screen.”
“For me to pursue, in front of the camera, life after Brock Lesnar, the only lure that could seduce me to even attempting such an impossible goal was to do it with someone that would live their life in the pursuit of achieving that impossibility, and that’s Roman Reigns,” he later added. “And that’s why someone, that’s why anyone and that’s why everyone should watch Roman Reigns. Every micromoment he’s in the frame, you are witnessing the pursuit of the all-time greatest career in the annals of sport, in the annals of entertainment and in the annals of sports entertainment.”
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Image Credit: WWE, Netflix
