At Extreme Rules, Kurt Angle laid out an ultimatum to Brock Lesnar: show up to Raw and pick his next challenger or he will be stripped of the Universal Championship.
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As it turns out, Paul Heyman hates ultimatums.
Shortly after the news hit, Heyman unloaded his defense on Twitter:
“. @WWE
Are you serious?
You spring this on my client, the reigning defending undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion @BrockLesnar and me with no notice? No warning? No letter of admonishment? Just an unwarranted ultimatum, so @RealKurtAngle can look tough in negotiations”?
. @WWE
Are you serious?
You spring this on my client, the reigning defending undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion @BrockLesnar and me with no notice? No warning? No letter of admonishment? Just an unwarranted ultimatum, so @RealKurtAngle can look tough in negotiations? https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV
โ Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018
Heyman took further issue with WWE subtweeting Brock Lesnar in their initial post.
“And it’s really “cute” (most family-family facetious word I could conjure up at the moment) of @WWE to say “ATTENTION: @HeymanHustle” because everyone in #WWE is so scared to address my client @BrockLesnar, so they try to create separation between themselves and their message!”
And it’s really “cute” (most family-family facetious word I could conjure up at the moment) of @WWE to say “ATTENTION: @HeymanHustle” because everyone in #WWE is so scared to address my client @BrockLesnar, so they try to create separation between themselves and their message! https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV
โ Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018
Heyman closed by blasting Kurt Angle for his pay-per-view publicity stunt.
“The obsequious GM of #RAW @RealKurtAngle, who can’t control his own roster, tries to look good with this amateurish negotiating ploy against my client @BrockLesnar? I’m in my #LasVegas office. Very little time for an injunction or a TRO. How can this be?”
The obsequious GM of #RAW @RealKurtAngle, who can’t control his own roster, tries to look good with this amateurish negotiating ploy against my client @BrockLesnar? I’m in my #LasVegas office. Very little time for an injunction or a TRO. How can this be? https://t.co/TyUcYZupqL https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV
โ Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018
Regardless of Heyman’s outrage, he and Lesnar are officially on the clock. There are few different ways this can play out, with Lesnar picking Bobby Lashley for his SummerSlam date being the most likely.
After pinning Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules, Lashley made his intentions unmistakably clear in an interview with Renee Young:
“Brock has the title. I don’t know where Brock is, but when Brock’s ready to come back and fight somebody for the title, I’m the man. Of course, he said before he didn’t want to come back because Roman and Roman and Roman – now there’s a new big dog, and that’s me. So if he wants to come back and defend that title, he has somebody else to come back and defend that title. Somebody that beat the person he defended that title against last time. So now if Brock is ready to come and defend that title – I am here,” he said.
There’s always the possibility Roman Reigns gets involved, but WWE would have to get creative in order to justify his participation in a SummerSlam title match.
There is also the possibility of Braun Strowman cashing-in on Lesnar at Raw if the champ does indeed show. This can be considered unlikely but without question WWE’s wildest option.
[H/T Cagesideseats]