Brock Lesnar has had some legendary rivalries throughout his WWE career, from his classic bouts with Kurt Angle and The Undertaker to his more recent clashes with Goldberg and John Cena. But when it comes to who holds the title of being “The Beast’s” greatest rival, Paul Heyman believes the only logical choice is Roman Reigns. Not counting Royal Rumble matches, the pair have only wrestled six times with Lesnar leading 2-1 in one-on-one matches. The pair have also main evented WrestleMania twice and could be on their way to making it a hat trick at WrestleMania 38 next April.ย
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“The Undertaker was very simple. History was made,” Heyman told Sportskeeda (h/t WrestlingNews.co). “Brock Lesnar conquered The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. With John Cena, that was an intense rivalry between the poster boy for WWE, the most heavily hyped sports entertainer on the face of the planet against a former NCAA Division I Heavyweight Champion and former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar. With Roman Reigns, you have a completely different dynamic. You have someone that is also a Division I athlete and a champion. You have someone that could have gone into the UFC and smashed everybody. You have someone who matches up against Brock Lesnar. You have someone that’s equally credible as Brock Lesnar and there’s not a lot of human beings, let alone beings, on this planet or anywhere in the universe, hence Universal Heavyweight Champion, that can match up that way in terms of credibility with Brock Lesnar.I find the dynamic between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns to be the great rivalry like the Lakers and the Celtics, or the Yankees and the Red Sox.”
The two will meet in the main event of the Crown Jewel pay-per-view this Thursday with the WWE Universal Championship on the line. This match marks the first time Reigns will be competing against Lesnar as a heel. It’s also unclear where Heyman’s loyalties are heading into the match, as he swears he’s on Reigns’ side yet continues to work as Lesnar’s advocate.ย
“I hate to spoil the ending of what is the biggest box office match of 2021, but …Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is @paulheyman, and I will be walking down the aisle at #CrownJewel with the reigning defending undisputed #WWE #UniversalHeavyweightChampion … and I assure you, I will be leaving #CrownJewel with the #WWE #UniversalHeavyweightChampion!” Heyman wrote on his Instagram earlier this week.ย
Check out the full lineup for Thursday’s Crown Jewel event below. The show will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and begin at 12 p.m. ET.ย
- WWE Universal Championship:ย Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
- WWE Championship:ย Big E vs. Drew McIntyre
- SmackDown Women’s Championship:ย Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair vs. Sasha Banks
- Raw Tag Team Championships:ย RK-Bro vs. AJ Styles & Omos
- Goldberg vs. Big E (No Holds Barred)
- Edge vs. Seth Rollins (Hell in a Cell)
- King of the Ring Final (Finn Balor vs. Xavier Woods)
- Queen’s Crown Final (Zelina Vega vs. Doudrop)
- Mansoor vs. Mustafa Ali
