More details are coming in regarding Brock Lesnar’s surprise return to UFC. While there’s no confirmation yet regarding who Lesnar will face at UFC 200 on July 9th, heavyweight slugger Mark Hunt is considered the most likely opponent. Aside from Hunt, Jim Ross’ NJPW broadcasting partner Josh Barett and former Lesnar opponent Shane Carwin are openly campaigning for the gig:
I could do retweets all night but one thing is clear, people want to see me lock up with Brock Lesnar. Talk him into it @HeymanHustle. @ufc.
While the announcement of Brock Lesnar returning to the octagon in a month’s time seems like a short-notice decision, Lesnar has reportedly been training for the fight since shortly after WrestleMania 32.
Last week, several fans noticed that Brock Lesnar’s UFC fighter bio was briefly added to the “Active Roster” section at UFC.com, but was quickly pulled. UFC President Dana White was asked about Lesnar returning at Friday’s UFC 199 weigh-in from Vegas, but dismissed the rumor.
Fans have joked that Brock Lesnar is fighting again for UFC before CM Punk made his UFC debut. Dave Meltzer of f4wonline.com notes that Fox Sports 1 is working on a reality show focusing on CM Punk’s UFC debut against Mickey Gall. That series is scheduled to air in August, indicating that Punk will debut in late August or September.
On Saturday night, UFC announced that WWE Superstar and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will be returning to the octagon for next month’s UFC 200 pay-per-view from Las Vegas.
The blockbuster news sent shockwaves throughout the MMA and pro wrestling worlds.
Amidst the speculation regarding what Lesnar fighting at UFC 200 means for his future inside the squared circle, WWE provided us with the following statement:
“Brock Lesnar remains under contract to WWE, however, he has been granted a one-off opportunity to compete at UFC 200. Follow this milestone event on July 9, Brock will return to WWE SummerSlam on Sunday, August 21 live on WWE Network.
Early last year, news broke that Lesnar was participating in an MMA training camp and was strongly considering a full-time return to UFC. While he ultimately signed a multi-year deal with WWE (rumored to be for 3 years), it’s now apparent that Lesnar’s WWE deal included an option to take a UFC fight. His opponent will be revealed on Monday on ESPN.
The original UFC main event was scheduled to be a Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch, but that match was scrapped after McGregor announced his ‘retirement’ on social media. Since then, he and boxing great Floyd Mayweather have been teasing a boxing vs. MMA super-fight, but it’s been pretty apparent that showdown would never happen and they were just capitalizing on the buzz surrounding McGregor’s UFC contract dispute. UFC went on to announce Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 as the new main event of UFC 200. The McGregor-Diaz rematch is finally signed and will headline UFC 202 on 8/20.
For much more on Brock Lesnar’s return and UFC 200, visit our partner site MMANews.com.
During Monday’s RAW, the first trailer aired for this year’s WWE 2K17 video game and it was revealed that Big Goldberg is this year’s special pre-order bonus character. This was the culmination of WWE’s #Hatch social media campaign.
Goldberg will appear in the game as two playable characters representing his WCW and WWE personas. The playable characters, along with two playable arenas (WCW Monday Nitro and Halloween Havoc) will be available as bonus content for those who pre-order the game.
As was the case when The Ultimate Warrior signed on to appear in WWE 2K14, Goldberg’s deal is with 2K, not WWE directly. Despite Goldberg being very outspoken about WWE since his final match for the company at WrestleMania XX, bringing Goldberg back in the fold in some capacity has been many years in the making.
“After 12 years away from the business, I’m incredibly honored to work with WWE and 2K while following in the footsteps of such greats as Ultimate Warrior, Sting and Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Goldberg said in a press release. “My son was a big part of this coming together, and I can’t wait for him to see his dad kicking ass in a WWE ring through the magic of video games. I encountered the likes of The Rock, Triple H, Brock Lesnar and Ric Flair during my WWE career, and now through WWE 2K17, I’ll be taking on the biggest and baddest Superstars of today – showing them once and for all that I am still ‘Da Man!’”
As recently as last year, Goldberg is on the record saying that he would consider getting back in a WWE ring if the terms were right. Back in January 2015, Goldberg told Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald that he’s in the best shape of his life and would wrestle for WWE if his son Gage wanted him to.
“We know it was a kind of a disgruntled marriage between myself and WWE. I don’t really sit down and watch the product with my son,” Goldberg said. “If it was something he came up to me and asked me to do I would do it. He has yet to do it.”
Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE’s Goldberg DVD sold very well, far better than anybody expected, which likely led to this deal being made. Sting’s involvement in last year’s WWE 2K game led to him wrestling several matches for the company (including a high-profile WrestleMania match) and a Hall of Fame induction.
Meanwhile, there was an “easter egg” at the end of the WWE 2K17 Goldberg trailer that a lot of fans might have missed on first viewing. As Goldberg was being hauled away in the back of a police car, a Suplex City highway sign is reflected on the car window. Of course, Goldberg’s final WWE match was against Brock Lesnar, so 2K is already tapping into that feud to build interest in WWE 2K17.
Visit WWE.2K.com now to pre-order WWE 2K17 and receive Goldberg as a playable character. WWE 2K17 will be released this October for PlayStation 4, XBox One, PS3 and XBox 360.
– The final rating for the post-Extreme Rules Raw was a 2.29, up from last week’s 2.27 rating. We noted earlier that the episode drew 3.268 million viewers, up from last week’s 3.191 million.
– Emma had surgery to repair a disc in her back on May 18 and posted this update tonight:
Been a rough couple weeks! Lucky to have had @ZackRyder caring for me through my surgery and so much support from fans, friends and family!
— Tenille Dashwood (@TenilleDashwood) May 25, 2016
– Former WWE Head of Security Jimmy Noonan talks about his duties while working for the company, how miserable Brock Lesnar used to be and more in this clip from his recent “Red Eye” appearance on FNC:
WWE is reportedly planning to keep Brock Lesnar off TV until August. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE plans on bringing Lesnar back to RAW in time to promote SummerSlam, which airs on August 21st from Brooklyn. The earliest he could appear on TV in the month is the August 1st RAW at the Philips Arena in Atlanta.
The company originally planned on having Lesnar face Bray Wyatt or Braun Strowman next, but that’s changed. Strowman was originally planned for a big push and to win the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, but WWE reportedly decided he wasn’t ready yet after his match against Dean Ambrose on RAW.
As of this writing, there’s no word on who Lesnar will be facing in his next feud leading up to SummerSlam 2016.
During Monday’s RAW, a commercial aired in Hawaii promoting a blockbuster double main event for WWE’s upcoming live event from Honolulu’s Neal S Blaisdell Arena on June 29th.
Top matches advertised for that card include:
Brock Lesnar vs. Kevin Owens
John Cena vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. NXT Women’s Champion Asuka
Other top stars WWE Champion Roman Reigns, Tag Team Champions The New Day, The Club (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson), Chris Jericho, Bray Wyatt, The Usos and Natalya.
Prior to Saturday’s NXT live event from Tulsa, OK, Finn Balor took part in a live Facebook Q&A session hosted by Tom Phillips. Here are some highlights:
– Balor be interested in wrestling Brock Lesnar. They met in NJPW over 10 years ago but never wrestled each other. He feels much more confident in his abilities now and thinks he can take down the beast.
– Balor named John Cena as his dream opponent. His favorite NXT female star is Eva Marie, and favorite main roster stars are Karl Anderson and Becky Lynch.
– He praises Zack Sabre Jr. and picks him to win the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, saying he should be signed for NXT.
– He said he would already be on the main roster if the decision was his but he’s happy to be in NXT as they are having fun and building one of the best brands in wrestling
– Hacksaw Jim Duggan was recently interviewed by independent wrestler Hannibal, and Duggan expanded on comments he made last year about Brock Lesnar being reckless in the ring. The WWE Hall of Famer explained that Lesnar’s in-ring work reminds him of The Steiner Brothers back in the day. Duggan says members of WWE’s injury-plagued roster need to take better care of each other in the ring in order to keep working.
– John Cena was interviewed by The Wrap to promote his new show on FOX, American Grit, which premiered on Thursday. Cena discussed The Rock’s success outside of wrestling, saying that he can “only hope to be mentioned in the same conversation as him.” Cena praised the Rock for continuing to return to WWE when he doesn’t have to.
“Dwayne [Johnson] never forgets the passionate fans of the WWE, never forgets what the WWE did for him as a human being,” Cena said. “He’s a stand-up guy, and the fact he’s succeeded in so many ventures in life and still always finds his way back ‘home’ — as I like to say — it’s extremely impressive, it speaks volumes of him and his character.”
WWE Fastlane was the least-purchased PPV in company history, according to the Wrestling Observer.
Fastlane did 18,000 PPV buys in North America and 25,000 ppv buys outside of North America with a total of 43,000 PPV Buys. In comparison, last years Fastlane did a total of 56,00 PPV Buys.
Fastlane 2016 was headlined with Roman Reigns defeating both Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar for the right to face Triple H at Wrestlemania 32.
Its worth noting that WWE is primarily focused on getting people signed up for the WWE Network, which would reflect the poor buy-rate numbers, but WWE still makes PPV available to fans. In a press release on Monday, WWE revealed the WWE Network now boasts 1.82 million subscribers, which is a 39 percent increase from a year ago.
Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker were both advertised to appear on Monday’s episode of RAW, but neither of them appeared on the show.
According to Dave Meltzer, Lesnar actually went home after WrestleMania because the company had nothing for him, and they didn’t want to waste a date. Recently Lesnar admitted in an interview that the limited amount of dates he had signed for have been used:
“Vince (McMahon) got his checkbook out and he’s writing more checks,” Lesnar said. “But I have a limit and we’re at that limit right now.”
Regarding the Undertaker, F4WOnline.com reported yesterday that The Undertaker was telling people backstage at WrestleMania that his match with Shane McMahon was his last, although Undertaker has said this in the past and would continue wrestling. As noted, Taker is advertised to wrestle on the upcoming WWE European tour.
Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar is doing media appearances to promote tonight’s WrestleMania 32. In an interview with Dan Gelston of AP, Lesnar talked about his travel schedule with WWE and his thoughts on his job with the biggest pro wrestling company in the world.
“Vince (McMahon) got his checkbook out and he’s writing more checks,” Lesnar said of his increased work load. “But I have a limit and we’re at that limit right now.”
“This is a job and I’m not caught up into it like maybe I’m supposed to be,” he said. “I approach this as, I’m a skilled worker. I clock in, I clock out. People pay to watch me and, by chance, I guess they find me entertaining. … When I look back and what I’m proud of is the money in my bank account.”
Lesnar will face Dean Ambrose in a Street Fight at WrestleMania 32 tonight in Dallas, Texas with live play-by-play coverage all night here on SEScoops.com.
Yesterday, we reported on how Chris Smith at Forbes had put together a list of WWE’s highest paid wrestlers. While lists of this kind have gone around for years, they’re usually of some nebulous origin or an incredibly unreliable source like CelebrityNetWorth. This is different, however: Not only is it from Forbes, the magazine of record for finance, but it’s also an actual Forbes staff writer as opposed to their larger contributor network. Nothing against them, but they weren’t hired with the financial angle in mind. Since it’s a Forbes article from a Forbes staffer, the list is being taken a lot more seriously than these things usually are.
In his article, Smith claims that “Over the last year we’ve pored over court documents, SEC filings and WWE’s booking contracts and spent hours speaking with industry sources, allowing us to construct the first ever FORBES list of WWE’s Highest-Paid Wrestlers.” Let’s take a look at the list again:
John Cena: 9.5 million
Brock Lesnar: 6.0 million
Triple H: 2.8 million
Randy Orton: 2.7 million
Seth Rollins: 2.4 million
Roman Reigns: 2.1 million
Undertaker: 2.0 million
Big Show: 1.5 million
Kane: 1.3 million
Dean Ambrose: 1.1 million
So, what do we know about the numbers on Smith’s list for Forbes?
The only one whose pay would come up in SEC filing is Triple H, since he’s an executive officer of WWE under his real name of Paul Levesque. This does appear to be correct: If you don’t include stock awards, and Smith didn’t, he made $2,812,629 in 2015. That’s broken down as $573,269 in salary for his executive role, $526,000 in incentive plan compensation, and $1,713,360 for his pay as talent, $1 million of which is his contracted downside guarantee. There’s a note that “Mr. Levesque has out-earned this minimum guarantee in each of the past several years.”
Randy Orton and John Cena both had divorces, though only Orton’s finances went public as a result. TMZ reported that at the time of the July 2013 divorce, Orton was making $291,666 a month, or just $8 short of $3.5 million in a year. It’s not clear if that was his total 2012 pay or what, as the belief is that WWE’s downside guarantees never top $1 million. Cena did have his annual earnings pegged as about $10 million by Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer in January, while Meltzer has also reported Brock Lesnar’s pay in the past because he gets a flat fee per appearance. In the past, Meltzer has said something to the effect of how these days, it’s understood that The Undertaker’s $1 million guarantee is considered his WrestleMania payoff. With additional appearances headlining SummerSlam and Hell in a Cell last year, $2 million sounds reasonable.
It gets hazier after that as you move further down the line.
In a deposition that I cited in my January article for SBNation about Big Show’s flirtation with boxing, Big Show said that when he returned to WWE in 2008, he asked for $1.25 million and a $250,000 signing bonus…but that was eight years ago and it’s not clear in the public filings if he even got what he wanted. A deposition with his wife, who apparently handles their finances, had her testifying that she didn’t think he made any bonuses on top of his base salary. That would be unusual for a full time WWE performer, but it could also have to do with confusion over the nature of WWE contracts. WWE pay works two ways: You can just take your per-event pay and royalties as they come, or you can take your downside guarantee as a salary and get a balloon payment at the end of the year for what goes over the guarantee. Since he has little merchandise, $1.5 million doesn’t sound outrageously low, though.
Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Kane, and Dean Ambrose all have little to no information out there about their pay. Kane recently put his home up on the market and it was huge, sprawling property with a house customized to his specific needs as a very tall man, but because he’s based in Knoxville, Tennessee, the price was dramatically less than you’d think, coming in under $1 million. The rest seem realistic enough.
What do you think of the list? Let us know in the comments.
Dean Ambrose spoke with FOX Sports this week to promote his match against Brock Lesnar this Sunday night at WrestleMania 32.
The former Shield member wrestlers a very physical style, yet somehow he’s avoided the injury bug that’s plagued WWE’s roster and kept stars like John Cena and Seth Rollins on the sidelines. Ambrose said a lot of that has to do with the way he trains and takes care of himself. He focuses a lot on flexibility and makes a point of not exceeding his “normal” bodyweight by much. He says a lot of guys carry excessive muscle mass, which makes them more injury prone. He likes to keep himself lean and healthy and also admits to being lucky.
That said, he is used to dealing with pain on a regular basis and it’s just part of the job.
“On the other hand, I’m also constantly hurt. I’ve been hurt for 10 years,” Ambrose said. “It’s not like I’m not constantly dealing with a litany of injuries that I have myself. If it’s not one thing, it’s another thing but I’ve just been able to keep rolling. I’ve not had anything catastrophic happen to me. It’s a funny thing because it’s always like the crazy freak things. It’s not like ‘Oh he got hurt when he jumped off the top of the cage.’ It’s like ‘He got hurt stepping into the ring’ or ‘popped his shoulder out giving a high five’. It’s the little things you can’t plan for. It’s not anything that ever enters my mind.
Not only is he facing the toughest opponent of his life this Sunday in Brock Lesnar, but the No Holds Barred Street Fight stipulation adds an extra element of danger.
“It’s the most dangerous match possible. It’s the most hardcore stuff. It could be a flaming table, ladder, exploding ring, whatever stuff you can think of and I’ve been in all of them. But there’s no more dangerous match than just being in the ring with Brock Lesnar. He is so physically overwhelming and the attributes that he has — let alone against little old me. That in itself makes it a very hazardous and dangerous situation.”
He said that he likes to “play with fire” in what could be a foreshadowing of what to expect in their match. The idea of him and Brock Lesnar being armed with weapons excites him because it’s kill or be killed. “It’s not every day you get to play a game of legit Russian roulette,” he said. “It’s very exciting for me.”
Brock Lesnar appeared on ESPN SportsCenter this morning to promote WWE’s WrestleMania 32 earlier today. As usual, Lesnar didn’t pull any punches and spoke candidly about his history of substance abuse and Dana White having no interest in bringing him into UFC when Lesnar first reached out to him.
Lesnar spoke about why he chose to join WWE after college. Lesnar says WWE pursued him well enough and there was no guarantee that football would work out for him. WWE also offered him a really good developmental deal that a “poor college kid” couldn’t turn down. Lesnar says he wasn’t prepared for the WWE lifestyle and never watched wrestling as a kid. The first time he watched pro wrestling was after WWE had reached out to him.
He also opened up about his past substance abuse problems. During the end of his first WWE run, Brock said that his two best friends (and worst enemies) were vodka and Vicodin. He had to leave WWE to save his life and felt like a caged animal. After trying out for the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, he decided to take an offer for an MMA fight in Japan. After he won his first professional MMA fight, he reached out to UFC President Dana White, who wouldn’t even return his calls. Lesnar bought a ticket to UFC 74, hopped the rail after the show and met Dana White face to face.
ESPN will be kicking off their WrestleMania week coverage today, with several of WWE’s top performers making appearances to promote this weekend’s festivities. Here’s the schedule for WrestleMania 32 Week programming on ESPN:
Monday: Brock Lesnar on SportsCenter at 8:45am and 10:30am EST
Tuesday: Stephanie McMahon at 10:30am EST on SportsCenter
Tuesday: Triple H at 9pm on SportsCenter
Wednesday: Shane McMahon at 9pm on SportsCenter
TBA: The Undertaker on SportsCenter
We’ll post video highlights of the appearances when they become available.
The March 24th, 2016 episode of WWE SmackDown was taped in Boston, MA at the TD Garden arena. Here’s what happened at the taping:
– Sasha def. Charlotte: Sasha countered the Figure Eight with a roll up for the win in a non-title match. Becky came out and beat them both down after the match.
– Sheamus def. Kofi Kingston: The New Day and The League of Nations cut promos on each other before the match. Back and forth action until Sheamus won with a Brogue Kick after an assist from King Barrett and Rusev.
– The Usos def. The Ascension: The Usos won in a quick match with a double superkick to Viktor. After the match, The Usos hit a top rope splash through the tables on Konnor and Viktor
– Renee Young interviews The Dudleys backstage. They trash The Usos, Rikishi and The Wild Samoans. Roman Reigns interrupts and tells Bubba Ray Dudley he wants a fight tonight.
– Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz and Kevin Owens: Owens tried leaving the ringside area but Stardust, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder stopped him. Miz brings Owens back in the ring then hits the Skull Crushing Finale, but Zayn came out of nowhere and hit Miz with a Helluva Kick for the win. After the match, they all brawl and hit their finishers until Ryder is left standing after dropping Owens.
– Roman Reigns vs. Bubba Ray Dudley – Double count out: The match went to the outside in the opening moments and quickly turned into a ringside brawl for the double count out. D-Von ran in for the save but Reigns laid him out. Bubba came back in the ring and Reigns laid him out with a spear before heading to the back.
– Sin Cara and Kalisto are cutting a promo in the back when Ryback interrupts. They talk trash to each other about their upcoming WrestleMania 32 match.
– AJ Styles def. Tyler Breeze: AJ got the pinfall victory after hitting the Phenomenal Forearm in what was described as a quick match.
– Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar come to the ring for a promo on Dean Ambrose to end the show. The Wyatt Family interrupts first and surround the ring, then Ambrose’s music hits and he hits the ring. Lesnar and Ambrose work together to beat down The Wyatts. Ambrose then attacks Lesnar with a kendo stick. Lesnar lays out Ambrose with a clothesline then hits the F5 to end SmackDown.
– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross recently updated the Q&A section of his website, which you can check out at JRsBarBQ.com. Here are some quick highlights from this installment:
Lack Of Build For WrestleMania 32: “It’s Wrestlemania and the stories are yet to be told so I’m reserving judgment until I see the matches. I do feel the card will exceed many fan’s expectations.”
WWE’s Reaction To Fans Rejecting Roman Reigns: “I have no idea what WWE thinks as I’m no longer there. I do think some fans resist Reigns because they feel he’s been force fed to them while others, like me, think he’s been miscast.”
His Thoughts on RAW’s booking: “The bottom line appears to be that Raw is often times over written and talk is at a higher priority than is wrestling or so it seems.
– After spending two weeks in the hospital back in February, WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch just spent another week undergoing medical treatment for infectious colitis and diverticulitis. She tweeted:
Finally out of the hospital for the past week. This time infectious colitis and diverticulitis. Fun stuff
– WWE was selling a unique Brock Lesnar shirt at WWE Roadblock on Saturday night in Toronto. The shirt, which featured The Beast sending a moose to Suplex City, sold out and will probably make for a nice collectors item.
At WWE Roadblock on Saturday Brock Lesnar defeated Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt in a handicap match that Wyatt never tagged in to. In the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, it was speculated that WWE may be keeping Lesnar and Wyatt apart to save the match for after WrestleMania 32.
Lesnar was originally supposed to face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 32, but WWE had a change of plans and made Dean Ambrose his new opponent. WWE’s next pay-per-view event after WrestleMania is Payback on May 1st.
We’ll have live coverage of WrestleMania right here on April 3rd. The event airs live on pay-per-view and the WWE Network from the sold-out AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Bray Wyatt spoke with the Philly Voice this week to promote WWE’s upcoming RAW taping from Philly on March 21st. The Eater of Worlds will square off against Brock Lesnar this coming Saturday night at WWE Roadblock, which airs live on the WWE Network.
Bray says he’s very much looking forward to the challenge and he’s been studying Lesnar for quite some time. Every opponent he’s faced has been different, from The Undertaker to John Cena and Chris Jericho. He knows Lesnar is a very dangerous individual – but so is he. He teased that he’s a little sick in the head and defeating Brock Lesnar would immediately shoot him to the top of WWE’s ranks.
Even though he’s happy to finally get a crack at The Beast, he is a bit disappointed their match won’t be taking place at WrestleMania 32. Wyatt said,
“Of course I’d rather do it at WrestleMania. Then again, you don’t know what I’m gonna do at WrestleMania. It’s still an open-ended game for me. Like I said, to beat Brock Lesnar right before WrestleMania, you should be owed some kind of spot, some kind of high place – you know, I view myself as a high place player – I’m a serious player in this game and I intend to keep that.”
Bray Wyatt and his minions do not yet have a match announced for WrestleMania, but it sounds like Bray has something up his sleeve.
Brock Lesnar was originally booked for the main event of WWE Roadblock on March 12th. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the WWE creative team planned on having Lesnar face both Dean Ambrose and Triple H in a triple threat match. According to those original plans, the match would have ended with Triple H pinning Ambrose for the win. At some point there was a change of plans, and the match was changed to a one-on-one title match between just Ambrose and Triple H.
The Observer Newsletter noted that WWE has taken of note of Ambrose getting over as a babyface, and has no plans to turn him heel.
WWE Roadblock takes place at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, ON and airs exclusively on the WWE Network on March 12th at 8 PM ET.
WWE ran an angle prior to Monday’s RAW that saw Brock Lesnar viciously attack Dean Ambrose backstage in plain sight of fans who were watching the wrestlers arrive at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. This seems to corroborate the reports that Lesnar and Ambrose are scheduled to face each other at WrestleMania 32.
Check back soon for our WWE RAW Live Coverage & Discussion.
Brock Lesnar’s manager Paul Heyman went on a lengthy Twitter rant in support of his client on Monday. Heyman explained that even after working with great talent for many years, he’s still “in awe” of what Lesnar does in WWE. Heyman also confirmed that he would be bringing the former UFC & WWE Heavyweight Champion with him to RAW in Detroit tonight.
Here’s Heyman’s rant in it’s entirety:
There's no one like @BrockLesnar. No one. He's not only a once n a lifetime (once EVER) athlete, he's equally an unique as a performer.
Brock Lesnar appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Tuesday night for Jonathan Coachman’s weekly segment focusing on WWE.
When asked about the most difficult accomplishment of his life, Lesnar says it was winning the NCAA championship. That one took a long time to train for, since he was wrestling from the age of 5. That said, none of his accolades have been easy.
Coach asked about his favorite WrestleMania moment. Lesnar says he doesn’t really have a favorite moment because he’s looking to the future. He’s looking forward to beating Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at WWE Fastlane on Sunday, then going on to main event WrestleMania 32.
Lesnar talked about his botched Shooting Star Press from WrestleMania 19, noting that it wasn’t a good idea.
Regarding Paul Heyman, Lesnar said his career wouldn’t be where it is today without Paul. They’re like bread & butter, they’ve been successful for years and they just work. He says they work very well together and Heyman has been there supporting him since day one.
When asked about Daniel Bryan’s retirement, Lesnar says Bryan made a wise choice. Lesnar doesn’t even know how many concussions he’s had. He commended Bryan for understanding there’s more to life than wrestling, fighting or football.
.@BrockLesnar shares his most memorable WrestleMania & his reaction to Daniel Bryan's retirement due to concussions. https://t.co/QUbg7Hr8wY
Regarding Ronda Rousey’s admission that she was suicidal after getting knocked out by Holly Holm, Lesnar said he’s a big fan of Rousey but you have to learn that you must lose before you can win, you have to be able to get back on the horse. One fight isn’t going to make or break her career. they talked about Rousey possibly wrestling for WWE and Lesnar said she can do whatever she wants. Right now, Rousey has a lot on her plate with her MMA & movie careers. At some point, she’ll have to take a step back and decide what she really wants to do.
– Brock Lesnar is scheduled join Jonathan Coachman on ESPN SportsCenter tonight during the 10 PM ET hour. He’ll be promoting Sunday’s Fastlane PPV. (Update: Lesnar’s segment was bumped from the 9 PM hour to the 10 PM hour.)
– WWE tapes SmackDown tonight in Ontario, CA at the Citizens Business Bank Arena. We’ll have results from the taping later tonight right here on SEScoops.com. Here’s what’s being advertised for tonight’s taping:
* Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. The Dudley Boyz.
* Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman will be in the house.
* Chris Jericho answers AJ Styles’ challenge for Fastlane.
* More matches & build-up for Sunday’s Fastlane
Other names scheduled to appear include Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Owens, Bray Wyatt, New Day, Ryback, Dolph Ziggler, and The WWE Divas.
Monday’s RAW finished with Brock Lesnar delivering an F5 to Dean Ambrose ahead of the 3-way main event at Fastlane. After the cameras stopped rolling, the New Day continued their attack on Reigns and Ambrose. Chris Jericho’s music then hit and Y2J ran to the ring and came to the defense of Reigns and Ambrose. Reigns and Ambrose eventually got to their feet and helped Jericho fend off New Day. The three baby faces celebrated to end the show.
Fans might have noticed during RAW that there was a sign at ringside that read, “If Roman wins, we complain online.” The person who brought the sign claims WWE security took the sign away from him and threatened to kick him out if he didn’t comply. The fan wrote on Reddit:
“Went to Raw last night. Took a sign that said “If Roman wins, we complain online.” Right before the main event, a WWE employee flags me down. (I say WWE employee because he was wearing a WWE shirt along with giant headset and you could tell he was communicating with the back.) He says “Give me your sign or you’re out of here.” I asked why, and said it wasn’t against Roman. He replied “Do you want to go?” So I handed it to him.”
