Paul Heyman On How Brock Lesnar Became The One In 21-1 [Exclusive From July 2016]

*Note: The following article was written from a clip that, despite being new to our YouTube channel, was recorded in the summer of 2016 as we bring some unseen archive footage into the spotlight for the first time.

Speaking at an Inside The Ropes live show in 2016, Paul Heyman recalled how Brock Lesnar went from being the zero in 22-0, to being the one in 21-1 after Vince McMahon suggested The Beast Incarnate would be fed to The Undertaker.

“My client Brock Lesnar conquered the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Get over it!”

While speaking about how he and Brock Lesnar actually tried to pitch The Beast Incarnate vs CM Punk at WrestleMania in the spot where the Streak would ultimately end, Paul Heyman opened up about how meetings with Vince McMahon would see the Advocate think the money match was Lesnar vs Punk.

“And then came the day that Brock Lesnar came back and decided, storyline purpose-wise, of course, ‘You can’t be with both me and Punk.’ And now you have the Advocate in the conflicted scenario because people knew that Punk and I were legitimately buddies and people knew that Brock Lesnar was my Beast, so which way will the Advocate go? And you had this intriguing storyline of Brock versus Punk, which was the original idea on the part of the phone call that happened after Vince said, ‘I’m going to put you with CM Punk,’ and I said, ‘See you on Monday.’ He said, ‘By the way, you know where this leads, don’t you?’ And you know, ‘Okay, you tell me, it’s going to wherever you want it to go,’ and ‘We are going to end up with Brock versus Punk,’ and I just sat there and went, ‘God damn, that can be such big money.'”

Paul Heyman, who won Inside The Ropes’ Manager Of The Year Award for 2020, went on to say how Vince McMahon rebuffed the suggestion as he had a different idea.

“The funny thing is, we kind of…were hoping we could stretch out storyline out and take that match at WrestleMania, and that should have been at a WrestleMania, and as we were heading into SummerSlam, Brock and I were thinking, ‘Hey, shall we go in and pitch that we extend this to WrestleMania?’ And we did, and here is a very funny segue. We actually went in at one point, two weeks before SummerSlam and said, ‘Hey, Vince, there’s legs with this, there’s interest. People are intrigued by Brock Lesnar versus CM Punk. Why don’t we extend this to WrestleMania?’ And that was the first time we ever heard this idea – ‘Well, I have a different vision for you at WrestleMania, Brock.'”

The incredible tale sees the revelation that Lesnar had no idea he’d be working with Taker and was hesitant at the thought of working with anyone but CM Punk, but that a short walk from McMahon’s office to his personal bus saw an idea stir within The Beast Incarnate that he was going to become the man who broke the Streak.

“And Brock was sitting there going, he’s going… [Sighs] ‘Who am I going to have to work with now? Okay, Vince, who am I working with at WrestleMania?’ And Vince looks at Brock in the eyes and says, ‘The Undertaker!’ And of course, in Vince’s eyes, it was… ‘You’re going to be fed, you’re going to be the 0 in 22-0.’ And I will never forget, Brock and I walked out the door and we kind of… Brock had his own bus and we got into the bus, didn’t say a word to each other, got to the bus and I put down my phone and said, ‘Well, what do you think? Taker, huh?’ He said, going to take root under WrestleMania and it’s the first time I ever heard the phrase, Brock sat there, he’s just sitting, stirring, sitting at a table in his bus and Brock looks up and he goes, ’21-1. I’m the one.’ And I went, ‘Holy s***, 21-1. How do we make that happen?’ And Brock said, ‘That’s what we are going to do. We are going to conquer that f***ing streak at WrestleMania.'”

At the live show, while that response garnered applause and cheering, some select fans would boo, before Heyman responded that they should get over it.

“Hey, I like how some people still boo that to that this day. Get the f*** over it already, will you? My client Brock Lesnar conquered the Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. Get over it!”

Meanwhile, another interesting account from the night the Streak ended was recently told to Inside The Ropes’ Lead Writer Gary Cassidy from Arn Anderson, who revealed how WWE Superstars such as Miz and Heath Slater looked at him like they wanted to kill him upon the conclusion of the match.

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