Paul Heyman has been instrumental in the rise of Brock Lesnar as one of WWE’s most formidable forces, having first joined forces with the star during his WWE debut back in 2002. The two would split up in late 2002 when Heyman aligned himself with the Big Show, but they reunited in 2014 following Lesnar’s return to the company in 2012.
Once again Heyman and Lesnar were a fantastic team, and The Beast Incarnate went on to have a record-setting Universal Championship reign. The 504 day reign was ended by Roman Reigns at SummerSlam in 2018, and Reigns has since smashed his championship record as well.
In 2020, following Lesnar’s declaration that he would be retiring from professional wrestling after losing the WWE Championship to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36, Heyman was without a client, but in August of that year it was revealed that he’d aligned himself with none other than Lesnar’s former foe Roman Reigns. When Lesnar returned in 2021, Heyman’s loyalty was questioned, but in the end, he chose to keep his alliance with Reigns intact, betraying Lesnar at the Royal Rumble in 2022 and costing him the WWE Championship to Bobby Lashley.
Paul Heyman Says Brock Lesnar Returned To WWE After Seeing His Success With Roman Reigns
Speaking in a new interview with Faction 919, Heyman was asked who approached him with the idea to pair with Roman Reigns after Lesnar’s WWE departure. Heyman says he wasn’t approached, but that their schedules aligned to form the new alliance and Lesnar decided to return after seeing how much success Reigns was having under Heyman’s guidance.
“Nobody approached me on that. Brock Lesnar’s contract was up in April or May 2020. After the match with Drew McIntyre in that WrestleMania, Brock Lesnar went home to Saskatchewan. He was done in WWE, he wasn’t coming back, and my calendar was open, and so was Roman Reigns‘, so Roman Reigns and I formed a duo to serve as Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief on the Island of Relevancy, and then Brock Lesnar, seeing the success that Roman Reigns was enjoying, decided to come back.
“But I mean, there was no conscious effort to split from Brock Lesnar to then ascend to Roman Reigns. I ended up with Roman Reigns because Brock Lesnar left WWE for a while.”
If you use any quotes from this transcription, please credit Faction 919 and link back to this article with a h/t to Inside the Ropes.