Paul Heyman discusses the man he used to be an advocate for, Brock Lesnar.
The Wise-Man spoke about Lesnar during a recent interview on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast, where he looked back on one of The Beast’s greatest accomplishments…ending the Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak at WrestleMania 30. When asked if Taker’s career could have ended with the Streak in tact Heyman says that would not be in Vince McMahon’s nature.
No. It’s not in Vince’s nature. It’s just not. I’m gonna get something out of this. I invested this much into it, and I want something out of it. He just never saw the time yet where he needed it and that was something that was going to be pulled when he needed it. Would he have let The Undertaker retire at a SummerSlam or Survivor Series, mid year, and retire off into the sunset? Yea, we will keep you on retainer. We’ll cut a merchandising deal with you. We’ll keep you active in some way so that you can make a living and a handsome one at that and still have the benefit of the intellectual property and everything. But one of the reasons why Vince would do that is, oh, this is a great WrestleMania for you to come out of retirement and defend the streak, and by the way, I found the person to beat you. I don’t care if Undertaker was 85 years old at the time. If he’s alive, if the Dead Man is alive, so to speak, then the streak is exploitable and if it’s exploitable, the promoter in Vince McMahon wants to exploit it.
Heyman continues, stating that Lesnar became the top of the mountain after ending the streak and that a new star could be made for whoever it was that toppled The Beast. Heyman also reveals that it was at this time that Roman Reigns was chosen as the guy to do it.
Brock becomes the successor to the streak, becomes the holy grail, becomes the victory no man can attain and becomes the embodiment of the impossible mountain to climb so that when someone climbs that mountain, when someone beats Brock Lesnar, they are instantly made in the same way that Brock Lesnar is instantly made, the moment the referee’s hand hits three at WrestleMania 30, signifying Brock had conquered the streak, and we had someone in mind to be the next big thing, the company’s next big star, the guy that would pull the wagon, the successor to John Cena, the person to become the one who beat the one in 21-1. We had someone in mind, even at that time. Do you know who that person was? Roman Reigns.
Reigns and Lesnar would engaged in an intense multi-year rivalry that began at WrestleMania 31. The two top superstars met several more times including at WrestleMania 34, SummerSlam 2018, WrestleMania 38 and SummerSlam 2022. You can check out Heyman’s full interview here.
(H/T and transcribed by WrestlingNews.Co)
