When Brock Lesnar returned on June 17th to announce that he would be challenging Roman Reigns' Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam, the reaction of the WWE universe was somewhat one of apathy. Obviously the initial shock of seeing the Beast storming to the ring, decimating firstly The Uso's and then Reigns himself was greeted with delight the world over. But when the penny finally dropped that we would be watching Reigns and Lesnar go at it for a NINTH time, that delirium quickly dissipated. Online bookmakers compared by oddschecker, which provides a whole host of free offers to its customers, had predicted that the Tribal Chief would come out victorious in Nashville's Nissan Stadium, and they weren't wrong.
The reason for the apathy is that WWE have booked themselves into a corner. Roman Reigns has been built up into an unstoppable monster that holds both Raw and SmackDown hostage. He has held the World Championship for over 700 days and hasn't been pinned in over three years. Fans now find it hard to believe that anyone but Lesnar has any chance to beat the leader of The Bloodline, which puts Triple H - WWE's new head of creative - in a difficult position. Heading into SummerSlam, Reigns had convincingly defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania 38, in a match that was dubbed the biggest WrestleMania main event of all time. It took him barely seven minutes to handle business. Saying that fans were disappointed when they were leaving Arlington's AT&T Stadium back in March would have been the understatement.
WrestleMania 31
The build-up to WrestleMania 31 was a strange one. Roman Reigns was receiving one of the most inorganic pushes that the WWE had ever given. That push led him to his first ever Royal Rumble win, and even an assist from The Rock couldn't help get The Big Dog over, with the Philadelphia fans in attendance booing the pair of Samoans out of the arena. Earlier that night, Brock Lesnar defeated both Seth Rollins and John Cena to retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a bonafide Match of the Year candidate. The Beast Incarnate was in the midst of a mega push of his own. He defeated The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, snapping the streak in the progress. He then destroyed John Cena at SummerSlam to become the top champ in the company.
At the Rumble, he was at his very very best. He was supposedly in the midst of an MMA training camp as he was mulling over a return to the UFC and was in phenomenal shape. He rag-dolled both Cena and Rollins, only for the pair to join forces culminating with The Architect diving from the top rope and putting Lesnar through the announce table. Just as it looked like the title may be slipping away from Lesnar's grasp, he rose from the dead, threw both men around the ring like they were nothing, and finally pinned Rollins to retain the gold.
The stage was set for Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns at Levi's Stadium in California, and in the weeks leading up to the contest, Paul Heyman did his very best to sell the match to the baying public. But rumors were swirling that Lesnar would be leaving the company after the match and therefore the Universe thought the result was a foregone conclusion, Reigns would emerge victorious amidst a chorus of boos. Then, just days before the event, WWE announced to ESPN Sports Center that Lesnar had signed a new contract.
That put a grain of doubt into the mind of fans the world over, and once the match got underway, Lesnar began in the usual fashion, dominating his opponent with an F5 after barely a minute, followed by a series of suplexes, memorably screaming at the camera "Suplex City B*tch."
But as the match wore on, Reigns wouldn't stay down. He kicked out of three F5's, something that even the Deadman couldn't do the year prior. After Lesnar hit the fourth, both men lay prone in the ring, and Seth Rollins' music hit, and the Authority's main man would cash in his money in the bank briefcase. He turned the match into a triple threat, hit the curb stomp on Reigns, and secured his maiden WWE World Heavyweight Championship victory. Officially the match between Lesnar and Reigns ended in a no contest, but it remains one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all time.
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