Aug 10, 2018

  • Matt WillisESPN Staff Writer

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      Matt Willis has been a studio researcher at ESPN since 2006, working on "NASCAR Now" and "SportsCenter," among other shows. He graduated from Ithaca College in 2006 with a degree in journalism. While there, he worked on ICTV, on shows such as "Ya Think Y'all Know Sports?" and "Sports Concluding." He also was a member of the IC One-act Club and figures well-nigh one-half of the jokes he makes in his column are actually funny.

When we reach SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar's Universal championship reign will have surpassed 500 days, marking the longest world championship reign in WWE since Hulk Hogan held the championship for more than than iv years, from 1984 to 1988.

And so how did we get to this betoken? Anybody probably remembers the title matches and big moments, but in that location have been many twists and turns along the way that helped shape the by iii years of Lesnar'south career. Nosotros're going to accept it all the way back to the first of Lesnar's tensions with Goldberg -- the rivalry that started Lesnar's current arc, from his solitary major dip in the road all the way to his run of beingness an indestructible champion for well-nigh a year-and-a-half running.

Oct. iii, 2016

In an appearance on SportsCenter to promote WWE 2K17, Goldberg teased his intention to brand a comeback to pro wrestling. His concluding match was confronting Lesnar at WrestleMania Xx in 2004, a contest best remembered for its outright rejection from the MSG oversupply.

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3:37

Could Goldberg make an in-ring return?

Goldberg joins SportsCenter to discuss whether he'd consider making a return as an active wrestler and who he'd like to face if he did.

Oct. 10, 2016

Paul Heyman, advocate for Lesnar (not still the reigning, defending, undisputed Universal champion), challenged Goldberg on Lesnar'southward behalf, saying that the WrestleMania 20 lucifer was the just blotch on Lesnar'south résumé.

October. 17, 2016

Goldberg, in his first time in a WWE ring since WrestleMania XX, accepted Lesnar's challenge, catastrophe his 12-year retirement.

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0:59

Goldberg tells Lesnar that he's next... and final

Goldberg returns to the WWE to respond to the challenge from Brock Lesnar. He accepts, saying that not just is Lesnar next, simply that Lesnar is the terminal person he'll always wrestle.

October. 24, 2016

Lesnar was back habitation in Minnesota for Monday Dark Raw, and Heyman let the audition know that the Goldberg chants were "really starting to piss Brock Lesnar off." The mixing of the hometown "Suplex City" with those "Goldberg" chants only fueled the flames in this budding rivalry.

October. 31, 2016

It was Halloween night at Monday Night Raw in Hartford, Connecticut, and things got concrete with Goldberg. Except instead of striking out against Lesnar, Goldberg delivered a Jackhammer to Rusev and a spear to Heyman.

Nov. 14, 2016

In the final Raw before Survivor Series, Heyman pushed all of Goldberg'southward buttons, promising that Lesnar would vanquish Goldberg to the point that Goldberg's son "will call Brock Lesnar, Daddy." Goldberg so took out a number of security guards, only for Lesnar to step away after he teased getting dorsum into the ring to confront Goldberg.

November. twenty, 2016

Lesnar'south air of dominance in WWE was shattered for the first fourth dimension since his second run with the company started, equally he was shocked in less than ninety seconds in a loss to Goldberg at Survivor Series in Toronto. It was the get-go time Lesnar had been pinned since April 2013 and the last time to date Lesnar lost a fall.

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0:55

Goldberg beats Lesnar at Survivor Series

Take a look at how Goldberg was able to beat Brock Lesnar at WWE's Survivor Series.

Nov. 28, 2016

In an interview with Michael Cole, Heyman admitted he and Lesnar took Goldberg lightly, but Heyman threw Lesnar's name into the chapeau for the 2022 Royal Rumble -- much like Goldberg did the night earlier.

Jan. 16, 2017

In some pre-Royal Rumble shenanigans, Lesnar got his licks in against a number of boyfriend Rumble participants on Raw. Lesnar clotheslined Seth Rollins and suplexed Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn. A teased confrontation with Braun Strowman led to a momentary Reigns advantage before Lesnar caught Reigns with an F-5.

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The road to the Majestic Rumble continues

Jonathan Coachman looks back at the height moments from Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live including Brock Lesnar laying havoc to mulitiple superstars and sometime WWE Women's champion Mickie James making her return to the visitor.

Jan. 29, 2017

Lesnar entered the Royal Rumble 26th, eliminating Enzo Amore, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. But Lesnar is once more shocked by Goldberg, who hit a spear and quickly eliminated him.

Jan. 30, 2017

After Goldberg got the better of him twice, Lesnar, through the voice of Heyman, challenged Goldberg to i more match at WrestleMania on this edition Monday Night Raw. Goldberg accepted that challenge the following week.

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Brock Lesnar sends warning to Goldberg

Jonathan Coachman looks back at the best moments from Monday Dark Raw and SmackDown Live, including Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman delivering a powerful message to Goldberg, Lesnar'due south WrestleMania opponent.

March 5, 2017

Goldberg and Lesnar'due south WrestleMania rematch took on another layer after Goldberg defeated Kevin Owens to win the Universal championship at Fastlane.

March 6, 2017

Heyman interrupted Goldberg's victory voice communication the nighttime after Fastlane and promised that Goldberg would become "Brock's b----" -- causing a momentary lack in concentration that allowed Lesnar to pounce with an F-5.

March 13, 2017

With Lesnar bouncing in place, Heyman unveiled the "Theory of WrestleMania Relativity." Only put, F5 means Lesnar goes upwardly, downwardly goes Goldberg.

March 27, 2017

In the final Raw earlier WrestleMania, Heyman referred to Goldberg equally "The Man" and a "superhero." But Heyman as well promised that his Brute didn't "fear the spear" and that Goldberg would non "survive the F-5." After it was advantage Lesnar ii weeks prior, Goldberg quickly took down Lesnar exterior the ring and stood tall.

Apr 2, 2017

After losing to Goldberg at Survivor Series, Lesnar finally got his revenge in the rematch, defeating Goldberg in a frenetically paced and activeness-packed friction match that lasted less than five minutes to capture the Universal title at WrestleMania 33.

April 3, 2017

Lesnar, newly crowned Universal champion, stood in the band as Heyman gloated and dressed down Reigns (who was booed for nearly 10 consecutive minutes), later on Reigns had browbeaten The Undertaker the previous night. Heyman and Lesnar were interrupted by Strowman, though, who put Lesnar on find.

June 12, 2017

One week afterwards Samoa Joe won a Fatal 5-way to go No. 1 contender to the Universal championship, and put Heyman to sleep with the Coquina Clutch the following dark on Raw, Joe headbutted Lesnar in the latter'southward return to Raw. It took nearly the entire Raw roster to separate the 2.

June 26, 2017

Afterward Heyman introduced Lesnar, Samoa Joe attacked Lesnar from behind. Lesnar fought off the Coquina Clutch by driving Joe into the LED screens, but Joe somewhen locked it in. Lesnar turned bright red before other wrestlers came out to assistance break the hold.

July 3, 2017

The concluding Raw earlier the Cracking Balls of Burn down pay-per-view featured a split screen interview with Samoa Joe and Lesnar -- until Joe left his half of the box to try to find Lesnar. Security held Joe back once he finally found Lesnar in the arena.

July 9, 2017

In his get-go match in the nearly 5 months since he captured the Universal title, Lesnar defeated Samoa Joe at Great Balls of Fire. Lesnar went on to selection up three more wins versus Joe at live events going into SummerSlam.

July 10, 2017

The night after Lesnar'south first successful defense, Reigns interrupted Kurt Angle as he spoke to Lesnar and Heyman. Angle gear up a match betwixt Reigns and Samoa Joe for the No. 1 contendership. That lucifer, held the following week on Raw, ended in a no-contest after Strowman interfered.

July 31, 2017

Later on Raw GM Kurt Angle announced a Fatal 4-style lucifer for SummerSlam, between Lesnar, Reigns, Joe and Strowman, Heyman promised that he and his client would leave the WWE should Lesnar lose.

Aug. 7, 2017

Lesnar was a special guest on MizTV, and Heyman did some role-playing, giving The Miz, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas each a role as Lesnar's SummerSlam opponents. Predictably, a bevy of suplexes and F-5s followed.

Aug. 14, 2017

A wild brawl highlighted the terminal Raw earlier SummerSlam, with Lesnar and Strowman creating the most intrigue. After Joe and Reigns were taken out, it took the full Raw roster to divide Lesnar and Strowman.

Aug. 20, 2017

In an heady and chaotic 20-plus minute SummerSlam match, Lesnar retained his title. Strowman put Lesnar through ii tables (and dumped a tertiary on tiptop of him), which forced Lesnar to be taken to the back. But Lesnar battled dorsum and reversed a spear attempt into an F-5 on Reigns for the win.

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Strowman dumps table onto Lesnar

During the Fatal 4-Way Universal Title match, Braun Strowman lifts up the announce table and flips information technology onto Brock Lesnar.

Aug. 21, 2017

Lesnar appeared on Monday Night Raw, and Heyman recapped his triumphant victory. He was interrupted past Strowman, who attacked Lesnar and hit him with consecutive running powerslams; Strowman than posed with the Universal Championship and asserted his dominance.

Aug. 28, 2017

Lesnar's bulletin to Strowman in his surprise Raw appearance was brief, but impactful. After Heyman built Strowman up, Lesnar summed up his feelings with a single sentence. "What he'south trying to say is, Suplex City, b----."

Sept. xi, 2017

Heyman admitted that the odds were against Lesnar in his match against Strowman. Just with a UFC-style "Fighter, are you ready?" Heyman lured Strowman out for a showdown with Lesnar. Lesnar eventually caught Strowman with a German language suplex, but Strowman rolled through, got upwards and left Lesnar laying.

Sept. 24, 2017

Lesnar successfully dedicated his Universal championship against Strowman at No Mercy. While some anticipated a passing of the torch to the scarlet-hot Strowman, the challenger was done in by a single F-v, despite Lesnar surviving a pair of running powerslams.

Oct. 23, 2017

A Survivor Series match with then-WWE champion Jinder Mahal was teased, but Heyman spent most of his promo questioning Mahal's legitimacy as champion. The match ultimately didn't happen, as Mahal lost the WWE championship to AJ Styles on an episode of SmackDown in the U.Thousand.

Nov. 13, 2017

With one calendar week left until a matchup with a new opponent in AJ Styles, Heyman laid out a 5-point selling plan for Survivor Serial. The last point, signal F-5, was that, despite Styles' abilities, Lesnar would notwithstanding come out on elevation.

November. nineteen, 2017

At the Raw-versus-SmackDown-themed Survivor Series, Lesnar took on WWE champion AJ Styles. As with many of Styles' matches, he got the all-time out of Lesnar -- some would say one of Lesnar's best matches ever -- and made Lesnar expect every flake the dominant champion. Afterwards Styles got his licks in, Lesnar was ultimately the victor, once again requiring just a single F-5.

Dec. 18, 2017

A triple threat friction match for the Universal title was set up for the Royal Rumble, with Strowman joined by Kane as the challengers. General director Kurt Angle left the ring earlier Lesnar got the improve of his two opponents, although Kane somewhen sat up despite taking an F-5.

Jan. i, 2018

Heyman and Lesnar appeared on the New Year'southward Mean solar day Raw, and Heyman decried Lesnar's multi-opponent matches. Kane came out and hitting a chokeslam on Lesnar. Lesnar quickly sat up, and the 2 had to be separated by the Raw roster.

January. 8, 2018

Lesnar and Kane met again on Monday Dark Raw, but this fourth dimension information technology was Strowman putting on the prove. He took downwardly both of his Rumble opponents backstage, and so pulled part of the fix down onto both of them using a grappling hook.

Jan. 22, 2018

In the terminal show earlier the Imperial Rumble -- Raw'southward 25th anniversary show in Brooklyn and Manhattan -- it was once more Strowman standing tall -- planting Kane with an F-5 and driving Lesnar through the denote table with a powerslam.

Jan. 28, 2018

Strowman'due south third shot at Lesnar and the Universal championship was unsuccessful at the Regal Rumble, though Kane would ultimately take the pinfall during a triple threat match in which weapons came into play in a major manner.

February. 26, 2018

Reigns, the winner of an Elimination Bedroom match that fabricated him the new No. 1 contender, called out Lesnar for failing to prove upwardly to Raw for a face-to-face with him. Reigns minced no words, calling Lesnar "an entitled piece of crap who hides behind his contract."

March 12, 2018

Two weeks after Reigns chosen out Lesnar for a no-bear witness, and ane week after Heyman promised Lesnar would be at Raw the following calendar week, Lesnar again failed to testify. This fourth dimension, Reigns namedropped Vince McMahon, got physical with Angle and called Lesnar "Vince's Boy," leading to a temporary suspension.

March 19, 2018

Lesnar returned to Raw and attacked Reigns, who had been handcuffed after he violated his suspension.

March 26, 2018

It'south advantage: Lesnar again on Raw, as a weakened Reigns, despite the use of a chair, was no match for the champ.

April 2, 2018

In a final contiguous before WrestleMania, the roster stood between Lesnar and Reigns, trying to prevent a ball. Reigns eventually convinced them all to stand aside instead of trying to protect a "office-timer" and got the better of Lesnar.

April 8, 2018

In his first televised match in lxx days (although he had alive event matches with Kane, The Miz and a pair of triple threat Regal Rumble rematches), Lesnar scored a somewhat shocking victory over Reigns in the main outcome at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans. It was shocking in that the Lesnar-to-UFC rumors were back in full force, every bit Heyman once over again threatened that he and Lesnar would leave if he lost the title. It also appeared to be the moment for Reigns' official coronation and redemption, three years after his first shot at Lesnar and a world title at WrestleMania 31 ended with Seth Rollins cashing in his Coin in the Bank contract.

April nine, 2018

The night after WrestleMania, and in the face of UFC return rumors burning brightly, WWE announced Lesnar had re-signed with them, though the terms of the deal remained undisclosed.

April 27, 2018

In Lesnar's most contempo friction match to appointment, he defeated Reigns again in controversial fashion at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. The match ended with Reigns spearing Lesnar through a steel muzzle onto the floor; while Lesnar came downwards first, it was on top of the cage, while Reigns rolled off and had his feet hit the flooring first. That controversy has fueled Reigns' case for another shot in the four months that followed.

June 25, 2018

One week later promising to select Lesnar's side by side opponent via a multi-man match, Kurt Angle backed off those comments and said that match won't happen after negotiations hit a "snag," and that the side by side title defense force was upwards in the air.

July 7, 2018

In an moment that felt more custom-fit for the WWE than the UFC, Lesnar entered the cage after the UFC 226 main event and challenged new UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier to a fight. The side by side solar day, USADA confirmed that Lesnar had re-entered their drug-testing pool post-obit his failed test the previous year.

July fifteen, 2018

Lesnar didn't wrestle at Extreme Rules, but Bending issued an ultimatum to Lesnar at that event: Show up at the following night'southward Monday Dark Raw and take a match or be stripped of the title.

July 16, 2018

Angle opened Mon Dark Raw by proverb he was going to strip Lesnar of the title, simply he eventually was interrupted by Heyman, telling him that Lesnar wanted to represent WWE the same style Angle did -- as a legit, ii-sport athlete. The result was Angle proclaiming that Lesnar would defend the championship at SummerSlam against 1 of six challengers.

July 23, 2018

In the culmination of two weeks' worth of qualifying matches, Reigns in one case again emerged equally Lesnar's next challenger by defeating Bobby Lashley.

July 30, 2018

After refusing to come up out to the band for much of the night, Lesnar finally came downward to close out Mon Dark Raw and ostensibly save Paul Heyman's job. He attacked Kurt Angle, who had called him the worst Universal champion in history (of the four to concord the title), and and then he all but choked Heyman out in the ring equally he held his face tightly.

Aug. 6, 2018

For the first time in years, Heyman alluded to a potential break from Lesnar in a tearful promo that connected the build for Lesnar-Reigns IV.

Aug. 19, 2018

In what could be a culmination of their years of battles, Lesnar will take on Reigns -- his third straight one-on-one meeting with Reigns, in his only matches over the past iv months in the master event of SummerSlam.