Paul Heyman Defends Brock Lesnar's WWE SummerSlam Return Amid Controversy

Heyman was a guest on Wednesday’s edition of The Ariel Helwani Show, and there he spoke about the crowd’s reaction to Lesnar coming out to attack John Cena. Cena had just lost the WWE Undisputed Championship to Cody Rhodes, and then Lesnar came out and hit him with an F5. Heyman said MetLife Stadium was “going nuts.”

“Everything in life is met with criticism, I don’t pay attention to that. If you were in MetLife Stadium on Sunday, you would understand that return meant a lot to that audience. That audience was shocked to see Brock Lesnar come out and to see him F-5 John Cena. Nobody left MetLife Stadium going, ‘Oh God, they brought back Brock.’ People were just going nuts. That’s our paying audience. They’re happy to see him, I’m happy to be part of a team that presents him.” (h/t: F4Wonline)

Though a report from The Action Network tells the story about people not in the crowd. As noted, The Action Network sent a new study to The Sportster about fan reaction on Reddit, and it was negative.

Heyman Tells Critics You Can’t Cancel Lesnar

In pure Heyman fashion, he didn’t mince words about people trying to cancel the Beast Incarnate.

“There’s always going to be critics of anything that we do, and very few people ever make it to the top in life without either making mistakes or having skeletons in their closet. Obviously, the decision was made, it’s time to bring back Brock Lesnar. Whatever that decision is based on, I respect it. If there are critics of it, get over it. He’s here and he’s going to be here and you ain’t going to be able to cancel him. And I’m happy to have him back because the audience is happy to have him back. If we brought him back and the audience rebelled against it, I wouldn’t be happy to have him back.”

As reported earlier this week, Janel Grant’s attorneys released a statement after Lesnar’s surprise appearance, calling the situation “an attempt to sweep misconduct under the rug.” Grant filed a civil lawsuit against former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon in January 2024, alleging sexual assault and sex trafficking.

Lesnar was not named as a co-defendant in the original lawsuit, but was named as part of the sex-trafficking allegations. Grant identified Lesnar in the revised February 2025 lawsuit as the wrestler that Vince allegedly offered her up for sex in 2021 as an “incentive for Lesnar to sign a new contract.” The case remains pending.