At the opening of the inaugural WWE Wrestlepalooza premium live event, Paul Heyman made a surprise appearance to provide the official ring introduction for Brock Lesnar. The moment served as a direct follow-up to a storyline that began on last night’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown.
The show, WWE’s first on the ESPN platform, began with a musical performance by The War and Treaty, followed by a video package on the history between WWE and ESPN and an in-ring welcome from Paul “Triple H” Levesque. After Pat McAfee joined the commentary team, Brock Lesnar made his entrance for the opening match against John Cena. While ring announcer Alicia Taylor handled the introduction for Cena, Heyman then appeared on the ring apron to introduce Lesnar. In his classic style, Heyman referred to Lesnar as “the last real asskicker.”
This appearance comes just 24 hours after a notable backstage segment on SmackDown. During that show, Lesnar, after attacking commentator Corey Graves, confronted Heyman backstage and told him, “We should talk.” Heyman’s presence at Wrestlepalooza is the first on-screen acknowledgment of that conversation.
However, the nature of their potential reunion remains unclear. Despite delivering the introduction for his former client, Heyman was not present at ringside during the actual match between Lesnar and Cena so this might have been a one off thing. Click here for complete Wrestlepalooza results.
"Ladies and gentlemen…"
Paul Heyman just introduced Brock Lesnar at #Wrestlepalooza! 😱
Stream Wrestlepalooza RIGHT NOW on the @espn App: https://t.co/jKAIj8nxxt pic.twitter.com/MGHx6UVdIt
— WWE (@WWE) September 20, 2025
