Brock Lesnar shocked the WWE Universe with a surprise return at the 2025 SummerSlam Premium Live Event, making his first appearance since the same event in 2023. The Beast Incarnate closed the show by delivering a devastating F5 to John Cena, leaving fans in awe and speculation swirling.

In a follow-up interview with Ariel Helwani, Paul Heyman spoke candidly about Lesnar’s unexpected comeback. According to Heyman, things moved very quickly behind the scenes.

“That happened real quick. A couple of weeks. Okay. I mean, at least to my knowledge, I got tagged into it after the deal was done. I’m sure there’s a new deal involved.”

Lesnar’s return came despite his name being linked to Janel Grant’s ongoing sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon. When asked about the controversy surrounding Lesnar’s reappearance, Heyman did not hold back in his response.

“I don’t pay attention to that. He’s here. See, that’s a reality of the fact. He’s here. If you were in MetLife Stadium on Sunday, you would understand that return meant a lot to that. That audience was jacked to see Brock Lesnar come out and to see him F5 John Cena. Nobody left 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.”

Heyman went on to emphasize that criticism is inevitable for anyone in the public eye, even for those at the top.

“Everyone has criticism in life. There are people that criticize Jesus. There are people that criticize Moses. There are people that criticize Muhammad. There are people that criticize God or gods. There is no president that has ever existed with 100% approval rating, or there is no president that’s ever existed that someone hasn’t pointed to and say, ‘That president sucked.’ There are people who to this day think Abraham Lincoln sucked. They’re wrong, but they think it. There are people who thought FDR sucked. They’re wrong, but they think it. Bill Clinton doesn’t have 100% approval rating. Donald Trump doesn’t have 100% approval. Nobody does.”

He closed by making it clear that Lesnar’s presence is not going anywhere and the fans’ reaction validated that decision.

“There’s always going to be critiques of anything that we do. 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. 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. I’d be like, ‘Oh, man, this doesn’t work.’ But it works. So I’m happy about.”

.@HeymanHustle on the controversial return of Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam:

"Whatever that decision is based on, I respect it. If there are critics of it, get over it. He's here and he's gonna be here and you ain't gonna be able to cancel him." pic.twitter.com/ivSTyELCJE

, Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 6, 2025