Paul Heyman Responds To Kurt Angle’s Ultimatum To Brock Lesnar, What Will Kick Off Raw Tonight

With WWE Extreme Rules over and SummerSlam now five weeks away, the build to Brock Lesnar’s next Universal Championship defense is about to pick up.

WWE set up an angle last night at Extreme Rules where Raw General Manager Kurt Angle issued an ultimatum to Lesnar. Angle said that while negotiations have reopened for Lesnar’s next defense, Paul Heyman told him Lesnar isn’t interested in returning at this time. Angle issued a storyline ultimatum to Lesnar: he has to show up to Raw tonight or agree to a date to defend the Universal Championship to avoid being stripped of it.

ATTENTION: @HeymanHustle#RAW GM @RealKurtAngle has just given YOUR CLIENT #UniversalChampion @BrockLesnar an ultimatum regarding the #UniversalTitle!!! #ExtremeRules pic.twitter.com/g4K2QEMiSk

— WWE (@WWE) July 15, 2018

Heyman responded to Angle’s ultimatum in this series of tweets and indicated that he won’t be at Raw tonight since he’s in his office in Las Vegas, Nevada (Raw is in Buffalo, New York at the KeyBank Center).

. @WWE

Are you serious?

You spring this on my client, the reigning defending undisputed Universal Heavyweight Champion @BrockLesnar and me with no notice? No warning? No letter of admonishment? Just an unwarranted ultimatum, so @RealKurtAngle can look tough in negotiations? https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018

And it's really "cute" (most family-family facetious word I could conjure up at the moment) of @WWE to say "ATTENTION: @HeymanHustle" because everyone in #WWE is so scared to address my client @BrockLesnar, so they try to create separation between themselves and their message! https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018

The obsequious GM of #RAW @RealKurtAngle, who can't control his own roster, tries to look good with this amateurish negotiating ploy against my client @BrockLesnar? I'm in my #LasVegas office. Very little time for an injunction or a TRO. How can this be? https://t.co/TyUcYZupqL https://t.co/A4h7P4x3eV

— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) July 16, 2018

Angle also made reference to Lesnar’s appearance at UFC 226, which WWE avoided doing on Raw last week. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Lesnar not being mentioned by name last week was due to Vince McMahon wanting the focus to be completely on Extreme Rules.

Angle expects an answer from Lesnar when he addresses the situation at the start of Raw tonight. In this backstage interview with Mike Rome from earlier today, Angle says he’s serious about what he said last night and that he’s done waiting. He said that Heyman talks a lot on Twitter but has yet to give him an answer. Angle says when Raw goes on the air at 8:00 p.m. tonight, he expects an answer.

Meltzer said that Lesnar’s next match is scheduled to take place the night before at SummerSlam. A multi-man to decide a challenger for him was originally announced for Extreme Rules, but that was canceled as part of the storyline where negotiations with Lesnar fell through. Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley were positioned as two of his top contenders, and Lashley defeated Reigns after hitting “The Big Dog” with a spear.

Lesnar’s next appearance will be the first time he’s been on WWE television since the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27.