Paul Heyman, thanks to his best friend and meal ticket Brock Lesnar, is back on top of the sports entertainment mountain.

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Cast your minds back to December 4^th 2006, the day Paul Heyman was fired from WWE by Vince McMahon.  His ECW legacy was in tatters.  He had just become the script writer responsible for booking the least successful WWE PPV in history - ECW December To Dismember, which drew only 90000 buys worldwide and was a show so bad that fan services and DirecTV were flooded with complaints afterwards.  Burnt out and miserable, Heyman butted heads with Vince for the final time on that day, where he stubbornly refused to take any blame for the infamously bad show and he verbally agreed to part ways the company.

Now it's time for Vince McMahon to get his receipt from Paul Heyman.  Even before Brock's victory, Heyman made sure to take the opportunity to point out to pro wrestling mark turned MMA interviewer Ariel Helwani that Dana White was kicking Vince's ass on PPV:

...these guys HAVE THEIR SHIT TOGETHER.  I mean, think of it this way: last year, UFC sold more PPVs domestically in the United States than the entire professional wrestling industry did on a worldwide basis.  We're just talking domestic against the pro wrestling industry worldwide and these guys sold more PPVs domestically than wrestling worldwide.  C'mon.

Buoyed by the adrenaline of seeing his best friend and meal ticket come back from the scariest moments of Heyman's life to choke Shane Carwin out, Heyman was even more cocksure after the fight in his final words with Helwani: 

Err, I think it means a lot to his friends and the wrestling fraternity I think they need to get their shit together on their own.  If they want to ride Brock Lesnar's coattails then they need to get their own house in order because Brock Lesnar has got his house in order.

And his final words to Danny Acosta of Fight! Magazine:

Which fans are we talking about? Are we talking about wrestling fans or are we talking about UFC fans? Well, it seems all the wrestling fans are coming over to the UFC, so and with Brock Lesnar here, who can really blame them?

These words may have also been a not so subtle message to his suitor Dixie Carter, "give me absolutely everything that I want and I'll use the Midas touch I used on Brock Lesnar to turn your company around".  As Dave Meltzer reiterated on the July 2^nd Observer Radio show, TNA are still desperately craving for him to come in:

They want it a Victory Road real real bad.  Now Paul has not agreed to the deal right now....  I mean basically they expect Paul, they want Paul, their willing to give him a lot.  Something happened in the last couple of weeks that really changed their tune.  They are in erm, I don't want to say their in critical condition, but their condition has worsened and they need a saviour and he's the only saviour that anyone can come up with.  And again they expect Paul coming, Paul has not agreed to come yet, that's the situation with that, but they've expected him to come for a long time, because he's not doing anything else in wrestling and think eventually he's going to come.

Brock Lesnar uses his size advantage to overwhelm Frank Mir at UFC 100 (Getty Images)

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In the past here on Cageside Seats, we have looked at various great moments in the life of Brock Lesnar:

"I don't like gays." - The infamous ESPN interview where he made comments to obscene to print.

Brock's mariachi band - Brock sure was good at "playing" an racist Aryan type.

Brock throws around Big Show - He shows off his freakish strength by suplexing a giant of a man in ways that nobody else could come close to.

The shooting star press - His acrobatic pre-stardom finishing move.

While not part of the "Great moments in Brock Lesnar history" series, we've covered other memorable moments such as:

His hostile interview with TSN's "Off The Record"

His flip-flopping on the legitimacy of the UFC Interim Heavyweight Title

His ridiculously uninformed comments about Canadian health care

His UFC 100 apology tour

Now is the time to take a look yet another of scintillating moment in Brock Lesnar history.

A year ago, the during the build-up to Lesnar's last fight (the lineal UFC Heavyweight Title vs interim title unification match with Frank Mir at UFC 100), he was somehow convinced to allow cameras to follow him for a countdown special.  After watching his loss to Mir in his UFC debut, he got angry in the way that only he can and assaulted an innocent door:

No, he doesn't have anger issues at all.  I wonder if the door was gay...

Brock Lesnar is back from the proverbial jail that is diverticulitis.

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Press release:

Brock is back! Lesnar to defend belt against Carwin at UFC 116

SATURDAY, JULY 3, 2010 - Live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena – Tickets on Sale Thursday, May 13, at 10am PT
 
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – One day before America watches fireworks to celebrate their independence, the biggest heavyweight title fight ever will go off in Las Vegas. Ultimate Fighting Championship® heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar returns to defend his heavyweight championship against interim title holder Shane Carwin as Bud Light Presents UFC® 116: LESNAR vs CARWIN, live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday, July 3.

"When people wonder why the heavyweights capture the imagination of all fight fans, it’s because of guys like Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin," said UFC President Dana White. "Not only are they great athletes and former national wrestling champions, but they both have the ability to end a fight with one punch. This is one of those fights that you won’t be able to turn away from because it can be over in a split second, and when it’s over, only one will walk away as the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion of the world."

Tickets for UFC 116 are priced at $1000, $750, $500, $300, $200 and $100, not including applicable service charges, and go on sale Thursday, May 13, at 10 a.m. PT at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at UFC.com, www.mgmgrand.com or http://www.ticketmaster.com/.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Tuesday, May 11, at 10 a.m. PT via the website UFC.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Wednesday, May 12, starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.

UFC 116 will be available live on Pay-Per-View on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, BellTV, Shaw Communications, Sasktel, and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.99 US/$49.99 CAN for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).

Winner of three in a row against Frank Mir, Randy Couture and Heath Herring, Brock Lesnar (fighting out of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., 4-1 professional record) has finished his last two opponents and stands atop of the UFC heavyweight division. The former NCAA Division I national champion wrestler and four-time All-American earned the title with an impressive second-round TKO over Couture at UFC 91. Then, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound fighter made his first successful title defense by stopping Frank Mir at UFC 100, but now Lesnar faces his most dangerous opponent to date when he takes on Shane Carwin.

"I can’t wait to get back in the Octagon and defend my UFC heavyweight title," Lesnar said. "July 3rd can’t come soon enough. I’m ready to fight. At UFC 116, Shane Carwin is going to face the REAL UFC heavyweight champion. I’m going to end Shane’s perfect record and walk out of the Octagon with my championship belt around my waist."

Speaking of dominant heavyweight fighters – nobody has seen the second round against Shane Carwin (fighting out of Denver, Colo., 12-0). His impressive win over Frank Mir in his last fight at UFC 111 secured Carwin the interim heavyweight title and at 3:48 was the longest any professional fighter has gone with the former NCAA Division II national champion wrestler. Carwin is a perfect 4-0 in the UFC with three of his four finishes coming under two minutes, and now the Greeley, Colo. native looks to stay undefeated and earn the undisputed UFC heavyweight championship.

"I have wanted a chance to compete against Brock since my college wrestling days," Carwin said. "He is an elite athlete who is always dangerous. His college wrestling background makes him extremely tough. I will be the first fighter he has faced who is equal in size. He won’t be able to bully me or hold me down as he has others in the past. This is the biggest fight of my life. I think it can go down as one of the greatest fights in UFC history. I expect to have my hand raised and to become the REAL UFC heavyweight champion."

So the card looks something like this:

• Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin
• Wanderlei Silva vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
  
• Kurt Pellegrino vs George Sotiropoulos
  
• Roy Nelson vs TBA
  
• Krzysztof Soszynski vs Stephan Bonnar
  
• Brendan Schaub vs Chris Tuchscherer
  
• Kendall Grove vs Goran Reljic
  
• Chris Lytle vs Matt Brown
  
• Jon Madsen vs Karlos Vemola
  
• Julio Paulino vs Daniel Roberts
  

As is being reported all over the place, Brock Lesnar is claiming to be recovered enough to fight the winner of Frank Mir vs Shane Carwin this Summer.  There are more details in his and Dana White's interview with ESPN and the coverage of his conference call that followed.

In the ESPN interview, Lesnar referred to a "miracle cure."  In the Bloody Elbow coverage of the conference call, it is said that "He started some natural healing medicine, and did a lot of praying."  I'd love a direct quote there, because if he said anything remotely close to "natural healing medicine," then that's too vague to be believable.  From my experience, if someone sees some sort of alternative/complimentary practitioner and see dramatic improvment (especially as much as Lesnar did), then they tend to be a lot more specific in what exactly was done to treat them, whether it's some form of herbs, acupuncture, or anything else.  Being that vague comes off as suspicious to me.

He also blasted the Canadian health care system (and made the usual comments about socialism that made it clear he didn't know what socialism is), even though he was initially misdiagnosed by an American doctor and it's believed that the hospital he referred to as "third world" (he's rich, so that could mean anything, but...) was on the backwoodsy side of things given his location when he was rushed there.

As you know, Brock Lesnar is a ridiculously freaky athlete with amazing agility and leaping ability. He showed this off with his finishing move while in OVW.

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The original plan for Brock Lesnar was for him to defend his UFC Heayweight title against the winner of an upcoming Cain Velasquez-Shane Carwin match this fall. Now whispers are out in the wind that Cain-Carwin will be scrapped and that Lesnar will simply fight Carwin at UFC 106.

Shane Carwin had been scheduled to take on AKA fighter Cain Velasquez in October at UFC 104. But the UFC has opted to change course. Velasquez is reportedly uninjured and his management, Zinkin Entertainment, has not heard any news regarding the bout being scratched.

This was the match that showed Brock was ready for the big time.

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When Brock Lesnar was in OVW as a developmental wrestler, it was noted how insane his suplexes were. Insanely strong and used to throwing around big dudes in legitimate competition, his suplexes on cooperating pro wrestlers were like nothing anyone had ever seen before. Once he was called up to the main roster and quickly won the WWE title, he had two obvious potential challengers: Kurt Angle, the only ex-amateur in the company even more decorated than Lesnar, and the Big Show, the giant who only Brock Lesnar could suplex at will.

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