If you watched WWE Raw on Monday night, you were probably rolling around on the floor and clutching your body in pain while watching the supremely ill-advised, interminable segment where Paul Heyman tried in desperation to get the Minnesota crowd to boo hometown hero Brock Lesnar and cheer for Goldberg. Surprise! It didn’t work.
The idea — which was pretty much dead on arrival anyway — was to get Lesnar to come out and respond to Goldberg’s big return last week. (Which was itself a response to Paul Heyman’s challenge to Goldberg the week before THAT.) WWE clearly wants Goldberg to be the returning, conquering hero in this feud, running up against big, bad Brock Lesnar. The problem is that they chose to have Lesnar come back this week and have people in Minnesota boo one of the most successful local sons in the state’s history, while the dude is wearing a special Minnesota-based version of his shirt.
You may have also noticed that the segment was disjointed and, frankly, lousy, as Heyman tried everything in his power to get the crowd to boo Lesnar, to no avail. The segment ended abruptly with basically nothing being said and even less being accomplished. That’s because Vince McMahon was reportedly completely flipping out backstage.
On Monday night’s post-Raw edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez related the behind-the-scenes story of what was happening during that segment.
“Backstage, Vince blew a gasket, [saying] ‘These goddamn fans!’ And he played Brock’s music, and they just ended it. And Paul and Brock went to the back, and that was the end of the segment. This was not how it was supposed to end, but Vince pulled the plug right in the middle of it.”
Whoops! Yeah, no clue why they thought they could get Lesnar booed in that city of all cities, but Heyman sure tried his best. And when Paul Heyman can’t get you booed, you should probably just pack things up. Join us next week, when they try to get Stephanie McMahon booed in Hartford!
Wait, that one will probably work.
