Heading into Wrestlemania 35, not many fans were expecting Seth Rollins to dethrone Brock Lesnar and win the Universal championship at WrestleMania.
Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year
Rollins proved the critics wrong in overcoming a heavy amount of adversity early on to capture the title over Lesnar in the third fastest championship victory in WrestleMania history, besting the former UFC heavyweight champion in 2:30. The record is when Sheamus pinned Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania 28. Before then, Hulk Hogan defeated Yokozuna at Wrestlemania IX to net the WWE title in 22 seconds.
WE HAVE A NEWWWWWWWWWW UNIVERSAL CHAMPION, and his name is @WWERollins! #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/PHFHq6GMdE
— WWE (@WWE) April 7, 2019
The match wasn't expected to be on so early in the show. Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman stormed past Hulk Hogan, who did a short segment with Alexa Bliss, and said Lesnar didn't want to wait and was doing the match right there and then so he could fly to Las Vegas and be at a place where he's appreciated (hinting at the UFC, since Las Vegas is where the MMA organization is based and who Lesnar is expected fight for later in 2019).
Before Rollins could even enter the ring, Lesnar gave him a flying knee to the floor. Lesnar wasted no time in battering Rollins all over the ringside area, including his patented F5.
After a couple minutes on the outside, the referee finally rang the bell to officially begin the bout. Lesnar continued the assault with a series of German suplexes.
The tide for Rollins turned when he shoved Lesnar into the referee. Immediately, Rollins gave Lesnar a low blow. Rollins gave Lesnar two curb stomps, but “The Beast” somehow kept getting to his knees. Sensing he had Lesnar ripe for the picking, Rollins hit it one more time to become the new Universal champion.
