Roman Reigns is ready for a fight before SummerSlam, but The Beast Incarnate won't leave his private locker room.

MIAMI — In 2012, Brock Lesnar appeared, unannounced, to kick-start his second run in WWE. Tonight, Brock Lesnar, despite having been advertised, refused to come to the ring and confront his SummerSlam challenger, Roman Reigns.

Such has The Conqueror’s power grown since becoming Universal Champion, and his decision to simply stay in his private locker room instead of going nose-to-nose with Reigns has been consistent with his actions over the past several months. Ever since re-signing with WWE after WrestleMania, Lesnar has flouted his dominance and used his championship as something of a contractual bargaining chip en route to his desired goal of becoming a two-sport titleholder across WWE and UFC. According to Heyman, The Beast isn’t exactly sweating Reigns following his (controversial) win over The Big Dog at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

This isn’t to say Lesnar wasn’t there. As Paul Heyman pointed out to Reigns when he emerged in his client’s stead, The Beast was indeed in the building, though he would not come to the ring until and unless he felt like it. So, Reigns opted to give Heyman an aggressive pre-SummerSlam message to dictate to his client. Heyman obliged, but Lesnar didn’t just disregard the message, he destroyed it, whipping Heyman’s cell phone across his locker room when the advocate attempted to show him what Reigns had said.