Brock Lesnar Shocks Royal Rumble Crowd With An Actual Punch On Braun Strowman

If you've believed your whole life that professional wrestling is real then I have some worrying news for you. The term 'kayfabe' refers to the way the industry portrays the battles, the rivalries and the overall competition as real when it's actually a staged or premeditated sequence of events.

So that's why a particular part of Brock Lesnar's Royal Rumble match against Braun Strowman and Kane caused so much drama.

While the match had the usual thrills and spills, with the three wrestlers throwing an assortment of weapons at each other, Lesnar delivered an actual punch. And it looked painful.

It seems as though Strowman's knee accidentally connected with the former UFC fighter's ear and that sent Brock into a fit of rage. Without skipping a beat, the 40-year-old crossover athlete clocked Strowman in the side of the head with as much power as he could muster.

Naturally, that sent social media into a tailspin, with some people backing Brock for the actual punch and others criticising him for not adhering to kayfabe.

One fan wrote: "Braun must be one tough motherfucker to take a legit punch from a clearly pissed off Brock Lesnar. If I took that punch my brain would've turned to a fine pink mist."

However, another hit back, saying: "Screw @BrockLesnar for that temple shot. Big roided out monkey throws a fit every time something doesn't go his way, even though he's the stiffest wrestler on the main roster."

A second critic said: "If Brock Lesnar gave me that 'receipt' punch, he'd be watching his back for the rest of his career. What a piece of shit. Things happen. He could've killed Braun with that punch. Gutless fuck."

This fan straight up applauded Strowman for taking the punch like it was nothing and continuing to fight: "@BraunStrowman I'm impressed with the way you took that shoot right from Lesnar wow that must have hurt but you bounce right up much respect!!! I wish I was a fly on the wall after this match backstage."

The trio continued to battle each other until Lesnar was declared the winner, which meant he retained his title of Universal Champion.

Neither Brock nor Braun have spoken about the melee since it wrapped up last night. It'll be interesting to see whether the two have some choice words about the other's actions in the ring or whether they settle it in a rematch.