After the Greatest Royal Rumble, Lesnar was absent from WWE television for nearly three months. At Extreme Rules, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle threatened to strip Lesnar of the Universal Championship if he did not show up to "Raw" the following night. The following night on "Raw", Heyman agreed that Lesnar would defend his title at SummerSlam; Reigns became the number one contender later that same night. On the July 30 episode of "Raw", Lesnar was at the arena but refused to appear in the ring. Angle threatened to fire Heyman if he could not persuade Lesnar to come to the ring. Throughout the broadcast, Heyman's attempts were unsuccessful. At the end of the show, after Angle had fired him, Lesnar appeared to attack Angle and choke Heyman. Two weeks later, the dissension between Lesnar and Heyman was revealed to be just a ruse when Lesnar returning on the August 13 episode of "Raw" to attack Reigns. At SummerSlam, Strowman was at ringside ready to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the winner. Lesnar incapacitated Strowman, allowing Reigns to capitalize on the distracted Lesnar and win the Universal Championship, ending Lesnar's title reign at 504 days. The reign was the sixth-longest world championship reign in WWE history and the longest since 1988.