Brock Lesnar Beats Samoa Joe, Retains Universal Title at WWE Great Balls of Fire

Brock Lesnar successfully retained his WWE Universal Championship by beating Samoa Joe in the main event of the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view Sunday night.

Lesnar looked to be fading quickly as Joe had the Coquina Clutch locked in. The champion, however, quickly regained his senses long enough to deliver an F-5. That was enough to keep the challenger down for the three-count.

WWE showed a fatigued Lesnar holding his title belt:

Bleacher Report's Graham Matthews hopes we haven't seen the last of Lesnar vs. Joe:

The bout marked Lesnar's first title defense since winning it from Goldberg at WrestleMania, and it came against one of his toughest challengers to date.

With The Beast Incarnate taking time away from WWE, Raw general manager Kurt Angle announced prior to Extreme Rules that Joe, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and Finn Balor would compete in a Fatal 5-Way match to determine a new No. 1 contender.

The Samoan Submission Machine won that match and wasted little time in showing Lesnar that he was a threat to his spot atop the company.

After getting addressed on Raw by Lesnar's advocate, Paul Heyman, Joe used the intimidation factor to his advantage by choking Heyman out with the Coquina Clutch.

That led to a confrontation between Lesnar and Joe the following week on Raw, and it required nearly the entire locker room to prevent them from engaging in an all-out brawl.

Joe was once again able to get the best of Lesnar and Heyman a couple of weeks later, as he jumped The Beast from behind during his entrance.

The former NXT champion put Lesnar in the Coquina Clutch, and although the creator of Suplex City attempted to power out of it, he was unable to escape until the locker room once again poured onto the stage to intervene.

That left Lesnar enraged and gave him even more incentive to take out his frustrations on Samoa Joe at Great Balls of Fire.

Lesnar's opponents are generally significant underdogs who are unable to match his level of intensity and physicality, but that wasn't the case with Joe.

The savvy veteran is one of the few Superstars in WWE who can believably stand toe-to-toe with Lesnar, and that was on full display at the pay-per-view.

Lesnar and Joe gave each other their best shots, and The Beast Incarnate proved too much to overcome in the end.

While Joe's loss suggests he will exit the Universal Championship scene, he was such a formidable opponent for Lesnar that it wouldn't be surprising to see them mix it up again in the near future.

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