rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a feud with The Undertaker, which involved a match at Unforgiven on September 22. The match ended in a double disqualification, with Lesnar retained the title. Lesnar faced The Undertaker again at No Mercy, this time in a Hell in a Cell match. Leading up to the match, in the storyline, Lesnar broke The Undertaker's hand with a propane tank. Despite Heyman begging McMahon not to let The Undertaker use his cast as a weapon, the request was denied and the match went on as planned. At No Mercy on October 20, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker in the Hell in a Cell match to retain the title, thus ending their feud. He retained the WWE Championship in a handicap match with Heyman against Edge at Rebellion on October 26. Lesnar's next opponent was Big Show and Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title. Lesnar refused and defended the championship against Big Show at Survivor Series on November 17. At Survivor Series, Heyman turned on Lesnar, allowing Big Show to chokeslam him onto a steel chair and pin him to win the WWE Championship, resulting in Lesnar's first pinfall loss in WWE. This led to Lesnar turning face for the first time. Following Survivor Series, Heyman made it clear that Lesnar would not get a rematch, and had snuck a special clause saying so into his contract. To gain his revenge on Big Show and Heyman, Lesnar interfered in Big Show's first title defense, which came against Kurt Angle the next month at Armageddon on December 15, where Lesnar executed the F-5 on Big Show, which enabled Angle to win the WWE Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown!, Angle introduced Heyman as his manager and, despite promising Lesnar a title shot earlier in the evening, declared that Lesnar still would not get it. Lesnar's rivalry with Heyman and Big Show resumed, which culminated in a match at the Royal Rumble on January 19, 2003, with the winner being placed into the Royal Rumble match later in the evening. At the Royal Rumble, he defeated Big Show and entered the Royal Rumble match as the #29 entry. He eliminated Matt Hardy and Team Angle (Charlie Haas and Lesnar's former OVW teammate Shelton Benjamin), who at the time,