Brock Lesnar
| Brock Lesnar | |
|---|---|
Lesnar in March 2015
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| Born | July 12, 1977 Webster, South Dakota, United States |
| Residence | Moosomin, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Occupation | Professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, American football player |
| Years active | 2000–2007; 2012–present (professional wrestling) 2004 (American football) 2006–2011 (mixed martial arts) |
| Spouse(s) | Rena "Sable" Lesnar (m. 2006) |
| Children | 4 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Brock Lesnar |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 286 lb (130 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Minneapolis, Minnesota[1] |
| Trained by | Brad Rheingans[2] Curt Hennig[2] Dean Malenko[2] Doug Basham[2] Nightmare Danny Davis[2] |
| Debut | October 2000 |
Brock Edward Lesnar[3] (/ˈlɛznər/; born July 12, 1977)[3] is an Americanprofessional wrestler and former amateur wrestler, professional American football player, and mixed martial artist,[4] who is currently signed to WWE. Lesnar is a four-time WWE (World Heavyweight) Champion, a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, and an NCAA Division I Heavyweight WrestlingChampion,[5][6] making him the only person to have won a WWE championship, UFC championship, and NCAA championship in a career. He is also a one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, making him a five-time world champion in professional wrestling.
After his successful amateur wrestling career at Bismarck State College and the University of Minnesota (106 victories and 5 losses), Lesnar signed with WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation) in 2000. He was assigned to its developmental promotion Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he was a three-time OVW Southern Tag Team Champion with Shelton Benjamin. After debuting on WWE's main roster in 2002, he won the WWE Championship on three separate occasions with victories over The Rock and Kurt Angle (twice). Lesnar won his first (Undisputed) WWE Championship five months after his main roster debut at the age of 25, becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history. He was also the 2002 King of the Ring and the 2003 Royal Rumblewinner, making him the youngest King of the Ring and Royal Rumble winner as well.[7][8] Following his match with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX, Lesnar left the WWE and pursued a career in the National Football League (NFL).[9] He played during the preseason as a defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings, but was cut prior to the start of the 2004–05 season.[10] In 2005, Lesnar returned to professional wrestling and signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling(NJPW), where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match. After a contractual dispute with NJPW, he also wrestled as IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF).[11]
In 2006, Lesnar pursued a career in mixed martial arts (MMA). He signed withHero's and won his first fight, against Min-Soo Kim, in June 2007.[12] He then signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) the following October. Lesnar lost in his UFC debut against Frank Mir and then won his second fight against Heath Herring. In November 2008, Lesnar defeated Randy Couture to become the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Shortly after a successful title defense in a rematch with Mir, Lesnar was sidelined due to diverticulitis. He would return at UFC 116 to defeat Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin and unify the heavyweight championships, becoming the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. Lesnar then lost the championship to Cain Velasquezat UFC 121. In 2011, he was once again sidelined due to diverticulitis and underwent surgery.[13] Lesnar returned at UFC 141 in December, losing toAlistair Overeem and promptly retiring from MMA.[14] Lesnar was a box officesensation in UFC. He took part in a few of the best selling pay-per-views in UFC history, including a co-main event at UFC 100, the highest selling UFC pay-per-view ever.[15] After his pay-per-view bonuses and fight purses, Lesnar became the highest paid UFC fighter in 2010 and was on the ESPN list of highest paid athletes in 30 sports.[16]
In April 2012, Lesnar once again returned to professional wrestling, rejoining WWE after an eight-year hiatus. He has had an onscreen partnership with Paul Heyman throughout the majority of his professional wrestling career. Lesnar has headlined numerous pay-per-view events for both the WWE and UFC, including WrestleMania XIX, WrestleMania 31, andUFC 116. In 2015, ESPN.com published an article that referred to him as "the most accomplished athlete in pro wrestling history".[17]
Contents
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Early life
Lesnar was born and raised on a dairy farm in Webster, South Dakota,[18] the son of Stephanie and Richard Lesnar.[19] He is of German and Polish descent.[20][21] He has two older brothers, Troy and Chad, and a younger sister, Brandi.[18] He joined the United States National Guard at age 17.[18][22] Although he initially hoped to work with explosives, he was assigned to an office job after his red-green colorblindness was deemed hazardous.[18] He lost this job after failing a computer typing test, and went on to work for a construction company.[18]
Lesnar attended Webster High School, where he played football[18] and competed in amateur wrestling. He was a two-time state champion in amateur wrestling with a record of 33–0–0 in his senior year.[22] Lesnar then attended Bismarck State College, where he won the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) heavyweight championship in his sophomore year.[23] He transferred to the University of Minnesota on a full wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior college years. There, he was roommates with future WWE colleague Shelton Benjamin, who was also his assistant coach.[18][24]
Lesnar won the 2000 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I heavyweight wrestling championship his senior year after being the runner-up the year prior. Lesnar finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, the 1998 NJCAA Heavyweight Champion, two-time NCAA All-American, two-time Big Ten Conference Champion, and the 2000 NCAA Heavyweight Champion, with a record of 106–5 overall in four years of college.[25]
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
Training and debut (2000–2002)
In 2000, Lesnar signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He was sent to its developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. There, Lesnar first met future friend and manager Paul Heyman.[26] He formed a tag team known as "The Minnesota Stretching Crew" with his former college roommate, Shelton Benjamin. Lesnar and Benjamin won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions.[27] Lesnar wrestled several dark matches in 2001 and 2002 before being called up to the main roster.[11]
Lesnar debuted on WWF television on the March 18, 2002, episode of Raw, coming through the crowd and attacking Al Snow, Maven and Spike Dudley during their match. He was accompanied by Paul Heyman, who was seen giving instructions to Lesnar.[28] When the brand extension was introduced in the WWF, Lesnar was drafted to the Raw brand.[29]Later, Heyman was confirmed to be Lesnar's agent and gave Lesnar the nickname "The Next Big Thing".[30] Lesnar's firstfeud was with the Hardy Boyz. Lesnar and Jeff Hardy squared off at Backlash in Lesnar's first official televised match.[11] He won the match by knockout after Hardy was unable to respond to referee Theodore Long.[31][32] The next night on Raw, Lesnar faced off against Jeff Hardy's brother, Matt Hardy, and defeated him in the same fashion.[33]
WWE Championship reigns (2002–2003)
In June 2002, Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Rob Van Damin the final round,[7] earning him a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship atSummerSlam. On July 22, Lesnar joined the SmackDown! brand.[34] After a quick feud with Hollywood Hulk Hogan in August 2002, Lesnar began feuding with the Undisputed WWE Champion, The Rock.[35] At SummerSlam, Lesnar defeated The Rock to become the Undisputed WWE Champion and youngest WWE Champion at age 25, a record previously held by The Rock. He also became the second fastest wrestler to win the WWE title since his debut (126 days) behind only Ric Flair (113 days).[36] At the time, the Undisputed WWE Championship was being defended on both brands, so Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff expected Lesnar to return toRaw the following night. However, SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Lesnar was only required to defend the title onSmackDown!, forcing Bischoff to institute a new championship for Raw (the World Heavyweight Championship). Afterwards, the Undisputed WWE Championship became known as simply the WWE Championship.[37]
Lesnar's rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a feud with The Undertaker, which involved a match at Unforgiven.[38] The match ended in a double disqualification resulting in Lesnar retaining 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.[39] 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.[40] In a match that saw both wrestlers and even Heyman covered in blood, it ended when Lesnar reversed an attempted Tombstone Piledriver into his finishing F5 maneuver for the win.[38] Six days after his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker, Lesnar successfully retained his WWE title in a handicap match with Heyman at the Rebellion pay-per-view against Edge.[41]
Lesnar's next opponent was Big Show. Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title.[42] Lesnar refused and faced Big Show in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series pay-per-view. Towards the end of the match, Lesnar delivered an F5 to Big Show, but when he went for the pin, Heyman pulled the referee out of the ring. This allowed Big Show to capitalize and proceeded to chokeslam Lesnar on a steel chair. Show went on to pin Lesnar and win the title. This loss was Lesnar's first pinfall loss in WWE and led Lesnar to turn for the first time in his career into a fan favorite.[43] 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.[44] In order to gain his revenge on Big Show and Heyman, Lesnar interfered in his first title defense, which came against Kurt Angle the next month at Armageddon. Lesnar hit the F5 on the champion, which enabled Angle to pin him and win the title. On the following episode of SmackDown!, however, 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 was beaten down by Big Show and Angle after the main event, but would get his revenge after the show went off the air. He eventually knocked the Big Show out with a steel chair, leaving Angle alone with Lesnar. Lesnar then chased the champion out of the ring and resumed his assault that culminated when Lesnar used the F5 to propel Angle's right knee into the steel ringpost. As paramedics tended to a screaming Angle, Lesnar finished off the assault with a kneebreaker on the ringside barricade, breaking the champion's leg in storyline.
With Angle temporarily put out of action, Lesnar's rivalry with Heyman and the Big Show resumed, which culminated in a match at the Royal Rumble in January 2003 with the winner being placed into the Royal Rumble later in the evening. Lesnar would defeat Big Show and entered the Royal Rumble as the #29 entry, the second to last competitor to enter the match. He eliminated Matt Hardy and The World's Greatest Tag Team, which was composed of Charlie Haas and his former OVW teammate, Shelton Benjamin, who were mentored by Angle. Lesnar would then eliminate The Undertaker last and win the Royal Rumble, which guaranteed him a title match at WrestleMania XIX.[43]
After the Royal Rumble, Lesnar and Chris Benoit faced off against Angle, Haas, and Benjamin at No Way Out the following month and Lesnar's team won the match.[43]During the match at WrestleMania, Lesnar botched a shooting star press, a move he'd done numerous times in developmental matches, and jammed his head and neck. This stunned Lesnar and forced Angle and Lesnar to improvise the finish of the match. Lesnar would defeat Angle, after delivering an F5, to win his second WWE Championship. Lesnar was diagnosed with a legitimate concussion from the botched shooting star press.[43]
After WrestleMania, Lesnar turned his attention to John Cena, who had returned from injury in February 2003 and who had been F5'd into a ringpost in the same manner Angle had been. Cena claimed Lesnar nearly ended his career and even named his new finishing move the "F.U." as a jab at the new champion.[45] The feud ended in a match at Backlash when Lesnar defeated Cena. On the following episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar returned to his rivalry with Big Show after he injured Rey Mysterio badly during their match at Backlash. Show's attack resulted in Mysterio being carried out on a stretcher and back board and Big Show took Mysterio off the stretcher and swung the back board into the ringpost, compounding the injury.[43] Lesnar called out the Big Show, who demanded that Lesnar put his title on the line against him. This led to a stretcher match at Judgment Day for the title. Lesnar successfully retained his title with help from Rey Mysterio and a forklift.[46] During the scripted rivalry, onSmackDown, Lesnar lifted Big Show off the top-rope in a superplex which caused the ring to collapse on impact.[47]
As Lesnar and Big Show continued their rivalry, Kurt Angle returned from his neck surgery and he and Lesnar began to form a more friendly rivalry, as the two were allies yet contenders for the title. At the first ever SmackDown brand-exclusive pay-per-view in July, Vengeance, Lesnar took on Angle and Big Show in a No Disqualification triple threat match for his title, which ended after Angle hit the Angle Slam on both Big Show and Lesnar, pinning the champion to become WWE Champion for a fourth time.[43]
Lesnar continued to aggressively pursue the WWE title despite his friendship with Angle. Mr. McMahon found his way into the angle, at first berating Lesnar, who had involved himself in McMahon's rivalry with Zach Gowen, for losing to Angle. This all turned out to be a swerve that came into focus on the August 7, 2003 SmackDown!in Kelowna, British Columbia. That night, Lesnar and McMahon were to face each other in a steel cage match with Angle as the special guest referee as per McMahon's orders on the previous week's program. During the match, Lesnar had passed out due to a staged backstage incident and McMahon was set to pin him, but Angle refused to allow McMahon to win that way. As the two men began to argue, Lesnar rose to his feet, revealing the ruse to the crowd, and F5'd Angle. He then brutally beat Angle while McMahon watched, and celebrated with him afterwards, turning heel in the process.[48] At SummerSlam,[49] Lesnar lost to Angle when Angle made Lesnar tap out to the ankle lock.[50] After that, Lesnar would cement his heel turn by brutalizing smaller wrestlers and attacking his rivals on a more consistent basis. He returned to using the F5 to propel his opponents' legs into the ringpost, as he did to Spanky and Gowen, and interfered in Angle's matches on two separate occasions. On the September 18, 2003 episode of SmackDown!, Lesnar received his third shot at Angle in as many months when he faced the champion in a sixty-minute Iron Man matchfor the title.[51] Lesnar won the match and his third WWE Championship by a final count of five to four.[52]
Lesnar returned to feuding with The Undertaker. Lesnar had previously cost Undertaker the title in a match against then-champion Kurt Angle, which granted him a shot at Lesnar's title.[53] At No Mercy, Lesnar defeated Undertaker in a Biker Chain match.[54] The rivalry then came to an end after The Undertaker chose to focus on Mr. McMahon.
After Paul Heyman returned to WWE as general manager of SmackDown!, Lesnar aligned himself with his former manager. With Survivor Series coming up, Lesnar decided to challenge Angle to a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match. Lesnar chose Big Show as his first teammate, with Heyman adding a returning Nathan Jones and a debuting Matt Morgan to bring the team number to four. Angle chose Chris Benoit and The APA to join his team. However, Faarooq was injured during a match with Lesnar and Angle's team was forced to find a replacement for him. Lesnar's team picked A-Train to fill the fifth and final spot for them after he attacked John Cena, who refused to accept an invitation to join Lesnar's team. Cena instead joined Angle's team, and Angle added Hardcore Holly as the fifth member; Lesnar had injured Holly the year before and he hadn't wrestled since.[55] In the climax of the match, Chris Benoit became the only second wrestler to make Lesnar tap out.[54] Lesnar faced Benoit in a singles bout two weeks later for the WWE Championship onSmackDown!, where Lesnar won after Benoit passed out to Lesnar's debuting Brock Lock submission hold.[56]
Last feuds and departure (2003–2004)
The Survivor Series event marked the first time Lesnar met Goldberg from the Rawbrand. After Lesnar claimed in a backstage interview that he could beat anybody in the world, Goldberg interrupted the interview and introduced himself to Lesnar, shaking hands with him before leaving with a staredown.[54] Lesnar followed this rivalry with a feud involving Hardcore Holly.[57] In the storyline, Holly wanted revenge on Lesnar for legitimately injuring his neck during a previous match between the two in 2002 which left Holly in need of neck surgery and out of action for a year. At theRoyal Rumble in 2004, Lesnar defeated Holly to retain the WWE Championship.[58]Later in the Royal Rumble match, Lesnar attacked Goldberg and delivered an F5, enabling Kurt Angle to eliminate him.[54]
In February, Lesnar faced Eddie Guerrero for the WWE title at No Way Out. Late in the match, Goldberg delivered a spear to Lesnar while the ref was unconscious. Afterwards, Guerrero went to pin Lesnar but Lesnar kicked out at two. Lesnar then attempted to F5 Guerrero but Guerrero reversed it into a DDT. Guerrero then hit a frog splash; pinning Lesnar to win the WWE Championship. An angry Lesnar then began feuding with Goldberg, blaming him for losing his title, and a match was set up between the two atWrestleMania XX.[59] During the feud with Goldberg, Lesnar was also at odds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was shown suggesting to Goldberg that he attack Lesnar at No Way Out.[60] After Lesnar attacked Austin on Raw and stole his four-wheeler, Austin was inserted as the special guest referee for the WrestleMania match.[61] Behind the scenes, it was widely known that the match was Goldberg's last in WWE. Only a week before WrestleMania, rumors surfaced that Lesnar, too, was leaving to pursue a career in the National Football League (NFL).[62] As a result, Lesnar's match with Goldberg became a fiasco as the fans at Madison Square Garden jeered and heckled both wrestlers vociferously.[63] Goldberg gained victory after delivering a Jackhammer to Lesnar and both men subsequently received Stone Cold Stunners from Austin.[63]
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2005–2007)
On October 8, 2005, Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match with Kazuyuki Fujita andMasahiro Chono at a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) show in the Tokyo Dome.[64] Lesnar is one of the few American wrestlers to have held this title.[64] He won the match by pinning Masahiro Chono after an F5, which he had renamed theVerdict since WWE owns the trademark on the F5 name.[11] After the match, Lesnar stated that this name was referring to his lawsuit against WWE.
On December 6, WWE filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to prevent Lesnar from continuing to work with NJPW, but the court did not grant it. Following that, he had two non-title victories against Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata.[65][66] Lesnar successfully defended his championship on January 4, 2006, against former champion
