| Birth place | Webster, South Dakota, United States (; born July 12, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and actor, and former mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler. He is currently signed with professional wrestling promotion WWE appearing on its Raw brand. He is also a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and former #1 ranked mixed martial arts (MMA) Heavyweight by Sherdog; he was ranked #5 before he announced his retirement at the end of 2011. Lesnar is an accomplished amateur wrestler, winning the 2000 NCAA heavyweight wrestling championship and placing second in 1999, losing in the finals to 1999 world freestyle wrestling champion and future New England Patriots offensive lineman Stephen Neal.
He gained prominence in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 2002 to 2004, where he is a former three-time WWE Champion, becoming the youngest WWE Champion at age 25 with his first reign. Lesnar was the 2002 King of the Ring and the winner of the 2003 Royal Rumble. After leaving WWE, Lesnar pursued a career in the NFL. He played during the preseason for the Minnesota Vikings, but ended up being a late cut. Lesnar returned to professional wrestling at the end of 2005, and joined New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match. He was stripped of the title in July 2006, although he held the physical belt until June 2007.
Lesnar started a career in MMA and won his first fight in June 2007. He then signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in October 2007. He lost his UFC debut against Frank Mir, but defeated Heath Herring in his sophomore fight. He subsequently captured the UFC Heavyweight Championship from Randy Couture on November 15, 2008, then avenged his loss to Mir at UFC 100 to become the Undisputed Champion. After being sidelined from fighting in late 2009 due to diverticulitis, Lesnar returned to defeat the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin at UFC 116. Lesnar lost the Heavyweight belt against Cain Velasquez at UFC 121. He was once again stricken with a bout of diverticulitis in May 2011 and had surgery to try to cope with the ailment. Lesnar returned at UFC 141 in December 2011, where he lost to Alistair Overeem and promptly retired from the UFC. In April 2012, Lesnar returned to WWE.
Early life
Brock Lesnar was born in Webster, South Dakota. He attended Webster High School in Webster, where he had a wrestling record of 33–0–0 in his senior year. Lesnar admits he graduated last of 54 students in his class. Lesnar later attended the University of Minnesota on a full wrestling scholarship for his junior and senior years of college; his roommate was fellow professional wrestler Shelton Benjamin who served as Lesnar's assistant coach. Lesnar won the 2000 NCAA wrestling championship as a heavyweight after placing second in 1999.
Prior to joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Lesnar wrestled at Bismarck State College in Bismarck, North Dakota. Lesnar finished his amateur career as a two-time NJCAA All-American, 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.
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2000–2004)
Training and debut (2000–2002)
In 2000, after leaving college, Lesnar signed up with the World Wrestling Federation. He was sent to its developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. There, 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 occasions. He wrestled several dark matches in 2001 and 2002 before being called up to the main roster.
Lesnar debuted on WWF television on the March 18, 2002 episode of ''Raw'', the night after WrestleMania X8, coming through the crowd and attacking Al Snow, Maven, and Spike Dudley during the course of a match. He was accompanied by Paul Heyman, who was seen giving instructions to Lesnar. When the brand extension was introduced in the WWF, Lesnar was drafted to the Raw brand. Later, Heyman was confirmed to be Lesnar's agent and gave Lesnar the nickname "The Next Big Thing". Brock's first feud was with the Hardy Boyz. Lesnar and Jeff Hardy squared off at Backlash in Lesnar's first official televised match. He won the match by knockout. The next night on ''Raw'' Lesnar faced off against Matt Hardy, defeating him in the same fashion. At Judgment Day, Lesnar once again gained the upper hand on the Hardy Boyz before tagging his partner, Heyman, in to make the pin.
Main event status (2002–2003)
In June 2002, Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Rob Van Dam in the final round. This victory earned him a shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam. On July 22, Lesnar joined the SmackDown! brand. After a quick feud with Hollywood Hulk Hogan in August 2002, Lesnar began feuding with the Undisputed Champion The Rock. At the main event of SummerSlam, Lesnar defeated The Rock to become the WWE Undisputed Champion. With his victory at age 25, Lesnar became the youngest WWE Champion in history (a record that was previously held by The Rock and stands to date). With the WWE Undisputed Championship being defended on both brands, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff expected Lesnar to be able to return to ''Raw'' the following night. However, SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon announced that Lesnar's contract only required him to defend the title on ''SmackDown!'', forcing Bischoff to establish a new world championship for his brand. With the new World Heavyweight Championship on the Raw brand, the now disputed WWE Undisputed Championship simply became known as the WWE Championship.
Lesnar's rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a feud with The Undertaker, which involved a match at Unforgiven. It ended in a double disqualification leading to Lesnar retaining the title. The next month, at No Mercy, he faced The Undertaker again, this time in a Hell in a Cell match. Leading up to the match, 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. 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 F-5 maneuver for the win. 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.
Lesnar's next opponent was The Big Show. Heyman was convinced more than anyone that Lesnar could not win, trying to talk him out of defending the title. Lesnar refused and lost the championship in Madison Square Garden at the Survivor Series pay-per-view to Big Show, Lesnar's first pinfall loss in WWE. When the champion tried to pin the 500-pounder following an F-5, he was betrayed by Heyman who pulled the referee out of the ring allowing Big Show to capitalize by chokeslamming Lesnar on a steel chair. Show went on to pin Lesnar and win the title. As a result, Lesnar became a fan favorite. Following Survivor Series, Heyman made it clear that Lesnar would not get a rematch, even going so far as to sneak a special clause in his contract. 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 F-5 on the champion, which enabled Angle to pin him and win the title. On the next edition of ''SmackDown'', however, Angle introduced Heyman as his manager and, despite promising Lesnar a match for his title earlier in the evening, declared that Lesnar still would not get a title shot. Lesnar was then beaten down by Big Show and Angle following the main event, but the former champion got his revenge after the show went off the air. While getting attacked again and berated by Heyman, Lesnar recovered and began to fight off both men. He eventually clotheslined Big Show out of the ring and then knocked him out with a steel chair when he returned, leaving Angle alone with Lesnar. Lesnar then chased the champion, who had escaped to the outside, and resumed his assault that culminated when Lesnar used the F-5 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, (kayfabe) breaking the champion's leg.
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. A spot in the Royal Rumble match was on the line, and winning the match would be Lesnar's only hope for a potential title shot. Lesnar defeated Big Show to gain entry into the match and entered at #29, the second to last competitor to enter the match. He eliminated Matt Hardy and Team Angle, which was composed of the debuting (at the time) Charlie Haas and his former OVW teammate, Shelton Benjamin who were mentored by the WWE champion. Lesnar made it to the final two, with the only remaining entry being a returning Undertaker who entered the match last. Lesnar went on to win the match by eliminating Undertaker, which now guaranteed him a title match which he would receive at WrestleMania XIX.
After the Royal Rumble, Lesnar's feud with Angle, Heyman, and their allies continued as Angle retained the title at the Rumble by defeating Chris Benoit. Lesnar and Benoit faced off against Angle, Haas, and Benjamin at No Way Out the following month and Lesnar's team won the match. This helped to forward the feud leading into the main event at WrestleMania. During the match, Lesnar attempted and botched a shooting star press, a move typically done by cruiserweights but a move Lesnar knew how to perform, having done so in developmental matches. However, Lesnar overestimated the distance he could jump to execute the move. As a result, he did not get enough rotation on his leap and instead of landing with his body on top of Angle's, Lesnar jammed his head and neck by hitting Angle's side and ribcage. This stunned Lesnar and forced Angle to improvise the finish of the match. Lesnar suffered a severe concussion from the botched move, but still managed to pin Angle after an F-5 to win his second WWE Championship. The rivalry ended after this, as Angle was forced to undergo neck surgery and missed several months.
After WrestleMania Lesnar turned his attention to John Cena, who had returned from injury in February 2003 and who had been F-5'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 "FU" as a jab at the new champion. The feud ended relatively quickly in a match at Backlash when Lesnar defeated Cena. On the following ''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. 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. During the scripted rivalry, on ''SmackDown!'', Lesnar lifted Big Show over in a Superplex, which caused the ring to collapse on impact.
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 aNo Disqualification Triple Threat match for his title, which ended after Angle hit his Angle Slam on both Big Show and Lesnar, pinning the champion to become WWE Champion for a fourth time.
Lesnar continued to chase Angle's title, however, despite their friendship. Vince 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 huge 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 course of 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 F-5'd Angle. He then brutally beat Angle in the cage while McMahon watched, and celebrated with the owner of the company afterward, turning heel in the process.
At SummerSlam, Lesnar lost to Angle when Angle made Lesnar tap out to the ankle lock. After that, Lesnar began brutalizing smaller wrestlers and attacking his rivals on a more consistent basis. He returned to using the F-5 to propel his opponents' legs into the ringpost, as he did to Spanky and Gowen, and interfered in Angle's matches on two separate occasion.
On September 18, 2003, Lesnar received his third shot at Angle in as many months when he faced the champion in a sixty-minute Iron Man match for the title in what went down as one of the greatest matches in the history of ''SmackDown''. Lesnar employed an early strategy where he assaulted the champion with a steel chair early in the match, getting himself disqualified to lose the first fall but allowing himself a chance to do a fair amount of damage. Lesnar won the next three falls by hitting Angle with the F-5 and pinning him, putting Angle's own ankle lock on him and forcing him to submit, and then getting Angle counted out after hitting a second F-5 on the floor. Angle recovered to pin the champion after an Angle Slam, but Lesnar won two additional falls by first leveling him with the championship belt while the referee's back was turned and then hitting a superplex from the top. That made it five falls to two in favor of the challenger with the match more than halfway over. In the final ten minutes of the match, Angle moved to within one fall after a pin and a submission with the ankle lock. For the final two minutes of the match, Lesnar tried to dodge Angle by leaving the ring on several occasions. Angle finally caught the champions with 1:12 left and hit a series of German suplexes, keeping Lesnar locked up for nearly 45 seconds. Lesnar, however, was able to hold on to the referee and kicked Angle below the belt with :35 left. However, since Lesnar was still holding the official he was not disqualified, and with nineteen seconds remaining Angle appeared to be out of it. However, Lesnar fell into a trap set by the champion and Angle locked in the ankle lock again. This time, Angle applied a grapevine hold to the lock, wrenching hard on Lesnar's ankle for the final fifteen seconds of the bout. However, Lesnar was able to withstand the hold for the remaining time and as a result, by a final count of five falls to four, won the match and his third WWE Championship.
With Angle finally out of his hair for the first time in nearly a year, 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. At No Mercy, Lesnar defeated Undertaker in a Biker Chain match. However, the rivalry came to an end when Undertaker instead chose to focus on McMahon.
After Paul Heyman returned to WWE as general manager of ''SmackDown'', Lesnar aligned himself with his former manager. Since he had also since been aligning himself with his former rival The Big Show for several weeks after his betrayal of Angle, this brought Lesnar almost full circle from the year prior, where Heyman and Big Show had conspired with each other to rid Lesnar of his title. With Survivor Series coming up, Lesnar decided to challenge Angle to a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag team match, with Lesnar picking four additional wrestlers and Angle doing the same. Lesnar chose Big Show as his first pick, with Heyman adding a returning Nathan Jones and a debuting Matt Morgan to bring the team number to four. Angle, in the meantime, chose Chris Benoit and The APA to join his team. However, Faarooq was injured during a match with Lesnar and Big Show and Angle's team was forced to not only find a replacement for him, but to fill the fifth spot. Lesnar's team picked A-Train to fill that 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. In the climax of the match, Chris Benoit became the second person to make Lesnar tap out.
Lesnar faced Benoit in a singles bout two weeks later for the WWE Championship on ''SmackDown!'', where Lesnar won after Benoit passed out to Lesnar's debuting Brock Lock submission hold. He then began a brief feud with Hardcore Holly, defeating him at the Royal Rumble in January 2004 to retain his title.
Feuding with Goldberg and departure (2003–2004)
The Survivor Series event marked the first time Lesnar met Goldberg from the Raw brand, a man to whom Lesnar had been compared due to their similar physiques and undefeated streaks in wrestling. Lesnar claimed in a backstage interview that he could beat anybody in the world, leading to Goldberg interrupting the interview and introducing himself to Lesnar, shaking hands with him before leaving with a staredown. Lesnar followed this rivalry with a feud involving Hardcore Holly. 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 the Royal Rumble in 2004, Lesnar defeated Holly to retain the WWE Championship. Later in the Royal Rumble match, Lesnar attacked Goldberg and delivered an F-5, enabling Kurt Angle to eliminate him.
In February, Lesnar faced Eddie Guerrero for the title at No Way Out. Goldberg interfered in the match and was able to help Guerrero turn the tide in the match. Lesnar still had his chance to win by nailing an F-5 onto his title belt that Lesnar brought into the ring, but Guerrero countered with a DDT to drive the champion into the belt. After a frog splash, Guerrero pinned 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 at WrestleMania XX. During the feud with Goldberg, Lesnar was at odds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was shown suggesting to Goldberg that he attack Lesnar at No Way Out. When Lesnar attacked Austin on ''Raw'' and stole his four-wheeler, Austin was inserted as the special guest referee for the Wrestlemania match. Behind the scenes, it was widely known that the match would be Goldberg's last in WWE. Only a week before Wrestlemania, however, rumors surfaced that Lesnar, too, was leaving in order to pursue a career in the National Football League. As a result, Lesnar's match with Goldberg became a fiasco as the fans at Madison Square Garden jeered and heckled both wrestlers vociferously. Goldberg gained victory after delivering a Jackhammer to Lesnar and both men subsequently received Stone Cold Stunners from Austin.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2005–2007)
On October 8, 2005, Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match at a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in the Tokyo Dome, which included the then-champion Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono. He won the match by pinning Masahiro Chono after an F-5, which he had renamed the Verdict, since WWE owns the trademark on the F-5 name. After the match, he stated that this name was referring to his lawsuit against WWE. The match was his first pro wrestling match since leaving WWE. Lesnar is one of the few American wrestlers to have held this title.
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, and thus Lesnar had two non-title victories against Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata. Lesnar successfully defended his championship on January 4, 2006, against former champion Shinsuke Nakamura. On January 13, WWE once again filed an injunction against Lesnar to stop him from defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on March 19. Evidently this was not enforced (nor granted), as he went on to have a tag team match with Shinsuke Nakamura against Akebono and Riki Chōshū at the Sumo Hall on February 19, which was won after a Verdict to Chōshū. On March 19, at the Sumo Hall, Lesnar retained his championship against former Sumo Wrestling Grand Champion Akebono when Lesnar hit him with the championship belt and a DDT. Lesnar went on to successfully defend his title against the winner of the New Japan Cup, Giant Bernard, on May 3, 2006, in Fukuoka. This was the first American vs. American title match in NJPW since Vader vs. Stan Hansen in 1990.
On July 15, 2006, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Brock Lesnar had been stripped of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as he would no longer be returning to defend the title due to "visa issues." A tournament was held on July 16 to determine the new champion, which was won by Hiroshi Tanahashi, the man Lesnar was originally scheduled to face. Lesnar continued to possess the physical IWGP Championship belt until late June 2007.
Approximately one year later on June 29, 2007, Lesnar defended his IWGP Heavyweight Championship (IGF promoter Antonio Inoki had stated he still viewed Lesnar as the "proper" IWGP Champion, as he was not defeated for the title) against TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle in a champion versus champion match. Angle defeated Lesnar with the Ankle lock to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as recognized by IGF and TNA. and challenged him to an MMA fight. This was Lesnar's last match as a professional wrestler until 2012 when he resigned with WWE.
Lawsuit
Lesnar had previously signed a no-compete clause in order to be released from his contract with WWE, which prohibited him from working for any other sports entertainment or mixed martial arts companies before June 2010. Lesnar had anticipated leaving wrestling entirely, but his inability to secure a career in professional football led to him challenging this ruling in court. WWE responded by demanding damages as a result of Lesnar allegedly breaching the agreement by appearing at a New Japan Pro Wrestling show in 2004. In July 2005, the two sides dropped their claims and entered negotiations to renew their relationship. WWE had offered Lesnar a contract, but on August 2, 2005, WWE's official website reported that Lesnar had withdrawn from any involvement with the company. The lawsuit was then entered into settlement on September 21, but talks broke down.
On January 14, 2006, Judge Christopher Droney stated that unless WWE gave him a good argument between then and January 25, he would rule in favor of Brock Lesnar, giving him a summary judgment. This would have enabled Lesnar to work anywhere he wanted immediately. WWE was later granted a deadline postponement. On April 24, World Wrestling Entertainment announced on their official website, WWE.com, that both parties had mutually come to a settlement and on June 12, a federal judge dismissed Lesnar's lawsuit against WWE after both parties requested for the case to be dismissed.
Return to WWE (2012)
On April 2, 2012, Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE on ''Monday Night Raw''. Lesnar appeared at the end of the show and attacked John Cena. The following week John Laurinaitis introduced Lesnar as the new face of the WWE, he then announced Lesnar would face Cena at the Extreme Rules PPV. Cena then interrupted and slapped Lesnar in the face, the two then brawled which resulted in Cena getting a busted lip. On April 16, it was announced, via the official WWE website, that Lesnar would face Cena at ''Extreme Rules'' on April 29. Lesnar bloodied Cena with MMA-style strikes, but would ultimately lose the match.
National Football League (2004–2005)
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