World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, ''worldwide'', i.e. anywhere on Earth.

In a philosophical context it may refer to: (1) the whole of the physical Universe, or (2) an ontological world (''see world disclosure''). In a theological context, ''world'' usually refers to the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred. The "end of the world" refers to scenarios of the final end of human history, often in religious contexts.

World history is commonly understood as spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present.

World population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies (all countries), especially in the context of globalization. Terms like world championship, gross world product, world flags etc. also imply the sum or combination of all current-day sovereign states.

In terms such as world religion, world language, and world war, ''world'' suggests international or intercontinental scope without necessarily implying participation of the entire world.

In terms such as world map and world climate, ''world'' is used in the sense detached from human culture or civilization, referring to the planet Earth physically.

Etymology and usage

The English word ''world'' comes from the Old English ''weorold (-uld), weorld, worold (-uld, -eld)'', a compound of ''wer'' "man" and ''eld'' "age," which thus means roughly "Age of Man." The Old English is a reflex of the Common Germanic ''*wira-alđiz'', also reflected in Old Saxon ''werold'', Old High German ''weralt'', Old Frisian ''warld'' and Old Norse ''verǫld'' (whence the Icelandic ''veröld'').

The corresponding word in Latin is ''mundus'', literally "clean, elegant", itself a loan translation of Greek ''cosmos'' "orderly arrangement." While the Germanic word thus reflects a mythological notion of a "domain of Man" (compare Midgard), presumably as opposed to the divine sphere on the one hand and the chthonic sphere of the underworld on the other, the Greco-Latin term expresses a notion of creation as an act of establishing order out of chaos.

'World' distinguishes the entire planet or population from any particular country or region: ''world affairs'' pertain not just to one place but to the whole world, and ''world history'' is a field of history that examines events from a global (rather than a national or a regional) perspective. ''Earth'', on the other hand, refers to the planet as a physical entity, and distinguishes it from other planets and physical objects.

'''World''' can also be used attributively, to mean 'global', 'relating to the whole world', forming usages such as world community or world canonical texts.

By extension, a '''world''' may refer to any planet or heavenly body, especially when it is thought of as inhabited, especially in the context of science fiction or futurology.

'''World''', in original sense, when qualified, can also refer to a particular domain of human experience.

The ''world of work'' describes paid work and the pursuit of career, in all its social aspects, to distinguish it from home life and academic study.

The ''fashion world'' describes the environment of the designers, fashion houses and consumers that make up the fashion industry.

historically, the ''New World'' vs. the ''Old World'', referring to the parts of the world colonized in the wake of the age of discovery. Now mostly used in zoology and botany, as New World monkey.

Philosophy

In philosophy, the term world has several possible meanings. In some contexts, it refers to everything that makes up reality or the physical universe. In others, it can mean have a specific ontological sense (see world disclosure). While clarifying the concept of world has arguably always been among the basic tasks of Western philosophy, this theme appears to have been raised explicitly only at the start of the twentieth century and has been the subject of continuous debate. The question of what the world is has by no means been settled.

;Parmenides The traditional interpretation of Parmenides' work is that he argued that the every-day perception of reality of the physical world (as described in doxa) is mistaken, and that the reality of the world is 'One Being' (as described in aletheia): an unchanging, ungenerated, indestructible whole.

;Plato In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato distingues between forms and ideas and imagines two distinct worlds : the sensible world and the intelligible world.

;Hegel In Hegel's philosophy of history, the expression ''Weltgeschichte ist Weltgericht'' (World History is a tribunal that judges the World) is used to assert the view that History is what judges men, their actions and their opinions. Science is born from the desire to transform the World in relation to Man; its final end is technical application.

;Schopenhauer ''The World as Will and Representation'' is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer saw the human will as our one window to the world behind the representation; the Kantian thing-in-itself. He believed, therefore, that we could gain knowledge about the thing-in-itself, something Kant said was impossible, since the rest of the relationship between representation and thing-in-itself could be understood by analogy to the relationship between human will and human body.

;Wittgenstein Two definitions that were both put forward in the 1920s, however, suggest the range of available opinion. "The world is everything that is the case," wrote Ludwig Wittgenstein in his influential ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'', first published in 1922. This definition would serve as the basis of logical positivism, with its assumption that there is exactly one world, consisting of the totality of facts, regardless of the interpretations that individual people may make of them.

;Heidegger Martin Heidegger, meanwhile, argued that "the surrounding world is different for each of us, and notwithstanding that we move about in a common world". The world, for Heidegger, was that into which we are always already "thrown" and with which we, as beings-in-the-world, must come to terms. His conception of "world disclosure" was most notably elaborated in his 1927 work ''Being and Time''.

;Freud In response, Freud proposed that we do not move about in a common world, but a common thought process. He believed that all the actions of a person are motivated by one thing: lust. This led to numerous theories about reactionary consciousness.

;Other Some philosophers, often inspired by David Lewis, argue that metaphysical concepts such as possibility, probability and necessity are best analyzed by comparing ''the'' world to a range of possible worlds; a view commonly known as modal realism.

Religion and mythology

Mythological cosmologies often depict the world as centered around an axis mundi and delimited by a boundary such as a world ocean, a world serpent or similar.

See also

Globe

List of sovereign states

Universe

References

External links

Category:Earth

ar:عالَم arc:ܥܠܡܐ (ܐܪܥܐ) ay:Pacha zh-min-nan:Sè-kài bi:Wol bg:Свят ca:Món ceb:Kalibotan cs:Svět da:Verden de:Welt dv:ދުނިޔެ es:Mundo eo:Mondo ext:Mundu eu:Mundu fa:جهان fr:Monde (univers) ko:세계 hi:जगत hr:Svijet io:Mondo it:Mondo he:עולם ka:მსოფლიო kk:Дүние жүзі ht:Lemonn ku:Cîhan lv:Pasaule lt:Pasaulis lmo:Mond ml:ലോകം mt:Dinja mr:जग xmf:საგებიო mwl:Mundo mn:Ертөнц nl:Wereld (Aarde) ne:विश्व new:हलिम ja:世界 nap:Munno nn:Verd uz:Dunyo pnb:دنیا ps:نړۍ km:ពិភពលោក tpi:Wol pt:Mundo qu:Kay pacha ru:Мир (Земля) sco:Warld stq:Waareld sq:Bota scn:Munnu simple:World ss:Úmhlâba sk:Svet sh:Svijet sv:Världen tl:Mundo te:ప్రపంచము tg:Ҷаҳон uk:Світ ur:دُنیا vi:Thế giới vo:Vol wo:Àdduna yi:וועלט yo:Àgbáyé bat-smg:Sviets zh:世界

Name	CM Punk
Names	CM Punk
Height
Weight
Birth date	October 26, 1978
Birth place	Chicago, Illinois
Resides	Lockport, Illinois
Billed	Chicago, Illinois
Trainer	Ace SteelDanny DominionKevin QuinnDave TaylorFit FinlayWilliam RegalSteel Dominion Wrestling School
Debut	1999
Website	CMPunk.com

Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE and appearing on its Raw brand as the reigning WWE Champion.

In professional wrestling, Brooks is a seven time World Champion, having held the ROH World Championship and ECW Championship once, the World Heavyweight Championship three times and the WWE Championship twice.

In addition to these championships Punk has also won the World Tag Team Championship (with Kofi Kingston), and the WWE Intercontinental Championship making him the nineteenth WWE Triple Crown Champion and the man to achieve this honor fastest at 203 days. Between WWE and Ring of Honor (where he is also a two-time World Tag Team Champion), Punk has won a total of eleven championships. He was also the winner of the 2008 and 2009 Money in the Bank ladder matches (the only wrestler to win the match twice in a row), and was the 2011 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner.

Punk initially came to prominence through his career on the professional wrestling independent circuit, primarily as a member of the ROH roster, where he was the first head trainer of the ROH wrestling school as well as winning both of their championships. In 2005, Punk signed a contract with WWE and was sent to its developmental promotion, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won every championship available in the promotion. Throughout his career, Punk has consistently used the gimmick of being straight edge, a lifestyle he follows in his actual day-to-day life. Depending on Punk's alignment as a crowd favorite or villain, he emphasizes different aspects of the culture to encourage the desired audience reaction.

Professional wrestling career

Early career

Punk's first venture into wrestling was a stint in a backyard wrestling federation called the Lunatic Wrestling Federation with his friends and brother Mike Brooks in the mid-late 1990s. He first started using the ring name CM Punk when he was put into a tag team named the Chick Magnets with CM Venom after another performer skipped out on the card. Unlike his friends, Punk genuinely wanted to be a wrestler and saw it as more than simple fun. When the promotion started taking off, doing spot shows out of a warehouse in Mokena, Illinois, Punk found out that his brother Mike had embezzled thousands of dollars from the small company, causing them to become estranged. They have not spoken since.

He soon left the federation and enrolled as a student at the "Steel Dominion" wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained by Ace Steel, Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn to become a professional wrestler. As part of the training, he wrestled at Steel Domain Wrestling in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was in the Steel Domain that he met Scott Colton, who soon adopted the stage name Colt Cabana. Punk and Cabana became best friends and spent most of their early career together working in the same independent circuit promotions, as opponents or allies. In the independents, Punk, along with fellow Steel Domain graduates Colt Cabana, Chuckee Smooth, Adam Pearce and manager Dave Prazak, formed an alliance named the Gold Bond Mafia.

Independent Wrestling Association: Mid-South (2000–2005)

Punk's home promotion for his early career is usually considered to be Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA:Mid-South). During Punk's time in IWA:Mid-South, he had high profile feuds with Colt Cabana and Chris Hero while also rising to the top of the roster winning the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship twice and the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship on five separate occasions, beating stars like A.J. Styles, Cabana and even Eddie Guerrero for that Championship. Punk's feud with Hero included a 55-minute TLC match, a 93-minute two out of three falls match, and several 60-minute time limit draws.

Punk's matches with Cabana led him to being hired by the Ring of Honor promotion. From February 2003 until May 2004, Punk refused to wrestle for IWA:Mid-South, because he claims that this was in protest to Ian Rotten's mistreatment of Chris Hero in the company. Hero, however, has stated he believes there were other reasons, and Rotten's treatment of him was just an excuse by Punk to stop working for the company. Eventually Punk returned to IWA:Mid-South and continued to perform as a wrestler and commentator for them until 2005 when he was signed to World Wrestling Entertainment. His last appearance in IWA:Mid-South was on July 2, 2005 in which he competed in a 60-minute time limit draw against Delirious.

Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Storylines with Raven (2002–2004)

Initially, Punk joined Ring of Honor (ROH) as a crowd favorite, but quickly became a villain in a feud with Raven that featured numerous variants of no disqualification matches. Their rivalry lasted most of 2003 and was considered one of ROH's top feuds of the year, and was based around Punk's straight-edge lifestyle, with him likening Raven to his alcoholic father. Their rivalry was settled at ''The Conclusion'' in November 2003, where Punk defeated Raven in a Steel Cage match. At the same time, Punk joined the wrestling promotion NWA Total Nonstop Action (TNA), in which he was paired with Julio Dinero as members of Raven's TNA alliance The Gathering. Punk started climbing the ranks of ROH, including coming in second at the ''Second Anniversary Show'' during the tournament to crown the first ROH Pure Champion, losing to A.J. Styles in the finals and winning the ROH Tag Team Championship twice with Colt Cabana as the Second City Saints. Both times Punk and Cabana defeated the Briscoe Brothers to win the championship. Circa October 2003, Punk was hired as the first head trainer of the Ring of Honor wrestling school, having previously been a trainer for the Steel Domain and Primetime Wrestling.

Shortly before a TNA show on February 25, 2004, Punk had a physical scuffle with Teddy Hart outside of a restaurant that was broken up by Sabu. The scuffle reportedly stemmed from an ROH show in which Hart performed three unplanned spots putting several other wrestlers in danger of injury. Around the time of the scuffle, Punk and Dinero stopped appearing on TNA shows, leading to speculation he was fired for the incident. Punk, however, has stated that the scuffle had no bearing on his TNA career. He said the reason he and Dinero stopped appearing on TNA pay-per-views was that TNA officials believed that he and Dinero had not connected with the fans as villains, having turned against the popular Raven and instead formed a villainous tag team managed by James Mitchell. The officials decided that as the teams as villains was not working decided to put the storyline on hold indefinitely, and thus had no work for Punk or Dinero. Punk officially quit TNA in March 2004 during the Rob Feinstein controversy, after having a dispute with the TNA offices over his ability to compete in ROH following a TNA order that their contracted wrestlers were to no longer wrestle in ROH.

Pursuit of the World Championship (2004–2005)

In ROH, Punk faced off against ROH World Champion Samoa Joe for the championship in a three match series. The first match, on June 12, 2004 at ''World Title Classic'' in Dayton, Ohio, resulted in a 60-minute time limit draw when neither Punk nor Joe could pin or cause the other to submit in the 60 minutes. The second match between Punk and Joe was planned for December 4, 2004; however, due to Steve Corino being pulled from a match with Joe by Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, the second match was hastily rescheduled on October 11, 2004 for October 16 in Punk's hometown of Chicago. At ''Joe vs. Punk II'' on October 16, they wrestled to a second 60-minute draw. In addition to ''Joe vs. Punk II'' becoming Ring of Honor's best-selling DVD at the time, the match received a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer's ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''. It was the first match in North America to receive a five-star rating in seven years—the last one being the Hell in a Cell match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at Badd Blood: In Your House in 1997. Joe ended the series by defeating Punk in the third and final match on December 4, 2004 at ''All-Star Extravaganza 2'' in which there was a no time limit stipulation. In June 2005, Punk accepted a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, after a try-out match against Val Venis on its ''Sunday Night Heat'' show. Even though he had accepted the deal, Punk went on to defeat Austin Aries with his Pepsi Plunge move, winning the ROH World Championship on June 18, 2005 at ''Death Before Dishonor III''. Immediately after the match, Punk proceeded to become a villain and started a storyline where he threatened to bring the ROH World Championship to WWE with him. For weeks, Punk teased the ROH locker room and the ROH fans as well as mocking the championship he possessed, going so far as to sign his WWE contract on it. During the storyline, Mick Foley made several ROH appearances, attempting to convince Punk to do the right thing and defend the title on his way out. On August 12, 2005 in Dayton, Ohio, Punk lost the ROH World Championship to James Gibson in a four corner elimination match consisting of himself, Gibson, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, who re-debuted after a year-and-half absence. Punk's final scheduled match in Ring of Honor took place at ''Punk: The Final Chapter'' on August 13, 2005 against long-time friend Colt Cabana in a two out of three falls match, which he lost. In his last match, Punk was visibly crying and was showered with streamers when he posed in the middle of the ring.

Punk made a special appearance at the ROH show ''Unscripted II'' on February 11, 2006, when the original card had to be scrapped due to Low Ki leaving ROH the week prior. In addition, most of the ROH roster contracted to TNA were pulled from the show because of a snowstorm that TNA officials thought might prevent performers from reaching a pay-per-view scheduled the next day. In the main event, Punk teamed with Bryan Danielson to wrestle and ultimately defeat Jimmy Rave and Adam Pearce in a tag team match.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005–2006)

In September 2005, Punk was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), a WWE developmental territory. He made his debut on September 8, 2005, in a dark match, where he, Nigel McGuinness and Paul Burchill were defeated by Deuce Shade, Elijah Burke and Seth Skyfire. On September 26, 2005 in his OVW television debut, Punk suffered a ruptured eardrum and broken nose after Danny Inferno hit him with an overly stiff right hand. Despite the injury, Punk finished the match and quickly recovered.

On November 9, 2005, Punk became the OVW Television Champion after defeating Ken Doane, which immediately led to a feud between Punk and Brent Albright, who had previously been feuding with Doane for the Television Championship and had lost his chance to wrestle Doane after Punk hit him with a chair so he himself could wrestle Doane. They wrestled in series of matches, including one that ended in overtime with Albright having Punk submit to Albright's finisher, the Crowbar, but Punk was able to keep the championship, as he had not agreed to the extra time. On January 4, 2006, Punk lost the OVW Television Championship during a three way dance among himself, Albright and Doane. Doane was injured halfway through the match and was replaced by Aaron "The Idol" Stevens. Punk submitted to Albright's Crowbar and was eliminated, but he returned later in the match to distract Albright allowing Stevens to pin Albright and become the new OVW Television Champion. The feud continued after a short period in which Albright and Punk were a tag team, but they became opponents again after Albright wanted the respect of Punk, who would never give it to him, and instead proceeded to "punk out" (get the better of) Albright repeatedly. This feud continued for weeks with Punk always getting the better of Albright until a double turn occurred on February 1, 2006 when Albright became a villain during a tag match, allowing the Spirit Squad to beat Punk and, in doing so, making Punk a crowd favorite. During this time, Punk had a minor appearance at WrestleMania 22 on April 2, 2006 as one of the gangsters who rode a 1930s era car to the ring before John Cena's entrance.

After Matt Cappotelli vacated the OVW Heavyweight Championship because of a brain tumor in February 2006, a tournament was held to crown a new champion. The finals were Brent Albright vs. CM Punk with Albright defeating Punk to become the new champion. Punk and Albright continued their feud, with Albright becoming more unstable and paranoid about maintaining his championship after several close call matches against Punk, resulting in acts such as threatening Maria. On May 3, 2006, Punk finally defeated Albright in a strap match to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship. As champion, Punk retained the title in matches against opponents such as Shad Gaspard, Ken Kennedy, Johnny Jeter and Mike "The Miz" Mizanin.

On July 28, 2006, Punk and Seth Skyfire defeated Shad Gaspard and the Neighborhoodie to win the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship at a house show. They lost the Tag Team Championship on August 2, 2006 to Deuce Shade and "Domino" Cliff Compton after an injured Skyfire tagged in an already injured Punk. This altercation led to a feud between Punk and Skyfire after a rematch for the Tag Team Championship on August 7, 2006 in which a healthy Punk purposefully tagged in an injured Skyfire to be beaten by Shade and Compton. On August 30, 2006, a match was scheduled to take place between Punk and Skyfire for the OVW Heavyweight Championship. Prior to the match, however, Skyfire was attacked by Charles "The Hammer" Evans, with whom Skyfire had also been feuding, and was replaced in the match by Chet Jablonski (Chet the Jet) who pinned Punk to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship. As Punk no longer possessed the championship, OVW no longer required him. He was removed from the roster and brought up to the WWE roster full-time. He continued to make sporadic appearances for the company, such as at the 400th episode of OVW on television, up until WWE announced it was ending its developmental territory agreement with OVW on February 7, 2008.

ECW (2006–2008)

On June 24, 2006, Punk made his ECW debut during a house show at the former ECW Arena, defeating Stevie Richards. He made his TV debut on the July 4 episode of ''ECW on Sci Fi'', cutting a brief pre-taped promo about his straight edge lifestyle emphasizing the disciplinary aspects of being drug and alcohol free. Although he had retained the straight edge gimmick, he now had a Muay Thai training background. Punk made his TV wrestling debut on August 1, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom, defeating Justin Credible. CM Punk established himself in ECW by going undefeated, defeating opponents such as Christopher W. Anderson, Stevie Richards and Shannon Moore.

Soon after, Punk began feuding with Mike Knox after Knox's girlfriend, Kelly Kelly, was seen to have feelings for Punk. Punk defeated Knox in their first singles match (qualifying for the Extreme Elimination Chamber at December to Dismember in the process) as well as the rematch, after which Kelly Kelly celebrated CM Punk's victory over her boyfriend. Punk then teamed with D-Generation X and the Hardy Boyz in their Survivor Series match against Rated-RKO, Knox, Johnny Nitro and Gregory Helms, a match in which all the participants on DX's side survived elimination. At December to Dismember, Punk participated in the Elimination Chamber for the ECW World Championship; however, he was the first person eliminated by Rob Van Dam. Following the pay-per-view, Punk entered into a feud with Hardcore Holly, who ended Punk's six-month unbeaten streak in singles competition on January 9, 2007. Punk went on to feud with Matt Striker, who gave him his second singles loss since being in ECW on January 30. Punk then qualified for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23 by defeating Johnny Nitro. In the final week leading up to WrestleMania 23, Punk made appearances on both ''Raw'' and ''Friday Night SmackDown!'', defeating Kenny Dykstra and former World Heavyweight Champion King Booker, respectively. At WrestleMania 23, Punk competed in, but did not win, the Money in the Bank ladder match, being knocked off the ladder just seconds before the winner, Mr. Kennedy, claimed the briefcase.

On the April 10, 2007 episode of ''ECW on Sci Fi'', Punk briefly became a villain by officially joining the New Breed alliance, after several weeks in which both the New Breed and the ECW Originals had attempted to recruit him. Two weeks later, however, Punk betrayed the New Breed during a four on four elimination match between the New Breed and ECW Originals by kicking New Breed leader Elijah Burke in the back of the head and costing them the match. After the match, Punk proceeded to deliver his finisher, the Go To Sleep, on Burke and sarcastically apologized before leaving the ring alone, becoming a fan favorite again. WWE.com later confirmed that Punk was no longer a member of the New Breed. At Judgment Day, Punk wrestled and defeated Burke in his first singles match on a pay-per-view. Punk then went on to One Night Stand and teamed up with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman in a tables match to defeat the New Breed.

When ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley was drafted to Raw and stripped of the ECW World Championship, a mini-tournament was announced to declare a new champion among Punk, Elijah Burke, Marcus Cor Von and Chris Benoit. Punk defeated Marcus Cor Von on the June 19, 2007 episode of ''ECW on Sci Fi''. By doing so, CM Punk was meant to face Chris Benoit at Vengeance: Night of Champions for the vacant ECW World Championship. Benoit, however, was hastily replaced by Johnny Nitro when Benoit no-showed the event due to what was described on-air as "personal reasons". Nitro subsequently defeated Punk at Vengeance for the vacant championship. Punk won another shot at the title at The Great American Bash against Nitro, who had changed his moniker to John Morrison by this point; however, Punk was defeated again by Morrison. The next week, Punk challenged Elijah Burke and Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat match to determine the next competitor in Morrison's 15 Minutes of Fame Challenge, in which Punk came out victorious. A week later, Punk defeated Morrison with the Go To Sleep to earn an ECW Championship title match at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, however, Punk lost the match when Morrison used the ropes for leverage.

At the September 1, 2007 (aired September 4) ''ECW'' taping, in a "last chance" title match, Punk defeated Morrison for the ECW Championship. Punk then went on to have successful title defenses against the likes of Elijah Burke (at Unforgiven), Big Daddy V via disqualification (at No Mercy) and The Miz (at Cyber Sunday). On the November 6, 2007 episode of ''ECW'', Punk retained the ECW Championship in a match against Morrison following The Miz's interference. At Survivor Series, Punk retained his title in a Triple Threat match, beating The Miz and John Morrison. On the January 22, 2008 episode of ''ECW'', Chavo Guerrero defeated CM Punk in a No Disqualification match to win the ECW Championship after Edge, (acting as a guest commentator at ringside) ran in and speared Punk.

Money in the Bank And World Heavyweight Champion (2008–2009)

At WrestleMania XXIV, Punk won the Money in the Bank ladder match, after defeating Chris Jericho, Montel Vontavious Porter, Shelton Benjamin, John Morrison, Mr. Kennedy and Carlito.

On the June 23, 2008 episode of ''Raw'', CM Punk was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE Draft. His first night on ''Raw'' came the following week, and he made an immediate impact. After Batista beat down World Heavyweight Champion Edge and left him lying in the ring, Punk and referee Mike Chioda ran to the ring with Punk carrying his Money in the Bank contract. Moments later, as Edge was struggling to get up, Punk hit him with the Go to Sleep and pinned him to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, Punk won his first defense of the title against JBL, who challenged him shortly after his win. His win over Edge would eventually also earn Punk the Slammy Award for the "Oh my God" Moment of the Year. Punk continued to hold and defend the title until Unforgiven on September 7, 2008. Before the Championship Scramble match, Punk was attacked by an early version of The Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase with Manu). Orton finished the assault by punting Punk in the head. It was announced that Punk could not participate in the match due to the attack and, as a result, he involuntarily forfeited the title. However, Punk was replaced by Chris Jericho, who went on to win the match and the title. He received a rematch eight days later on the September 15 episode of ''Raw'', where he failed to regain the title in a steel cage match against Jericho.

On the October 27, 2008 episode of ''Raw'', Punk and Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to win the World Tag Team Championship. The duo were members of Team Batista at Survivor Series, where their team lost to Team Orton. Punk was then entered in an Intercontinental Championship Tournament, in which the winner would get to challenge for the championship in the future. He would defeat Snitsky and John Morrison in the first two rounds. Punk and Kingston lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a live event on December 13, 2008. The next day Punk defeated Rey Mysterio at Armageddon to win the tournament. On the January 5 episode of ''Raw'', Punk received his title match against William Regal, which ended in a disqualification, when Regal grabbed the referee's jersey. Due to this, Stephanie McMahon awarded Punk a rematch the following week, but this time it was himself that was disqualified. McMahon awarded him another rematch, this time a No Disqualification match on January 19 episode of ''Raw'', Punk won the match and the title. With this win, he became the nineteenth Triple Crown Champion. Also, the victory made him the man to accomplish the Triple Crown in the fastest amount of time, shattering Kevin Nash's old record. Punk lost the title on the March 9 episode of Raw to John "Bradshaw" Layfield. At WrestleMania XXV, Punk won the Money in the Bank ladder match and became the first person to win the match twice.

On April 13, 2009 during the 2009 WWE Draft, Punk was drafted from Raw to SmackDown. In the period after the draft, Punk feuded with Umaga over Umaga's repeated surprise attacks while Punk was attempting to cash in his Money in the Bank Contract. This ultimately resulted in a Samoan strap match at Extreme Rules, which was won by Punk.

At the end of the pay-per-view, Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship. Punk retained his title in a Triple Threat match against both Edge and Hardy eight days later on the June 15 episode of ''Raw''. At The Bash in Sacramento, California, Punk lost to Hardy by disqualification after kicking the referee after being afflicted with a storyline eye injury, claiming he could not see the referee, but because titles do not change hands on a disqualification, Punk retained the championship. Hardy called Punk into question about his eye injury, believing he had been feigning it, leading Punk to turn heel, claiming to be the moral superior of those who support Hardy due to his drug-free lifestyle. At Night of Champions, Punk lost the championship to Hardy. Their feud continued through SummerSlam, where Punk regained the title in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match; afterward, Punk was attacked by The Undertaker. On the August 28 episode of ''Friday Night SmackDown'', Punk concluded his program with Hardy and achieved his booked goal of excising him from the WWE, defeating Hardy in a steel cage match wherein the loser agreed to leave the company. This act would earn Punk a second Slammy that December as he was named winner for 2009's "Shocker of the Year".

At Breaking Point Punk defeated The Undertaker in a submission match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Undertaker originally won the match with his Hell's Gate submission hold. SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long re-started the match after stating that the ban that former General Manager Vickie Guerrero had placed on the move was still in effect. Punk would win the match with his Anaconda Vise when referee Scott Armstrong called for the bell despite Undertaker never submitting (reminiscent to the Montreal Screwjob, which took place in the same venue in 1997). The feud between the two continued and at the Hell in a Cell PPV, Punk lost the World Heavyweight Championship to The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. He lost two subsequent rematches against The Undertaker on Smackdown and in a Fatal Four Way match at Bragging Rights also involving Batista and Rey Mysterio.

Straight Edge Society and New Nexus (2009–2011)

His character took on a more sinister demeanor on the November 27 episode of ''SmackDown'' when he revealed that he had converted Luke Gallows, who had previously been portrayed as the mentally incompetent wrestler Festus, to the straight-edge lifestyle which had rid him of his mental troubles. Continuing to espouse his straight-edge philosophy, Punk began to present himself as a cult-like savior to the crowd, growing the hair on his head, face and chest in an allusion to Jesus. Through January 2010, Punk began to convert planted members of the audience to a straight-edge lifestyle, making them take a pledge of allegiance to him and shaving their head as a sign of renewal and devotion. After converting many people who were not seen again, convert Serena began accompanying Punk and Gallows to form the Straight Edge Society. As well as leading this alliance, Punk was also the mentor of ''WWE NXT'' rookie Darren Young who flirted with the idea of becoming straight-edge before refusing just before his head was to be shaved. Punk continued to show messianic traits, frequently giving sermons including during the annual Royal Rumble match as well as during an Elimination Chamber match at both of the eponymous pay-per-views. In the Chamber match, he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio, whom he had feuding with leading into the PPV. Tensions escalated as Mysterio prevented him from winning a Money in the Bank qualifying match, causing Punk to interrupt Mysterio's celebration of his daughter's ninth birthday. Mysterio challenged Punk to a Street Fight at WrestleMania XXVI but lost to Gallows, meaning Punk picked the stipulation that if Rey lost he would have to join the Society. At WrestleMania, Punk lost to Mysterio sparking a rematch at Extreme Rules where Punk would have to shave his head, like his disciples, if he lost. Punk won this match after interference from a fourth member of the Society who kept his face covered. At Over The Limit, a third and final match was booked with both stipulations reactivated. In the match Punk lost and was subsequently shaved bald.

Embarrassed by being shaved bald as he considered himself always pure unlike his followers, Punk appeared on the following episode of ''SmackDown'', May 29, wearing a mask to hide his baldness. At Fatal 4 Way, Punk challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship against Mysterio, The Big Show and the champion Jack Swagger, but was unsuccessful when he was attacked by Kane, who was accusing various people of attacking The Undertaker. On July 16's ''SmackDown'', Punk was finally unmasked by Big Show while healing from an arm injury. The following week Show also unmasked the anonymous member of the Straight Edge Society who was revealed to be Joey Mercury. This led to a handicap match at SummerSlam where Show defeated the entire Society after Punk abandoned his teammates. Show also beat Punk in a singles match at Night of Champions. Following this Serena was released from WWE while Mercury became injured, severely thinning the Society. Gallows began showing signs of dissension too, and Punk defeated him on ''SmackDown'', airing September 24, ending the group.

Punk was traded back to the Raw brand on October 11 after being swapped with Edge. He took part in the interbrand tag team match at Bragging Rights after injuring Evan Bourne to win a place, but the team lost. It was reported later that he was suffering with a hip injury that would stop him from competing. To keep a presence on television, he began commentating on ''Raw'' from November 22, having already commentated one episode of ''NXT''. During his commentary, he criticized John Cena for his actions against The Nexus. Sometimes he favored heel wrestlers over face wrestlers. At the end of December, Punk left the commentary team after assaulting John Cena on ''Raw'' and ''SmackDown'' with a chair. Punk later revealed that his motives for the attacks were that he had joined and assumed control of The Nexus. He would then use the group to attack Randy Orton, blaming him for prematurely ending Punk's first World Heavyweight Championship reign in 2008; this led to a WrestleMania XXVII match and a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules both of which Punk lost.

WWE Champion (2011–present)

In June, after pinning WWE Champion John Cena on ''Raw'', Rey Mysterio at Capitol Punishment and finally Alberto Del Rio again in a contendership match (which included Mysterio) all within one week, Punk revealed his contract would expire at Money in the Bank and vowed to leave the company with the WWE Championship; some of his speeches and mannerisms echoed his final months with Ring of Honor. After making a scathing on-air speech concerning the way in which WWE is run and its owner Vince McMahon, he was given a storyline suspension from televised WWE events but was reinstated the following week on Cena's insistence. Upon his return Punk ceased to appear with the remaining members of Nexus and the group would quietly dissolve the same month. This helped transition him from a villainous character back to being a fan-favorite. Two weeks later, at Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated John Cena to become the WWE Champion on his final night under contract with WWE.

On July 21, CM Punk made an unannounced appearance at a joint WWE and Mattel panel at the San Diego Comic Con to mock new Chief operating officer Triple H and offer WWE Championship tournament finalist Rey Mysterio a match for Punk's own WWE Championship, as long as it was in Punk's hometown, Chicago. Punk appeared at July 23's All American Wrestling show, showing respect to Gregory Iron, a wrestler with cerebral palsy. Mysterio won the WWE Championship tournament on the July 25 episode of ''Raw'', only to lose it to Cena later that night. After Cena's victory, Punk returned to ''Raw'' and upstaged the new WWE Champion's victory celebration while also entering into a title dispute. Triple H would later uphold both Punk and Cena's claims to the WWE Championship as legitimate and schedule the two to a match at SummerSlam to decide the undisputed WWE Champion. Punk prevailed but immediately lost the title to Alberto Del Rio, who had cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, after being attacked by Kevin Nash.

The night after SummerSlam Punk accused Nash of conspiring with Triple H to keep Punk away from the WWE Championship. After repeated confrontations Nash and Punk demanded to face each other at Night of Champions, to which Triple H acquiesced. However, after CM Punk's repeated verbal attacks towards him and his wife Stephanie McMahon, Triple H booked himself to replace Nash. At Night of Champions Punk lost a No Disqualification match after Nash, The Miz, and R-Truth attacked both men. Miz and Truth also attacked Punk at Hell in a Cell after he lost a WWE Championship Triple Threat match. He attempted to avenge this by teaming with Triple H against Miz and Truth at Vengeance, but lost again due to Nash attacking Triple H. This helped transition Punk's anti-establishment voice from Triple H to John Laurinaitis who became the interim Raw General Manager. CM Punk balked at Laurinaitis' promotion and verbally attacked him as a dull yes man.

On October 31, CM Punk strong-armed his way into a match with Del Rio at Survivor Series, where he regained the WWE Championship by way of submission with the Anaconda Vise. He went on to defend the title through the end of the year, retaining in a rematch with Del Rio on the November 28 episode of ''Raw'' and against both Del Rio and The Miz in a Triple Threat TLC match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. On the December 26 episode of ''Raw'', CM Punk was defeated by Dolph Ziggler in a gauntlet match; as a result Ziggler became #1 contender to the WWE championship. Had he been successful Punk would have earned the right to face Laurinaitis in a match. The following ''Raw'', Punk was defeated by Ziggler via countout following interference from Laurinaitis; retaining the championship as a result. Intermeddling from Laurinaitis caused Punk to lose to Ziggler throughout January which ultimately led to Punk attacking Laurinaitis in retaliation. At the Royal Rumble event, CM Punk successfully defended his title against Ziggler, despite Laurinaitis acting as the outside enforcer.

On the January 30 edition of ''Raw SuperShow'', Chris Jericho attacked Punk and Daniel Bryan during their Champion vs. Champion match, giving Bryan the win. The following week, Jericho explained his actions by dismissing the WWE roster as imitations of himself and singling out Punk for claiming he was the best in the world, a moniker Jericho used the last time he was in WWE. Their rivalry continued through Elimination Chamber where Punk retained the WWE Championship in the namesake structure; while four competitors were eliminated, Jericho was unable to continue the match after being kicked out of the chamber by Punk, causing temporary injury. The following night, Jericho earned a match against Punk at WrestleMania XXVIII, and in a bid to psychologically unsettle him, he revealed Punk's father was an alcoholic and alleged that his sister was a drug addict, asserting that Punk's straight edge philosophy was paranoia to avoid the same vices and vowing to make Punk turn to alcohol by winning the title from him. John Laurinaitis added the stipulation that the WWE Championship could change hands via disqualification, which led to Jericho inciting Punk into using a weapon, but Punk resisted and retained the title. On the April 2 and 9, Punk retained the WWE Championship against Mark Henry after losing to him via count-out and disqualification. Following both matches, Jericho attacked Punk and doused him with alcohol. On the April 16 episode of ''Raw'', Punk pinned Henry in a no disqualification, no countout match to retain his title. At Extreme Rules, Punk defeated Jericho in a Chicago Street Fight to retain the WWE Championship.

Gimmick

Punk has adopted his real-life following of the straight edge movement as his professional wrestling gimmick, but the gimmick uses different elements of Punk's personality and the beliefs of the straight edge movement depending on his alignment. While portraying a crowd favorite, the gimmick tends to be that of Punk's normal personality, largely indifferent to others who drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, partake in recreational drug use or have promiscuous sexual behavior, but emphasizing the social discipline involved with abstinence. Conversely, his villainous personality tends to be that of one who is hardline or militant straight edge, exemplifying the elitist attitudes and superiority complexes—defined by Punk's common mantra during villainous-themed promos that, because he is straight edge, he is "better than you". Punk performs the straight edge symbol of crossing his arms in an X formation while having the letter X written on the back of his hands, usually drawn on his wrist tape.

Originally, the initials CM in his ring name represented the phrase "Chick Magnet", the name of the tag team he was in as a backyard wrestler. Punk, however, later changed CM into an orphan initialism, declaring that it has no meaning, though when asked since he has taken to making up meanings that fit the initials, going so far as to make up long stories to explain the origins that do not match the actual origin story at all. Since beginning this practice, Punk has stated CM stands for "Cookie Monster", "Cookie Master", "Crooked Moonsault", "Chuck Mosley", "Charles Montgomery", "Charles Manson", "Crazy Mariachi", "Chicago Made", among others.

An integral part of Punk's gimmick are the numerous tattoos that adorn his body, some of which have come to become symbols associated with Punk, as well as mantras and declarations that have been integrated into his gimmick. The tattoos as a whole, due to their large quantity and variety, have also become an attribute identifiable to Punk. The most important of the individual tattoos in Punk's character, whether through association, symbol, or mantra, are: A Pepsi Globe logo on his left shoulder that inspired the names of two of his signature moves. It also became a symbol of Punk himself, who wore the logo on his ring gear in the independent circuit, as well as a slightly modified Pepsi logo being used as part of his TitanTron entrance video. Punk, a keen Pepsi drinker, chose to receive a Pepsi tattoo to emphasize his straight edge beliefs. The tattoo is also a reference to former Minor Threat guitarist Brian Baker, who had a Coca-Cola tattoo and explained this by saying "I like Coca-Cola". When people inquire about Punk's Pepsi tattoo, he often replies "I like Pepsi" in a similar fashion. The words "Straight Edge" are spelled out on Punk's stomach. This is one of his oldest tattoos; he has referred to it as his identity. A sleeve tattoo on his left arm that reads "luck is for losers" and features numerous good luck symbols, including a rabbit's foot, four-leaf clover and a horseshoe. The tattoo also features four ace playing cards as a tribute to trainer Ace Steel. A tattoo on the back of his left hand reading "No gimmicks needed", a tribute to deceased wrestler Chris Candido. A tattoo across his knuckles with the words "DRUG FREE" ("DRUG" on his right knuckles and "FREE" on his left). A tattoo of his little sister's jersey number (31) behind his left ear surrounded by stars, each of which also representing his siblings as a way to bond away from home. A tattoo on his right shoulder of the Cobra Command logo, G.I. Joe's enemy. Punk is well-known for his love of comic books, considering them along with jazz and professional wrestling as three of the original arts that America has given to the world. A tattoo of a rose on his left wrist.

Punk's character and gimmick have been parodied by the wrestling federation Chikara who used a mascot character CP Munk, the straight edge chipmunk. The character includes references to Punk, such as X-marked wrist tape, a Pepsi logo on the costume's left shoulder, and a high-pitch version of Punk's best-known independent circuit theme song "Miseria Cantare – The Beginning", by the band AFI. On his website, Punk has said about the character CP Munk, and the people behind it: }}

Punk's entrance was emulated by British darts player Paul Nicholson during the 2011 World Matchplay and the 2011 PDC World Darts Championship.

Other media

Punk made an appearance on the February 16, 2004 episode of ''Monster Garage'', "Box Truck Wrestling Car", performing a short match with Samoa Joe. On October 31, 2006, Punk joined The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) to shoot the Sci Fi Channel special ''Ghost Hunters Live'', which was a six-hour show broadcast live Halloween night from the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Initially skeptical about what he might find, Punk claimed to have heard children giggling and footsteps when there were not any children booked into the hotel.

In 2008, Punk appeared as the Sports Grand Marshal of the nationally-televised McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Chicago.

Personal life

While working for Ring of Honor, Punk was romantically linked to professional wrestlers Shannon Spruill and Tracy Brookshaw. After joining Ohio Valley Wrestling Punk began dating Maria Kanellis, who was working there as an interviewer, however they broke up sometime after Punk was moved to World Wrestling Entertainment and started working on the ECW brand. Punk was dating Amy Dumas, however Matt Hardy confirmed in March 2010 that Punk and Dumas were no longer dating. Punk confirmed in an November 2011 ''Maxim Magazine'' interview that he was in a relationship with WWE wrestler Beth Phoenix but revealed in December that he was single again.

In wrestling

WWE

*Finishing moves

*Anaconda vise – 2006–present

*''GTS – Go to Sleep'' (Fireman's carry dropped into a knee lift) – 2007–present

*Signature moves

*Arm trap swinging neckbreaker

*Arm wrench followed by stepping a leg over the wrenched arm and performing a mule kick with the leg below the opponent's face

*Bulldog

*Diving crossbody

*Diving elbow drop – adopted from and used in tribute to Randy Savage

*Double underhook backbreaker

*Hammerlock twisted into a short-range lariat

*Koji clutch

*Leg lariat

*Mongolian chop

*Repeated elbow strikes to an opponent's chest

*Rope hung arm trap can opener

*Roundhouse kick

*Sitout suplex slam

*Slingshot somersault senton

*Snap scoop powerslam

*Springboard clothesline

*Step-up enzuigiri

*Step-up high knee to a cornered opponent followed by a bulldog

*Suicide dive

*Super frankensteiner

*Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker

*Nicknames

*"Mr. Money in the Bank"

*"The Second City Saint / Savior"

*"The Straight-Edge Savior / Superstar"

*"The Voice of The Voiceless"

*"The Best in the World"

*Entrance themes

*"This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (August 1, 2006–July 17, 2011)

*"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour (July 25, 2011–present)

Independent circuit

*Finishing moves

*Anaconda vise or an arm triangle choke

*''Pepsi Plunge'' (Diving double underhook facebuster)

*Shining wizard

*Signature moves

*Arm wrench followed by stepping a leg over the wrenched arm and performing a mule kick with the leg below the opponent's face

*Corkscrew dive transitioned into a diving neckbreaker

*''Crooked Moonsault'' (Split-legged moonsault)

*Delayed vertical suplex

*''Devil Lock DDT'' (Hammerlock legsweep DDT)

*Facewash

*Inverted facelock backbreaker

*Inverted frankensteiner

*''Jackie Chan'' (While sitting in a corner, grasps the top rope with one hand on each side of the turnbuckle and when the opponent attempts to pull him off the ropes by his legs, he performs a back tuck, landing on his feet)

*''Pepsi Twist'' (Jumping hammerlock twisted into a short-range lariat)

*''Punk-Handle Piledriver'' (Pumphandle reverse piledriver)

*Rolling fireman's carry slam

*Slingshot somersault senton

*Springboard corkscrew crossbody

*Suicide dive

*''Welcome to Chicago, Motherfucker'' (Double underhook backbreaker)

*With Julio Dinero

*Double superkick

*''Near Death Experience'' (Diving neckbreaker (Punk) / Powerbomb (Dinero) combination)

*Managers

*Milo Beasley

*Tracy Brooks

*Bobby Heenan

*Alexis Laree / Vicki Adams

*Lucy

*Joshua Masters

*James Mitchell

*Dave Prazak

*Entrance themes

**"Shitlist" by L7

*"South of Heaven" by Slayer

*"A Call for Blood" by Hatebreed

*"Miseria Cantare (The Beginning)" by AFI

*"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour

*"Night Train" by The Bouncing Souls

*"¡Olé!" by The Bouncing Souls

Wrestlers trained

Anthony Blanca

Anthony Franco

Bobby Dempsey

Davey Andrews

Derek Dempsey

Evan Starsmore

Grizzly Redwood

Jay Jensen

Matt Turner

Pelle Primeau

Shane Hagadorn

Smash Bradley

Championships and accomplishments

Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South

IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship (5 times)

IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

International Wrestling Cartel

IWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Mid-American Wrestling

MAW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

NWA Cyberspace

NWA Cyberspace Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Julio Dinero

NWA Revolution

NWA Revolution Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Ohio Valley Wrestling

OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Seth Skyfire

OVW Television Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Feud of the Year (2011)

Match of the Year (2011)

Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2011)

Wrestler of the Year (2011)

PWI ranked him #3 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010

'''Revolver

Golden Gods Award for "Most Metal Athlete" (2012)

Ring of Honor

ROH Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Colt Cabana

ROH World Championship (1 time)

St. Paul Championship Wrestling

SDW Northern States Television Championship (2 times)

SPCW Northern States Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE

ECW Championship (1 time)

World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)

WWE Championship (2 times, current)

World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kofi Kingston

WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

Money in the Bank (2008, 2009)

Nineteenth Triple Crown Champion

Slammy Award for "OMG" Moment of the Year (2008)

Slammy Award for Shocker of the Year (2009)

Slammy Award for Despicable Me (2010)

Slammy Award for Superstar of the Year (2011)

Slammy Award for "Pipe Bomb" of the Year (2011)

Slammy Award for T-Shirt of the Year (2011)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Best Gimmick (2009, 2011)

Best on Interviews (2011)

Feud of the Year (2009)

Feud of the Year (2011)

Match of the Year (2011)

1 Punk held the title concurrently with John Cena during his first reign. After defeating him Punk became undisputed champion but was not recognized by WWE as having won the title a second time.

Luchas de Apuestas record

CM Punk

style="background:#e3e3e3; width:5%;"	Wager	Winner	Loser	Location	Date	Notes
Hair	Rey Mysterio	|	Detroit, Michigan		Over the Limit (2010)>Over the Limit.

References

External links

Professional wrestling record for CM Punk from The Internet Wrestling Database

WWE Profile

Category:1978 births Category:American professional wrestlers Category:Living people Category:Masked wrestlers Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Pescetarians Category:Professional wrestling announcers Category:Professional wrestlers from Illinois Category:Straight edge individuals

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Name	Brock Lesnar
Names	Brock Lesnar
Height
Weight
Birth date	July 12, 1977
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) {{Infobox NFL player
Name	Brock Lesnar
Currentnumber	69
Currentposition	Defensive tackle
Birth date	July 12, 1977
Birth place	Webster, South Dakota
Heightft	6
Heightin	2
Weight	285
Highschool	Webster High School
College	Minnesota
Undraftedyear	2004
Pastteams	Minnesota Vikings (2004)* :*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Statweek	17
Statseason	2004
Statlabel1	Games played
Statvalue1	--
Statlabel2	Tackles
Statvalue2	--
Statlabel3	Sacks
Statvalue3	-- }}

After his final match at WrestleMania XX, Lesnar sidelined his career in WWE to pursue a career in the National Football League. This move upset many in WWE, as the company felt they had invested heavily in Lesnar. World Wrestling Entertainment confirmed Lesnar's departure on their official website WWE.com by the statement

}}

Lesnar later told a Minnesota radio show that he had three wonderful years in WWE, but had grown unhappy and had always wanted to play pro football, adding that he did not want to be 40 years old and wondering if he could have made it in football. In an interview about starting with the NFL, Lesnar made the statement }}

Lesnar played for the Minnesota Vikings, where he created controversy in some games by starting minor fights and got heat from the Kansas City Chiefs for a sack on quarterback Damon Huard, which drew a big response from the crowd. Huard was hit hard and had to go to the sidelines and sit out a few plays. After playing in the preseason, Lesnar ended up being a late cut. He declined an invitation to play as a representative of the Vikings in NFL Europa because he wanted to be closer to home with his family.

Mixed martial arts

name	Brock Lesnar
birth name	Brock Edward Lesnar
birth date	July 12, 1977
weight lb	265
weight class	Heavyweight
reach in	81
style	Wrestling
stance	Orthodox
fighting out of	Alexandria, Minnesota, United States
team	DeathClutch Gym
trainer	Head Trainer: Marty Morgan Coach: Erik Paulson Boxing: Peter Welch Jiu-Jitsu: Rodrigo Medeiros
wrestling	NCAA Division I Wrestling
years active	2007 – 2011 (MMA)
mma win	5
mma kowin	2
mma subwin	2
mma decwin	1
mma loss	3
mma koloss	2
mma subloss	1
university	University of Minnesota
spouse	Rena Mero
sherdog	17522
updated	}}

Hero's (2007)

On April 28, 2006, Lesnar appeared inside the ring after the final match of K-1 Hero's Las Vegas and announced his intent to join the MMA promotion. He trained with Minnesota Martial Arts Academy under Greg Nelson, and University of Minnesota Assistant Head wrestling coach Marty Morgan. Brock Lesnar announced on August 12 in Las Vegas that he had signed a deal with the K-1 promotion. His first fight was scheduled for June 2, 2007, on the K-1 Dynamite!! USA show against Choi Hong-man of Korea. However, prior to the match, Choi Hong-Man was replaced by Min Soo Kim. Lesnar submitted Min Soo Kim due to strikes in 1 minute 9 seconds of the first round to win his first official MMA match.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (2008–2011)

During ''UFC 77'', it was announced that Brock Lesnar had reached a deal to fight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). On February 2, 2008, Lesnar made his debut with the promotion in an event titled ''UFC 81:Breaking Point'' against former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Frank Mir. Lesnar secured an early takedown, but was deducted a point for hitting Mir on the back of the head. Following another takedown by Lesnar, Mir managed to secure a kneebar and force a submission at 1:30 of the first round. Due to the large size of his hands, Lesnar was wearing 4XL gloves for the fight, making him the second man in Nevada's combat sports history to wear such gloves after Choi Hong-man. At ''UFC 82'', it was announced that former UFC Heavyweight Champion and UFC Hall of Fame inductee Mark Coleman would fight Lesnar at ''UFC 87:Seek and Destroy''. Coleman was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a training injury, and Lesnar's opponent was changed to Heath Herring. In the early seconds of the first round, Lesnar dropped Herring with a straight right. For the rest of the fight, Lesnar kept the fight on the ground and went on to win by unanimous decision.

Lesnar's next opponent was Randy Couture for the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 91:Couture vs Lesnar on November 15. Lesnar beat Couture via a technical knockout in Round 2, becoming the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

On December 27, 2008, at UFC 92, Frank Mir defeated Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira for the Interim Heavyweight title and was to face Lesnar for the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 98. Immediately after winning the Interim Heavyweight title, Mir found Lesnar in the crowd and shouted at him "You've got ''my'' belt."

However, due to a knee injury to Mir, the title unification match with Lesnar that was originally slated to be the UFC 98 main event was postponed. The news broke during the broadcast of UFC 96 that the bout had been cancelled and was replaced by Rashad Evans vs. Lyoto Machida for the UFC Light-Heavyweight Championship." Lesnar won the postponed rematch with Mir at UFC 100 on July 11, 2009, via Knockout after dominating his opponent for the duration of the bout. The win earned Lesnar Beatdown of the Year honors from Sherdog for 2009. It's an award he shares with Anderson Silva after his win over Forrest Griffin. During his post-match celebration, Lesnar flipped off the crowd who had been booing him. He made a disparaging comment about the PPV's primary sponsor Bud Light, claiming they "won't pay me nothin, promoting Coors Light instead. He then stated he might even "get on top of [his] wife" after the show. He would later apologize for his actions in his post-fight press conference, where he held a bottle of Bud Light.

In January 2009, Brock Lesnar signed a supplement endorsement deal with Dymatize Nutrition. A CD containing training footage of Lesnar was included with boxes of Dymatize Xpand and Energized Xpand.

On July 1, 2009, it was reported that the winner of the Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez fight at UFC 104 would face Brock Lesnar in his second title defense on a date yet to be determined; however, the UFC then reconsidered the contendership bout and Lesnar was scheduled to defend his belt against Shane Carwin at ''UFC 106'' on November 21.

On October 26, 2009, it was announced that Lesnar had pulled out of the UFC 106 card in which he was set to face Shane Carwin for the UFC Heavyweight Championship due to an illness. UFC President Dana White said that Brock had been ill for three weeks, claiming he had never been this sick in his life and that it would take him a while to recover; his fight with Carwin was rescheduled for UFC 108 in early 2010. Lesnar initially sought treatment in Canada, but later told reporters that he had received "Third World treatment" from malfunctioning equipment at a hospital in Brandon, Manitoba, and that seeking better medical treatment in the United States saved his life. Lesnar, who describes himself as a conservative and a supporter of the US Republican Party, went on to criticize Canadian-style health care further and said that he shared his experience in an effort to speak "on the behalf of the doctors in the United States that don't want health care reform to happen and neither do I."

On November 4, it was confirmed that Lesnar was suffering from mononucleosis and that his bout with Carwin would have to wait a bit longer, thus the fight for UFC 108 was cancelled. On November 14 at the UFC 105 post-fight conference, Dana stated, "He's not well and he's not going to be getting well anytime soon." and that an interim title match might need to be set up. In addition to mononucleosis, it was revealed that Lesnar was suffering from a serious case of diverticulitis, an intestinal disorder, which would require surgery. After further diagnosis, on November 16 Lesnar underwent surgery to close a perforation in his intestine that had been leaking fecal matter into his abdomen, causing pain, abscesses, and overtaxing his immune system to the point that he contracted mononucleosis. From the level of damage to Lesnar's system, the surgeon estimated that the intestinal condition had been ongoing for around a year.

In January 2010, Lesnar announced on ESPN ''SportsCenter'' that he was scheduled to make a return to the UFC in the summer of 2010. A match between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin took place on March 27 at UFC 111 to determine the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion, and Brock's next opponent. Shane Carwin defeated Frank Mir by KO in the first round, becoming the new Interim Champion. After the fight, Brock came into the ring and stated "It was a good fight, but he's wearing a belt that's a make believe belt, I've got the real championship belt."

Lesnar faced Shane Carwin at UFC 116 to unify the heavyweight titles. After Carwin knocked him down early in the first round, Lesnar survived a ground and pound attack. Early in the second round, Lesnar was able to take Carwin down, attain a full mount, then move into side-control and finish the fight with an arm triangle choke. With the victory, Lesnar again became the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, earning his first UFC Submission Of The Night and giving Carwin his first loss.

Lesnar's next defense was against undefeated top contender Cain Velasquez on October 23, 2010, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California at UFC 121. Dana White announced via SportsNation that the UFC would be bringing back UFC Primetime to hype up Lesnar vs. Velasquez at UFC 121. Lesnar was defeated by Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship via TKO in the first round at UFC 121 on October 23, 2010.

On January 11, 2011, it was revealed that Lesnar would be one of the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter Season 13, opposite to Junior dos Santos, with the two expected to face each other on June 11, 2011 at UFC 131. Lesnar, however, was struck with another bout of diverticulitis and had to withdraw from the bout on May 12, 2011. He was replaced by Shane Carwin who lost against dos Santos at UFC 131.

Lesnar underwent surgery on May 27, 2011, to help battle his problems with diverticulitis. UFC president Dana White said that Lesnar had a 12-inch piece of his colon removed.

ESPN The Magazine, in its May 2011 issue, did a story listing the highest paid athlete based on base salary and earnings for the most recent calendar year or most recent season in 30 sports. Brock Lesnar topped the list for mixed martial artists at $5.3 million, which included his reported bout salaries and estimated pay-per-view bonuses.

In the summer of 2011 Lesnar announced that he was ready to get back into the Octagon, stating that "I feel like a new man, healthy, strong, I feel like I used to feel."

His return match was scheduled to be at UFC 141 on December 30 in Las Vegas against former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem. Lesnar had to cut weight for the fight in order to meet the 265lb weight limit and entered the Octagon with a potential title shot at the new champion Junior dos Santos for the match victor. During the match, Overeem targeted his opponent's midsection and was able to land several strikes before delivering a powerful kick that dropped Lesnar to his knee and left him prey to a barrage of punches resulting in the referee stopping the fight and declaring Overeem the winner via TKO at 2:26 of the first round. After the defeat, Lesnar announced his retirement from mixed martial arts, mentioning his struggles with diverticulitis and saying "tonight was the last time you'll see me in the octagon". UFC President Dana White commented that while he wasn't aware of the decision, Lesnar's decision to retire was not a surprise to him.

Other media

Lesnar makes an appearance in the video game ''WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain'', which is named after the quote that former WWE commentator Tazz attributed to Lesnar, "here comes the pain." Other video games in which Lesnar has appeared include ''WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth'', ''WWE WrestleMania XIX'', ''WWE Crush Hour'',, ''WWE Raw 2'' ''Madden NFL 06'', ''UFC 2009 Undisputed'', ''UFC Undisputed 2010'', PlayStation 2 version of ''Wrestle Kingdom'' and most recently, ''WWE '12''. as a Legend. With the release of ''UFC Undisputed 2010'' Lesnar became the first man to appear on the cover of a WWE and UFC video game as he was the cover star on Here Comes the Pain.

Lesnar was on the cover of ''Flex Magazine''. Lesnar was featured in Minneapolis' ''City Pages'' in February 2008. In February 2008 Lesnar was featured on the cover of ''Muscle & Fitness'' magazine.

WWE Home Video released a DVD in 2003 titled ''Brock Lesnar: Here Comes the Pain''. The DVD covered Lesnar's career up to 2003 which featured some of his biggest matches. Lesnar owns an MMA clothing line called "DeathClutch".

Personal life

Lesnar grew up on a farm in South Dakota, and later joined the National Guard at the age of seventeen. In January 2001, Lesnar was arrested for receiving large amounts of what was alleged to be steroids. The charges were later dropped when it was discovered the substances were in fact a legal growth hormone. His lawyer later described the growth hormone as a "vitamin type of thing."

Lesnar has one daughter, Mya Lynn who was born on April 10, 2002, with his ex-fiancée, Nicole. He left Nicole in 2003 in order to begin a relationship with Rena "Sable" Mero who had been recently divorced from Marc Mero. Lesnar and Mero were engaged in 2004, separated in 2005, then reconciled later that year and married on May 6, 2006. Lesnar has one stepchild with Mero: Mariah, a stepdaughter born to Mero and her late husband, Wayne Richardson. The couple had their first child together, a son named Turk in June 2009. The couple had their second child, a son named Duke in July 2010.

Lesnar has numerous tattoos, with the most prominent being a stylized skull in the center of his back and a large sword on his chest.

He is known to be very conservative of his private life and avoids discussing it in interviews:

}}

On December 15, 2011, Lesnar was charged with hunting infractions of a trip to Alberta on November 19, 2010. On a court appearance in Medicine Hat in December 20, two charges were dropped but pleaded guilty to the charge of improper tagging of an animal. Lesnar was fined $1,725 and given a six-month hunting suspension.

Mixed martial arts record

|- | Loss |align=center| 5–3 |Alistair Overeem | TKO (kick to the body & punches) | UFC 141 | |align=center| 1 |align=center| 2:26 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Announced retirement after fight |- | Loss |align=center| 5–2 |Cain Velasquez | TKO (punches) | UFC 121 | |align=center| 1 |align=center| 4:12 | Anaheim, California, United States | Lost UFC Heavyweight Championship |- | Win |align=center| 5–1 |Shane Carwin | Submission (arm triangle choke) | UFC 116 | |align=center| 2 |align=center| 2:19 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Defended UFC Heavyweight Championship. Unified UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship; Submission of the Night |- | Win |align=center| 4–1 |Frank Mir | TKO (punches) | UFC 100 | |align=center| 2 |align=center| 1:48 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Defended UFC Heavyweight Championship. Unified UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship |- | Win |align=center| 3–1 |Randy Couture | TKO (punches) | UFC 91 | |align=center| 2 |align=center| 3:07 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Won UFC Heavyweight Championship. |- | Win |align=center| 2–1 |Heath Herring | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 87 | |align=center| 3 |align=center| 5:00 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States | |- | Loss |align=center| 1–1 |Frank Mir | Submission (kneebar) | UFC 81 | |align=center| 1 |align=center| 1:30 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Win |align=center| 1–0 |Min-Soo Kim | Submission (punches) | Dynamite!! USA | |align=center| 1 |align=center| 1:09 | Los Angeles, United States |

In wrestling

Finishing moves

''Brock Lock'' (Over the shoulder single leg Boston crab – WWE or a side bearhug – OVW)

''F-5'' (WWE) / ''Verdict'' (NJPW) (Spin-out fireman's carry facebuster)

* Kimura lock

Shooting star press – OVW

Signature moves

Backbreaker

Double or a triple powerbomb

Knee lift to the opponent's midsection

* Multiple suplex variations

* Overhead belly to belly

* Super

Multiple turnbuckle thrusts

Managers

* Paul Heyman

* Vince McMahon

* John Laurinaitis

Nicknames

"The Next Big Thing"

* "War Machine"

* "The Beast"

* "The Freak"

* "The Anomaly"

Entrance themes

* World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

** "Unknown Title" by Jim Johnston (April 8, 2002 - June 3, 2002)

** "Next Big Thing" by Jim Johnston (June 10, 2002 – March 14, 2004; April 2, 2012 - present)

* Ultimate Fighting Championship

** "Shout at the Devil" by Mötley Crüe

** "Enter Sandman" by Metallica

Championships and accomplishments

Collegiate wrestling

Big Ten Conference

* Big Ten Conference Champion (1999, 2000)

* Ranked the #1 Heavyweight in the Big Ten Conference (2000)

National Collegiate Athletic Association

* NCAA Division I Runner-up (1999)

* NCAA Division I Champion (2000)

North Dakota State University's annual Bison tournament

Heavyweight Champion (1997–1999)

National Junior College Athletic Association

* NJCAA All-American (1997, 1998)

* Junior College National Champion (1998)

Mixed martial arts

Ultimate Fighting Championship

* UFC Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

* Submission of the Night (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Best Box Office Draw (2008–2010)

MMA Most Valuable Fighter (2008–2010)

Sherdog Awards

Beatdown of the Year (2009)

Fighter's Only World MMA Awards

Breakthrough fighter of the year (2009)

Professional wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Inoki Genome Federation

* IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time, considered a continuation of his reign from NJPW)

Ohio Valley Wrestling

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Shelton Benjamin

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Feud of the Year (2003) vs. Kurt Angle

PWI Match of the Year (2003) vs. Kurt Angle – a 60 minute Iron Man match on ''SmackDown!'', September 16

PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2002)

PWI Wrestler of the Year (2002)

PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2003

World Wrestling Entertainment

WWE Championship (3 times)¹

King of the Ring (2002)

Royal Rumble (2003)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Best Brawler (2003)

* Best Wrestling Maneuver (2002) F-5

Feud of the Year (2003) vs. Kurt Angle

Most Improved Wrestler (2002, 2003)

¹Lesnar's first reign was as WWE Undisputed Champion.

See also

List of male mixed martial artists

References

External links

Brock Lesnar's official Deathclutch website

UFC profile

Brock Lesnar Profile at National (Amateur) Wrestling Hall of Fame

Category:1977 births Category:American football defensive linemen Category:American mixed martial artists Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American sport wrestlers Category:Fictional kings Category:Heavyweight mixed martial artists Category:Living people Category:Minnesota Vikings players Category:Minnesota Republicans Category:Mixed martial artists from Minnesota Category:Mixed martial artists from South Dakota Category:People from Day County, South Dakota Category:Sportspeople of multiple sports Category:Ultimate Fighting Championship champions Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestlers Category:Bismarck State College alumni

ar:بروك ليسنر cs:Brock Lesnar da:Brock Lesnar de:Brock Lesnar es:Brock Lesnar fr:Brock Lesnar ko:브록 레스너 hy:Բռոկ Լեսնար hi:ब्रॉक लेसनर id:Brock Lesnar it:Brock Lesnar kn:ಬ್ರಾಕ್ ಲೆಸ್ನರ್ nl:Brock Lesnar ja:ブロック・レスナー no:Brock Lesnar pl:Brock Lesnar pt:Brock Lesnar ro:Brock Lesnar ru:Леснар, Брок simple:Brock Lesnar fi:Brock Lesnar sv:Brock Lesnar te:బ్రాక్ లెస్నర్ th:บร็อก เลสเนอร์ tr:Brock Lesnar uk:Брок Леснар vi:Brock Lesnar

name	Nick Collison
position	Power forward/Center
height ft	6 | height_in 10
weight lb	255
team	Oklahoma City Thunder
number	4
nationality	American
birth date	October 26, 1980
birth place	Orange City, Iowa
high school	Iowa Falls High School
college	Kansas
draft round	1
draft pick	12
draft year	2003
draft team	Seattle SuperSonics
career start	2004
years1	–present | team1 Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder
highlights	}}

}} Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball player, currently a power forward for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA, and well known in basketball circles for his accomplishments at the University of Kansas.

Early life and high school career

Nick Collison was born in Orange City, Iowa, and grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa and transferred to Iowa Falls High School.

Nick Collison was a 1999 McDonald's All-American in high school while attending Iowa Falls, Iowa.

From 3rd grade to his Senior year in high school, the Iowa Falls Cadets only lost one game.

College career

Teaming with fellow Iowan Kirk Hinrich to form one of the best duos in college basketball, Collison helped KU reach two consecutive Final Fours (2002, 2003). Collison finished his college career as the leading scorer in the history of the Big 12 Conference (since passed by Andre Emmett). In 2003, his Jayhawks lost to the Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse University Orangemen in the National Championship game, 81–78. He played for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship.

Collison's #4 jersey was retired by the Kansas Jayhawks at halftime of a 2004 game between Kansas and Michigan State University, in recognition of his achievements (2002–03 Player of the Year, consensus First-Team All-America, Big 12 Player of the Year). Like Hinrich, Collison played all four years in college.

NBA career

Collison was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 12th pick of the 2003 NBA Draft but missed the 2003–04 season with injuries to both shoulders. He made his regular season NBA debut on November 3, 2004 against the Los Angeles Clippers, scoring 3 points in a 114–84 loss. He still plays for the same franchise, now the Oklahoma City Thunder since relocating in 2008. He and Kevin Durant are the only two players remaining from the Seattle SuperSonics era (Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka were drafted by the Sonics but the team relocated before their rookie seasons).

Since his rookie season, Collison made the power forward position his own, emerging as a valuable and solid player during 2006–07, averaging nearly double figures in points (9.6) and adding 8 rebounds per game. The following season, with slightly fewer minutes, Collison pulled down more rebounds (9.4) and points (9.8) per game.

Collison is well known for his savvy and quick defense, most notably having been among the league leaders in charges drawn several seasons in a row.

Personal life

After the decision by the owners of the team to relocate to Oklahoma City Collison decided to continue making his home in Seattle.

Nick is married to Robbie Harriford. They have a daughter, Emma Collison.

Nick Collison's younger brother Michael plays at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa, their father's alma mater.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 2004–05 | align="left" | Seattle | 82 || 4 || 17.0 || .537 || .000 || .703 || 4.6 || .4 || .4 || .6 || 5.6 |- | align="left" | 2005–06 | align="left" | Seattle | 66 || 27 || 21.9 || .525 || .000 || .699 || 5.6 || 1.1 || .3 || .5 || 7.5 |- | align="left" | 2006–07 | align="left" | Seattle | 82 || 56 || 29.0 || .500 || .000 || .774 || 8.1 || 1.0 || .6 || .8 || 9.6 |- | align="left" | 2007–08 | align="left" | Seattle | 78 || 35 || 28.5 || .502 || .000 || .737 || 9.4 || 1.4 || .6 || .8 || 9.8 |- | align="left" | 2008–09 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 71 || 40 || 25.8 || .568 || .000 || .721 || 6.9 || .9 || .7 || .7 || 8.2 |- | align="left" | 2009–10 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 75 || 5 || 20.8 || .589 || .250 || .692 || 5.1 || .5 || .5 || .6 || 5.9 |- | align="left" | 2010–11 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 71 || 2 || 21.5 || .566 || .000 || .753 || 4.5 || 1.0 || .6 || .4 || 4.6 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 525 || 169 || 23.5 || .532 || .063 || .729 || 6.3 || .9 || .5 || .6 || 7.4

Playoffs

|- | align="left" | 2005 | align="left" | Seattle | 11 || 0 || 19.8 || .607 || 1.000 || .630 || 5.0 || .5 || .3 || .4 || 8.4 |- | align="left" | 2010 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 6 || 0 || 21.5 || .333 || .000 || .429 || 4.7 || .3 || .8 || .2 || 3.2 |- | align="left" | 2011 | align="left" | Oklahoma City | 17 || 0 || 24.3 || .632 || .000 || .783 || 5.8 || .9 || .9 || .9 || 6.7 |-class="sortbottom" | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 34 || 0 || 22.4 || .578 || .500 || .667 || 5.3 || .6 || .7 || .6 || 6.6

See also

List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

References

External links

NBA.com profile - Nick Collison

University of Kansas Men's Basketball

College stats at sportsstats.com

ESPN Profile

Basketball Reference Profile

Category:1980 births Category:Living people

Category:Basketball players from Iowa Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:Oklahoma City Thunder players Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from Fort Dodge, Iowa Category:People from Orange City, Iowa Category:Power forwards (basketball) Category:Seattle SuperSonics draft picks Category:Seattle SuperSonics players Category:United States men's national basketball team members

de:Nick Collison es:Nick Collison fr:Nick Collison gl:Nick Collison it:Nick Collison he:ניק קוליסון ja:ニック・コリソン pl:Nick Collison ru:Коллисон, Ник uk:Нік Коллісон

name	Shelton Benjamin
names	Shelton Benjamin
height
weight
birth date	July 09, 1975
birth place	Orangeburg, South Carolina
resides	Spring, Texas
billed	Orangeburg, South Carolina
trainer	Ohio Valley Wrestling
debut	November 14, 2000 }}

Shelton James Benjamin (born July 9, 1975) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment. Benjamin has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling in high school and at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Benjamin has acted as an assistant coach in amateur wrestling. He first spent time in Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he held the Southern Tag Team Championship four times. WWE then moved him to the main roster and put him into an alliance with Kurt Angle and Charlie Haas, known as Team Angle (and later the World's Greatest Tag Team). During his tenure with the company, he won the Intercontinental Championship three times, the United States Championship once, and the WWE Tag Team Championship twice with Haas. He currently wrestles for Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former World Tag Team Champion with Charlie Haas.

Amateur wrestling

Benjamin grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He began wrestling while in the tenth grade at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. While in high school, Benjamin achieved a 122–10 win-loss record and was a two-time South Carolina state high school heavyweight wrestling champion, earning the title in both 1993 and 1994. Benjamin also was a Junior College National Track Champion in the 100 meter and won the junior college national wrestling heavyweight title in 1996 while attending Lassen Community College in Susanville, California. He was then accepted to attend the University of Minnesota, where he achieved a 36–6 win-loss record. Moreover, while attending the university, Benjamin was a two-time All-American heavyweight wrestler. After graduation, he served as an assistant coach at the University and trained with future OVW tag team partner Brock Lesnar. In 1997, Benjamin went 36–6 with 12 pins and placed sixth in the Big Ten Championship. Instead of trying to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Benjamin decided instead to try to pursue a professional wrestling career.

Professional wrestling career

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2000–2002)

Benjamin was offered and accepted a contract from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was placed in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) as one half of a tag team with Brock Lesnar, who was a wrestling teammate at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Together they were known as the "Minnesota Stretching Crew," and they held the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on three occasions. The first two reigns occurred during February and July 2001. They were scripted to win the title for a third time from Rico Constantino and The Prototype on October 29, 2001. After Lesnar was called up to the main roster in November 2001, Benjamin formed a tag team with Redd Dogg Begnaud called "The Dogg Pound" and once again won the OVW Southern Tag Team Title on July 17, 2002. Throughout the remainder of 2002, Benjamin wrestled at several house shows for the main WWE roster and eventually on ''Sunday Night Heat'' as a face character.

The World's Greatest Tag Team and WWE Tag Team Champion (2002–2004)

Benjamin was offered a full-time World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) contract in September 2002. He joined WWE's Smackdown brand as a villain on December 26, 2002, forming Team Angle along Charlie Haas, with Olympic gold-medalist wrestler Kurt Angle as their on-screen mentor. Their first official match together in WWE was on the January 2, 2003 episode of ''Smackdown'' against Edge and Chris Benoit.

They continued their storyline feud with Benoit until No Way Out, when Benoit teamed with Brock Lesnar to defeat Team Angle. The duo were scripted to win their first WWE Tag Team Championship just a month after their debut by defeating the champions, Los Guerreros (Eddie and Chavo Guerrero) on February 6, 2003. The two then went on to compete in their first WrestleMania match at WrestleMania XIX, retaining their tag title in a Triple Threat match against Los Guerreros, and Chris Benoit and Rhyno. Team Angle later lost the title to Eddie Guerrero and his new partner Tajiri at Judgment Day in a ladder match. The storyline concluded on the June 12, 2003 episode of ''SmackDown!'', when Angle confronted Benjamin and Haas and fired them from Team Angle. They began referring to themselves as The World's Greatest Tag Team and won the tag title back on the July 3 episode of ''Smackdown''. They lost the title on September 18, after Benjamin suffered a legitimate knee injury during a match against Los Guerreros. Benjamin was sidelined for approximately one month, but the pair competed together again, taking part in a Fatal Four-Way match at WrestleMania XX.

Intercontinental Champion (2004–2007)

On March 22, 2004, Benjamin was drafted to the WWE Raw brand as part of the 2004 WWE Draft. After arriving, Benjamin quickly became a face when he scored an upset pinfall victory over Triple H with the help of then World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit. Benjamin then feuded with Triple H, beating him three times in total all: once by pinfall, once by count-out, and once by disqualification. As part of the storyline, Benjamin then feuded with the other members of Triple H's stable Evolution. Benjamin defeated Ric Flair at Backlash and lost to Randy Orton in an Intercontinental Championship match at Bad Blood.

During a match with Garrison Cade on ''WWE Heat'', Benjamin punched Cade's knee brace, legitimately breaking his hand in the process and briefly taking him out of action. Benjamin returned in the fall of 2004 and was chosen by the fans to compete for the Intercontinental Championship in a match against then-champion Chris Jericho at Taboo Tuesday. Benjamin was scripted to win the match, giving him his first singles title in the company. During his reign as Intercontinental Champion, Benjamin retained the title against challengers such as Christian at Survivor Series, Maven at New Year's Revolution, and Chris Jericho at Backlash. Benjamin lost the title to Carlito when he debuted on ''Raw'' during the June 20, 2005 episode, ending the longest Intercontinental Championship reign of the decade.

Benjamin's next storyline began on the December 5, 2005 episode of ''Raw'', when Shawn Michaels was scripted to give Benjamin a speech to get him "psyched" for their tag match together later in the night. As a part of the scripted ending to the match, Michaels was preparing to finish the match when Benjamin tagged himself in and missed a crossbody, allowing Carlito to pin Benjamin. Benjamin was then depicted as having a "losing streak" over the next several weeks, which led to Benjamin's noisy, scolding, and domineering "Momma" (played by comedian/actress Thea Vidale) coming to ''Raw'' to confront Benjamin. Momma slapped and yelled at Benjamin every time he lost a match. Before long, she assisted Benjamin in his matches, often interfering on his behalf. This led to Benjamin once again becoming a villain. In 2006, Benjamin had a staged on-screen rivalry with then-Intercontinental Champion Ric Flair. On the February 20 episode of ''Raw'', Benjamin defeated Flair to regain the Intercontinental Championship after Momma faked a heart problem, causing enough of a distraction to allow Benjamin to cheat and win the title. Benjamin continued to feud with Flair, but Momma no longer accompanied him to ringside. As part of the scripted events, Benjamin stated that she was undergoing heart surgery in the hospital and that he held Flair responsible.

Benjamin competed in the second Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 22. Benjamin then had an on-screen rivalry with the winner of that match, Rob Van Dam, in an attempt to take Van Dam's Money in the Bank contract. During this time, Benjamin emphasized his new heel persona with a new gimmick: wearing shades, jewelry, and occasional colored shirts while entering the ring. At one point, Benjamin was defeated by his former tag team partner, the returning Charlie Haas, during an episode of ''Raw''. A predetermined stipulation added to this loss meant that Benjamin had to defend the Intercontinental Title in the same match as his shot at Van Dam's contract, meaning at Backlash it would be a "Winner Takes All" match. Rob Van Dam won at Backlash and became Intercontinental Champion. Benjamin regained the title from Rob Van Dam in a Tornado Tag Team match, pitting Benjamin, Triple H and Chris Masters against Van Dam and WWE Champion John Cena; both the WWE Championship and WWE Intercontinental Championship could be won by whoever pinned the appropriate champion. After Triple H Pedigreed Van Dam, he turned his attention to John Cena and went for the pin on the WWE Champion. Benjamin got to Van Dam first, picking up the pin and his third Intercontinental Championship. Subsequently, Benjamin feuded with Carlito and others for his Intercontinental Championship before losing the title to Johnny Nitro in a Triple Threat match also involving Carlito at Vengeance.

During December 2006, Benjamin's former tag team partner Charlie Haas came out to celebrate with Benjamin after he defeated Super Crazy. The World's Greatest Tag Team was officially reunited when they defeated The Highlanders on the December 11, 2006 episode of ''Raw''. The duo feuded with Cryme Tyme and competed mainly on ''Heat''.

The Gold Standard and United States Champion (2007–2010)

On the November 20, 2007 airing of ''ECW on Sci Fi'', Elijah Burke introduced Benjamin as the newest ECW superstar. Benjamin, who had dyed his hair blond before leaving ''Raw'', began wearing gold wrestling attire and referring to himself as "The Gold Standard". On ECW, Benjamin began once again receiving more airtime and higher profile matches, defeating Tommy Dreamer in his debut. Benjamin then qualified for the Royal Rumble match and won an over the top rope preview. Benjamin appeared in the Rumble match, entering at number 17, but was eliminated by Shawn Michaels. He suffered his first loss since coming to ECW to Kane by count-out, on the January 29, 2008 episode of ''ECW on Sci Fi''. On the February 22 episode of ''SmackDown!'', Benjamin defeated Jimmy Wang Yang in a qualifying match for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXIV, which was won by CM Punk. After WrestleMania, Benjamin briefly feuded with Punk, before he began an on-screen rivalry with Kofi Kingston, who defeated Benjamin on the April 22 episode of ''ECW''. On ECW's 100th episode, however, Benjamin defeated Kingston, thus ending the latter's undefeated streak. To end the feud, Kingston then defeated Benjamin in an ECW Extreme Rules match.

As part of the 2008 Supplemental Draft, Benjamin was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. On the July 11, 2008 airing of ''SmackDown!'', Benjamin defeated United States Champion Matt Hardy in a non-title match, earning himself a future title shot. At The Great American Bash, Benjamin once again defeated Hardy to win the United States Championship. Throughout his reign as champion, he retained the title several times against competitors such as R-Truth and Hurricane Helms. On the 500th episode of ''SmackDown!'', on March 20, 2009 Benjamin lost his United States Championship to Montel Vontavious Porter, ending Benjamin's reign at 243 days. Benjamin then participated in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXV, but failed to win as CM Punk won the match for the second year in a row. On June 29, 2009, Benjamin was traded back to the ECW brand. The following night, Benjamin returned to the brand in a losing effort to the debuting Yoshi Tatsu. However, he would defeat Tatsu in a rematch the following week on ''ECW''. After a tag team match, Benjamin was attacked by his partner Sheamus after Benjamin was pinned. Over the following weeks, Benjamin and Sheamus began feuding with and traded wins against each other on ''ECW'' and ''Superstars'', resulting in Benjamin becoming a face character. The feud lasted until Sheamus was moved to the Raw brand on October 26. The next night on ''ECW'', Benjamin lost to Sheamus in Sheamus' final match on the brand. Benjamin wrestled Christian at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs for the ECW Championship in a Ladder Match, but came up on the losing end. On the final episode of ECW on Syfy, Benjamin formed an alliance with Vladimir Kozlov. Together, they defeated three members of the ECW roster: Vance Archer, Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta. On the February 26th episode of Smackdown, Shelton Benjamin debuted, once again qualifying for the Money in The Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 26, beating CM Punk. However Benjamin failed to win the Ladder match. He defeated the returning Joey Mercury in his last match at the ''SmackDown'' tapings on April 20 in a dark match. On April 22, 2010, Benjamin was released from his WWE contract, along with Jimmy Wang Yang, Kung Fu Naki, Slam Master J, Mickie James and Katie Lea Burchill.

Independent circuit (2010–present)

Benjamin made his independent circuit return on July 24, 2010, in San Diego, California against Scorpio Sky. On July 31, 2010, during the World Wrestling Council's "La Revolución" show in Puerto Rico Benjamin defeated Ray González to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship.

At Crossfire, 27 November, Benjamin lost the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship to Carlito.

On March 8, 2011, Benjamin wrestled in a dark match prior to the ''SmackDown'' tapings in Houston, Texas, defeating Curt Hawkins. On March 9, 2011 Shelton Benjamin won the MWF Heavyweight Championship.

Benjamin is booked to appear on the World Wrestling Fan Xperience (WWFX) Champions Showcase Tour in Manila, Philippines on February 4, 2012, where he will be wrestling under the name his real name.

Ring of Honor (2010-present)

On September 11, 2010, at Glory By Honor IX, Benjamin and Charlie Haas made their Ring of Honor debuts in a match, where they were defeated by The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli).

Benjamin and Haas returned to ROH at the ''Ring of Honor Wrestling'' television tapings on December 9, where they defeated the Bravado Brothers. The following day, at the second set of television tapings, they defeated the All-Night Express of Kenny King and Rhett Titus, and participated in an eight-man tag team match, teaming with the Briscoe Brothers against the Kings of Wrestling and the All-Night Xpress, which ended in a no contest. On December 18 at the Final Battle 2010 pay-per-view Benjamin and Haas announced that in 2011 they would be wrestling regularly for Ring of Honor. At the following pay-per-view, 9th Anniversary Show, on February 26, 2011, Benjamin and Haas defeated the Briscoe Brothers in the main event of the evening to earn another shot at the Kings of Wrestling and the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On April 1 at Honor Takes Center Stage, Benjamin and Haas defeated the Kings of Wrestling for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On June 26 at Best in the World 2011, Benjamin and Haas successfully defended the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a four-way match against the Briscoe Brothers, the Kings of Wrestling and the All-Night Express. The following day ROH announced that both Benjamin and Haas had signed contracts with the promotion. On December 23, at Final Battle 2011, Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to the Briscoe Brothers.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2012)

On December 9, 2011, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Benjamin would be joining MVP for a tag match against Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2012. Benjamin and MVP were victorious in the match, after MVP submitted Takahashi.

Personal life

Benjamin is an avid video gamer, winning WWE's THQ Superstar Challenge, a video game tournament that takes place every year during WrestleMania weekend, four years in a row before retiring in 2007. He spends time every day playing. Benjamin is also proficient in art, creating comic book level work. He considered a career in the field.

Benjamin, along with Dave Batista and Josh Mathews, represented WWE at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in an effort to encourage fans to register to vote in the 2008 Presidential election.

In wrestling

Finishing moves

450° splash – 2000–2002

Dragon whip / ''Money Clip'' / ''Shell Shocka'' – 2003; used as a regular move from 2004–present

''Paydirt'' (Jumping reverse STO) (WWE / ROH)– 2007–2010;

Superkick – 2003–2006; used as a regular move from 2007–present

''T-Bone Suplex'' (Exploder suplex lifted and twisted into a modified powerslam pin) – 2005–present

Signature moves

Arm trap backbreaker

Diving clothesline

Hammerlock front powerslam

*Multiple suplex variations

*Belly to belly

*German

*Northern Lights

Samoan drop

Stinger splash

Turnbuckle powerbomb

Springboard into either a bulldog or a somersault neckbreaker

Managers

Nidia

Paul Heyman

Momma Benjamin

Nicknames

"The Gold Standard" (WWE)

Entrance themes

*"Medal" by Jim Johnston (2003; with Team Angle)

*"Desperate Times" by Jim Johnston

*"Shout Out" by Jim Johnston

*"Vapor Rock" by Jim Johnston

*"World's Greatest (2003-2004, 2007, 2008; with World's Greatest Tag Team)

"Ain't No Stoppin' Me" by Lou$tar (WWE; 2004–2008)

"Ain't No Stoppin' Me (Remix)" by Axel (2008–2010)

"T.N.T." by AC/DC (2011-2012; with Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team)

Championships and accomplishments

Black Athlete Sports Network

African–American Wrestler of the Year (2005)

Ohio Valley Wrestling

OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Brock Lesnar (3) and Redd Dogg (1)

Millennium Wrestling Federation

MWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI Tag Team of the Year (2003) with Charlie Haas

PWI ranked him #9 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2005

Ring of Honor

ROH World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Charlie Haas

World Wrestling Council

WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

World Wrestling Entertainment

WWE Intercontinental Championship (3 times)

WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Charlie Haas

WWE United States Championship (1 time)

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

Most Underrated Wrestler (2005–2007)

Footnotes

External links

Ring of Honor profile

WWE Alumni Profile

Benjamin at Online World of Wrestling

Benjamin's page at The National Wrestling Hall of Fame

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:People from Orangeburg, South Carolina Category:African American professional wrestlers Category:American professional wrestlers Category:American sport wrestlers Category:University of Minnesota alumni

bg:Шелтън Бенджамин ca:Shelton Benjamin da:Shelton Benjamin de:Shelton Benjamin es:Shelton Benjamin fr:Shelton Benjamin ko:셸턴 벤자민 it:Shelton Benjamin he:שלטון בנג'מין ml:ഷെൽട്ടൺ ബെഞ്ചമിൻ nl:Shelton Benjamin ja:シェルトン・ベンジャミン no:Shelton Benjamin pl:Shelton Benjamin pt:Shelton Benjamin ro:Shelton Benjamin ru:Бенджамин, Шелтон simple:Shelton Benjamin fi:Shelton Benjamin sv:Shelton Benjamin tl:Shelton Benjamin th:เชลตัน เบนจามิน vi:Shelton Benjamin