Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble 2022
From Collegiate Wrestling to WWE Prominence
Lesnar competed in collegiate wrestling for the University of Minnesota, winning the NCAA Division I national championship in 2000.WWE star Brock Lesnar's 2OT NCAA title win in 2000
Brock Lesnar NCAA Championship win
In mid-2002, Lesnar rose to industry prominence by winning the WWE Championship at age 25, setting the record for the youngest performer to win the championship. His win also marked one of the fastest title ascensions in company history, reaching the top championship 126 days after his televised debut. Leading into the event, he lost to Van Dam by disqualification at Vengeance in a match for the Intercontinental Championship. In June, Lesnar won the 2002 King of the Ring tournament, defeating Rob Van Dam in the finals at the namesake event. As part of the tournament’s stipulations, the win earned him a WWE Undisputed Championship match at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, Lesnar defeated The Rock to capture the WWE Undisputed Championship, becoming the youngest WWE Champion at age 25. Following his victory, storyline authority figures divided the championship between brands, with Lesnar declared exclusive to SmackDown and Raw introducing the World Heavyweight Championship.Initial WWE Title Reign
Lesnar's initial title reign included rivalries with The Undertaker and Big Show. At WrestleMania, Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle to win the WWE Championship for a second time. During the match, Lesnar attempted a shooting star press, which resulted in a legitimate concussion. He defended the title against John Cena at Backlash, and against Big Show in a stretcher match at Judgment Day. He faced Big Show again on an episode of SmackDown! Angle returned later in the year, leading to a feud with Lesnar. The rivalry culminated at Vengeance, where Lesnar lost the WWE Championship to Angle in a triple threat match also involving Big Show. Lesnar faced Goldberg at WrestleMania XX, with Stone Cold Steve Austin serving as special guest referee.Brief NFL Stint and NJPW Championship
In 2004, Lesnar departed WWE to join the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL), but was cut from the team during pre-season. After leaving professional football, Lesnar returned to wrestling in 2005 by debuting in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Lesnar defended the IWGP title against several opponents, including Shinsuke Nakamura at the January 4, 2006 Tokyo Dome event, Akebono in March, and Giant Bernard in May. However, in July 2006, NJPW stripped Lesnar of the championship, citing visa issues that prevented him from returning to defend it. Lesnar later departed NJPW and continued to be promoted as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the IGF before taking a hiatus from wrestling to pursue a career in mixed martial arts (MMA).Transition to Mixed Martial Arts and UFC Heavyweight Championship
Lesnar began his MMA career for Hero's in 2007 and signed with the UFC in 2008. He trained with Minnesota Martial Arts Academy under Greg Nelson and Minnesota assistant head wrestling coach Marty Morgan. Lesnar signed the deal in August.WWE star Brock Lesnar's 2OT NCAA title win in 2000
Brock Lesnar in UFC
On February 2, 2008, Lesnar made his debut with the promotion at UFC 81 against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir. Due to his large 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 Hong-man Choi. Lesnar secured an early takedown and began landing numerous punches, but was docked a point after a punch hit Mir on the back of the head.He quickly won the UFC Heavyweight Championship but was sidelined with diverticulitis in 2009. On his return in 2010, Lesnar defeated Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion Shane Carwin to unify the heavyweight championships and become the undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. After a couple of losses and further struggles with diverticulitis, Lesnar retired from MMA in 2011. He returned at UFC 200 in 2016 to defeat Mark Hunt, but his victory was overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for a banned substance on UFC's anti-doping policy. He then retired from MMA for the second time in 2017.Key UFC Fights and Moments
On December 27 at UFC 92, Mir defeated Antônio Nogueira for the Interim Heavyweight Championship 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, "You've got my belt". 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. Lesnar instead fought Mir at UFC 100 on July 11, 2009. Mir attempted to grab ahold of Lesnar's leg early in the fight but was denied and Lesnar held top position landing punches for the rest of the round.A box office sensation, he competed in some of the bestselling pay-per-view events in promotion history, including headlining UFC 91, UFC 100, UFC 116 and UFC 121. He also co-headlined UFC 200, briefly being the main headliner before that spot was given to Amanda Nunes vs.Return to WWE and Continued Dominance
Years later in 2012, he re-signed with WWE; his 504-day first reign with the WWE Universal Championship is the seventh-longest world championship reign in the promotion's history and he holds the record for most reigns as Universal Champion at three.In mid-2013, Lesnar began a feud with CM Punk after attacking him on the June 17 episode of Raw, following tension between Punk and Paul Heyman. Lesnar returned on the December 30 episode of Raw, positioning himself as a contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After attacking Mark Henry and engaging in a brief feud with Big Show, which ended in a dominant win at the Royal Rumble, Lesnar was granted an open contract for a match at WrestleMania XXX. On the February 24 episode of Raw, The Undertaker returned and accepted the challenge, setting up their match for the event. At WrestleMania on April 6, Lesnar defeated The Undertaker, ending his 21-0 undefeated streak. Lesnar's next challenger was Roman Reigns, who won the Royal Rumble match to earn a title shot at WrestleMania 31. During their match at the WrestleMania main event, Lesnar dominated early and famously uttered "Suplex City, bitch!", which evolved into a popular catchphrase. Midway through the bout, Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, turning it into a triple threat.The following night on Raw, The Undertaker explained that he had attacked Lesnar not for ending his WrestleMania streak, but rather for Lesnar allowing Heyman to constantly taunt him about it, which led to the two brawling throughout the arena and a WrestleMania rematch being scheduled for SummerSlam on August 23, where The Undertaker controversially defeated Lesnar. The timekeeper rang the bell as The Undertaker had supposedly submitted to Lesnar's Kimura lock, though the referee had not seen any submission.Feuds and Championship Reigns in the Late 2010s
On the January 11, 2016, episode of Raw, Lesnar returned, attacking The New Day, The League of Nations (Sheamus, King Barrett, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio) and Kevin Owens, before performing an F-5 on Roman Reigns. The following week on Raw, he brawled with Reigns until they were attacked by The Wyatt Family. At the Royal Rumble on January 24, Lesnar was the 23rd entrant, eliminating Jack Swagger and The Wyatt Family minus Bray Wyatt before being eliminated by the Wyatt Family members he had eliminated first. At Fastlane on February 21, Lesnar lost a triple threat match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at WrestleMania 32, where Reigns pinned Dean Ambrose. The following night on Raw, Lesnar attacked Ambrose in the parking lot as he was arriving at the arena.On the July 7 episode of SmackDown, Lesnar was revealed as the returning Randy Orton's opponent for SummerSlam. Two days later on July 9, WWE allowed Lesnar to have a one-off fight for UFC 200. On the July 31 episode of Raw, Lesnar was scheduled to defend his title in a fatal four-way match at SummerSlam against Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Lesnar and Heyman stated that both would leave WWE should Lesnar lose the championship in the match. At SummerSlam on August 20, Lesnar retained the title by pinning Reigns. The next night on Raw, Lesnar was attacked by Strowman. The subsequent title match at No Mercy on September 24 was won by Lesnar. Lesnar then defeated WWE Champion AJ Styles in an interbrand champion vs. champion non-title match at Survivor Series on November 19. His next title defense was scheduled for the Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, where he successfully defended the title in a triple threat match against Strowman and Kane.Lesnar then re-ignited his feud with Roman Reigns, who won the Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber on February 25 to become the number one contender to Lesnar's title at WrestleMania 34. At WrestleMania on April 8, Lesnar pinned Reigns to retain the title in the main event. Rumors arose that Lesnar would leave WWE and rejoin the UFC. On April 9, Lesnar re-signed with WWE. At the Greatest Royal Rumble pay-per-view on April 27, he again defeated Reigns in a steel cage when Reigns speared Lesnar through the cage wall.After the Greatest Royal Rumble, Lesnar was absent from WWE television for nearly three months. At Extreme Rules on July 15, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle threatened to strip Lesnar of the Universal Championship if he did not show up to Raw the following night. The following night on Raw, Heyman agreed that Lesnar would defend his title at SummerSlam; Reigns became the number one contender later that same night. On the July 30 episode of Raw, Lesnar was at the arena but refused to appear in the ring. Angle threatened to fire Heyman if he could not persuade Lesnar to come to the ring. Throughout the broadcast, Heyman's attempts were unsuccessful. At the end of the show, after Angle had fired him, Lesnar appeared to attack Angle and choke Heyman. Two weeks later, the dissension between Lesnar and Heyman was revealed to be just a ruse when Lesnar returning on the August 13 episode of Raw to attack Reigns. At SummerSlam on August 19, Strowman was at ringside ready to cash in his Money in the Bank contract on the winner. Lesnar incapacitated Strowman, allowing Reigns to capitalize on the distracted Lesnar and win the Universal Championship, ending Lesnar's title reign at 504 days.Championship Pursuits and Title Wins (2018-2019)
After his title win, Lesnar was scheduled to face WWE Champion AJ Styles at Survivor Series in another champion vs. champion non-title match. Five days before, Styles lost the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan on SmackDown. At Survivor Series on November 18, Lesnar overcame a late rally from Bryan to defeat him. Lesnar then successfully defended the title against Finn Bálor via submission at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019. The next night on Raw, Lesnar attacked 2019 Royal Rumble match winner Seth Rollins with six F-5s, setting up a title match for WrestleMania 35. At WrestleMania on April 7, Lesnar attacked Rollins before the match.Lesnar and Heyman returned on the September 17 episode of SmackDown to challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. Kingston accepted and Lesnar proceeded to F-5 him. On SmackDown's 20th Anniversary on October 4, Lesnar quickly defeated Kingston in about eight seconds to win his fifth WWE Championship; this was Lesnar's first match on SmackDown in 15 years. After his victory, Lesnar was attacked by former UFC opponent Cain Velasquez, making his WWE debut. Lesnar was then scheduled to defend the WWE Championship against Velasquez at Crown Jewel on October 31. During the 2019 draft, Lesnar was drafted to SmackDown. At the Crown Jewel event, Lesnar defeated Velasquez in under five minutes via submission with the Kimura Lock.Controversies and Recent Events
His title reign ended 29 days later at Royal Rumble, losing it to Lashley. According to several reports, Lesnar was scheduled to make his return to WWE at the 2024 Royal Rumble event as a participant in the Royal Rumble match. During the match, he would have been eliminated by Dominik Mysterio, as part of the build to a match against Mysterio at Elimination Chamber: Perth. However, a lawsuit was filed a few days before the Royal Rumble by Janel Grant, a former employee at WWE global headquarters between 2019 and 2022. Grant alleged that WWE co-founder Vince McMahon had coerced her into a sexual relationship with WWE executive John Laurinaitis and an unnamed WWE wrestler "who was also a former UFC fighter".Criticism and the "Suplex City" Era
During his initial run when he was consistently main-eventing, WWE was in what is labeled by the company and fans as the "Ruthless Aggression Era". Throughout the second half of the 2010s, Lesnar began to receive an increasing amount of criticism for his character and performances. Many reporters thought his Suplex City character "jumped the shark" and his matches had "become formulaic". He was largely criticized due to his absences from television during his time as Universal Champion.Brock Lesnar Key Stats
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| NCAA Division I Heavyweight Champion | 2000 |
| Youngest WWE Champion | 25 years old |
| Longest WWE Universal Championship Reign | 504 days |
| UFC Heavyweight Champion | Yes |
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