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CM Punk and Brock Lesnar; Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar

6 WWE Superstars who loved wrestling Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is regarded by many as one of the best to have ever stepped foot in a WWE ring. The former WWE and Universal Champion has shown incredible feats of athleticism in the ring, bringing legitimacy to the company, thanks to his UFC and amateur wrestling background.

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Brock Lesnar may not be a regular in WWE, but the feuds that he has in the company elevates not just the shows that he's on, but also his opponent. Several WWE Superstars have benefitted from the Lesnar effect.

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Here, we take a look at 6 WWE Superstars who loved wrestling Brock Lesnar:

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#6 Kurt Angle

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Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle
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Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle had an intense rivalry during Lesnar's first stint with the company way back in 2003. Many regard his rivalry with Kurt Angle as one of Brock Lesnar's best feuds in WWE. The two have since become friends away from the ring, and Angle has time and again praised Lesnar.

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In an interview earlier this year with Inside the Ropes, the WWE Hall of Famer lavished praise on The Beast Incarnate and said that "nobody can match" Brock Lesnar in the ring.

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"Brock is a different breed but what he does in that ring, nobody can match. He's been doing it for 19 years and he's as good now as he's ever been. As much as he doesn't like people, Brock is one of the greatest and he will continue to be until he decides to retire." (H/T WrestlingInc)

A few years ago Angle narrated how Lesnar personally picked him to wrestle in IGF in Japan back in 2007. The Beast Incarnate did not want to drop the belt to anyone but Angle.

"Being able to wrestle him over there and win the title from him and make him tap out was a highlight moment for me. I did that before — I think it was SummerSlam, a couple of years prior to that — but it was great to get back in that ring with Brock when he was actually with MMA and I was in TNA. I never thought our paths would cross again, but they wanted to take the title off of Brock and Brock said, 'Listen ... I'm not just going to lose to anybody'. And they said, 'Well, who will you lose to?' And he said, 'Why don't you get Kurt Angle over here?' It was Brock Lesnar's choice to lose the title to me and I felt honored by it."
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The two even had a real wrestling match where Angle revealed that he narrowly defeated Lesnar, when the two sparred in the ring.

#5 Daniel Bryan

Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan
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Brock Lesnar may be a beast, a heavyweight standing at 6' 3", but some of his best feuds in WWE have been with Superstars much smaller than him. One dream match that many fans wanted to see in recent times was between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar.

That came to fruition at Survivor Series in 2018, when then WWE Champion, Daniel Bryan, faced Lesnar, who was holding the Universal Championship. That match came about after Bryan had defeated AJ Styles to win the title just days before Survivor Series.

Bryan later spoke about that match with Brock Lesnar and said that he was "very satisfied" with the match:

"One of the challenges with that match, specifically, from a creativity standpoint is 'ok I just turned into a bad guy maybe 5 or 6 days ago, I can't go out there and be a good guy. Otherwise it's an ineffective turn.' So how do I go out there and make people want to see me beat Brock Lesnar but at the end of it still have them hate me? And I feel we accomplished that very well [laughs]. It's funny too, because a lot of people give Lesnar a lot of crap especially from wrestling fans. But man, what an incredible performer that guy is. I've been wanting to do the Brock Lesnar match for a long time and I was very satisfied."
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Bryan had just turned heel before the Survivor Series match, when he lowblowed Styles to turn heel for the first time since his return to the ring after his retirement. Daniel Bryan, though, lost that match against Lesnar at Survivor Series.

#4 AJ Styles

Brock Lesnar and AJ Styles
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A year prior to Daniel Bryan facing Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2018, Lesnar faced off another smaller wrestler in AJ Styles at Survivor Series. Styles, like what happened to him a year later, won the WWE Championship right before Survivor Series.

The match between AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar was appreciated by the WWE Universe, and Styles himself loved how the match turned out, despite losing the match. He had this to say about Lesnar, in an interview with Sportskeeda:

"I think he and I put on a spectacular match and it was a good opportunity for me to be in the ring with Brock Lesnar. It was an exciting match, one that one kind of expected but at the same time didn't know what to expect. I think it was a great match and I'm very proud of that match."
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The Phenomenal One had defeated Jinder Mahal on the November 7th episode of SmackDown, and then faced off against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 12 days later on November 19th.

#3 Kofi Kingston

Current WWE Champion Drew McIntyre has spoken about what a great wrestling mind Brock Lesnar has, and another former WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston, has also stated it. Kingston, who lost the title in seconds to Lesnar last year, played a key part in this year's men's Royal Rumble match and the story that Lesnar told at the Rumble.

While speaking to TalkSport, Kingston said that Brock Lesnar doesn't get credit for his wrestling mind, and said that his moment with Lesnar in the Royal Rumble gives him goosebumps when he talks about it:

“If Brock and I had more of a match at the debut of Smackdown on FOX, then the moment at the Rumble, people wouldn’t have gotten up as much as they did for it. It was great. It was a really big piece of a story having myself in there trying to fight. Then here comes my partner and now here comes Rey who had history with his son. I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it. It was a lot of great storytelling coming together.
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You see Brock Lesnar on TV, you obviously see ‘The Beast’. You see a man who is physically daunting, physically dominating, but he has an awesome mind for the business, and I feel he’ll never get the credit he deserves for that.”

Brock Lesnar eventually eliminated Kofi Kingston, Big E, and Rey Mysterio, but the story of the three - who have all had history with Lesnar - coming together, made for great storytelling.

#2 CM Punk

CM Punk and Brock Lesnar
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CM Punk had a memorable match with Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2013, when the two locked horns in a No Disqualification match. The match was won by Lesnar after a few chair shots and interference from Paul Heyman.

Punk spoke about Lesnar earlier this year, and called Lesnar a "sweetheart" and also said that the match he had with The Beast Incarnate was "everything that I loved about pro wrestling":

"I think I'm one of the lucky guys who he wanted to work with in pro wrestling. We put together a pretty special match. I don't think Brock gets the credit for how smart of a wrestler he is. I didn't know how Brock was going to be receptive to any ideas. So I, especially at that point in my career, I was like, "Let's just go out there and call it in the ring." He was totally stoked to do that. I kind of said, "I just want to do this and this and this." He said, "Oh."
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It was fun. That match is everything that I loved about pro wrestling. Just two guys coming together and being like, "F---, let's just do whatever we want and have fun."

CM Punk also spoke about how Brock Lesnar texted him after he left WWE and offered him help when he decided to try his hand at MMA. He also said that Brock Lesnar has got "a big heart" and that he just wants to be really good at whatever he does.

#1 Seth Rollins

Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins at SummerSlam 2019
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Seth Rollins has had a few match-ups with Brock Lesnar, especially in 2019, with the title changing hands on a few occasions. Rollins called out The Beast Incarnate in his promos and berated him for not being a full-time performer as well as criticised other real aspects of Lesnar's stint with WWE.

But, during an interview last year, Rollins praised Brock Lesnar and called him "one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet", and although it is brutal in the ring with him, he said that "the payoff was worth it".

"But the truth is, when you get to know him, and get the opportunity to earn his respect - because you do have to earn it - he's absolutely one of the best professional wrestlers on the planet. When he wants to show up... when he really wants to. He's changed the game - when you look at the matches he's had, just, when he's in the ring, as soon as the bell goes off, you feel like anything can happen at any moment. I don't know if there is any other performer in the history of our industry who's been able to do that consistently, for as long as he has now."

He said that he was hurting after the SummerSlam match in 2019, but revealed that that match with Brock Lesnar was an "incredible moment" for him in the ring.

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Edited by
Alan John
 
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