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Two decades ago, an NCAA wrestling champion named Brock Lesnar made his debut on WWE's main roster alongside legendary manager Paul Heyman. The rest, as they say, is history. Wherever he has been, be it WWE or UFC, he has been a major player.
From breaking The Undertaker's legendary WrestleMania streak to winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship, not many have been able to achieve what The Beast Incarnate has. Here are ten insane stories about the former Universal Champion that you might not have previously known.
#10 Went to college with Shelton Benjamin
The class of 2000 from WWE's now defunct Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory is still discussed to this day. The reason behind this is because this particular class consisted of legendary wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena, Randy Orton, and Shelton Benjamin.
It's incredible to think that all of those superstars, four of whom would go on to become world champions, broke into the wrestling business and trained together at the same time. It turns out that Lesnar and Benjamin knew each other even before arriving in WWE.
The Beast Incarnate and Shelton Benjamin were college roommates. Both are established amateur wrestlers, so it's no surprise that they would have become friends being at the same college. Not a pair you would necessarily put together today.
#9 The Undertaker at UFC
As touched upon previously, Brock Lesnar had a successful spell in the UFC. The Beast became the heavyweight champion during his time there and even revisited the octagon in 2016 to take on Mark Hunt at UFC 200.
Despite Lesnar's terrifying demeanor, he didn't have a 100% record in the UFC. One fighter who was able to defeat Brock was Cain Velasquez, with WWE even hiring him to unsuccessfully turn his UFC victory over The Beast into a storyline. Interestingly, The Undertaker was one of the fans watching the match at ringside.
Lesnar walked past The Deadman on his way to the back and Taker was caught on camera asking Brock if he wanted to do it. What 'it' was remains a mystery to this day, but maybe it was The Undertaker asking Brock to return to WWE for another match.
#8 Disrespecting sponsors
Brock Lesnar is a big sponsor guy, as you can tell by the shorts he previously wore while competing in WWE. It was even a topic of controversy when it came to CM Punk, who questioned why he wasn't allowed to do the same thing. That story is for another day.
While Brock is given special treatment in WWE when it comes to sponsors, in UFC, fighter gear being laden with brand names is commonplace. Following one fight in particular, Lesnar stood on a Bud Light logo in an apparent act of defiance.
Lesnar would then go on to say that he was heading home to celebrate with a Coors Light. Apparently Bud Light had turned down the opportunity to sponsor him, hence the shot taken by The Beast. He would later be forced to apologize for his words and actions.
#7 Brock Lesnar turned down the chance to have his own private jet
As touched upon very briefly already, in 2004, Brock Lesnar left WWE. The Beast that the company had created didn't leave under the best circumstances either and his infamous last match was the one with Goldberg at WrestleMania XX.
Lesnar was not a fan of the schedule that came along with being a WWE Superstar. In an attempt to remedy this, Vince McMahon offered Brock a number of weekends off and even his own private jet so that traveling would be less of a hassle.
However, the former Universal Champion's mind was already made up. Despite the incredible offer from WWE, Lesnar still walked away to pursue a career in football. WWE quickly learned that not all of their problems can be solved by simply throwing money.
#6 Fit of rage following comeback match
Brock Lesnar's eight-year hiatus from WWE came to an end the night after WrestleMania XXVIII. Despite WWE trying to keep the former Universal Champion's return a secret, fans were wise to it and chanted his name before Lesnar interrupted John Cena.
The 16-time world champion was Brock's first target and his first match back was at the subsequent pay-per-view, Extreme Rules. Lesnar would win, of course, but apparently it didn't go down the way that The Beast Incarnate wanted it to.
Cena was supposed to be so beaten down that he would have to be carted out of the arena on a stretcher. Instead, John got back on his feet and cut a promo before leaving. The booking change left The Bearded Butcher raging and the former UFC Heavyweight Champion went on a rampage backstage.
#5 Addiction to painkillers
Following his UFC return in 2016 Brock Lesnar's fight with Mark Hunt was marred by controversy. It turns out that The Beast had been taking some kind of performance-enhancing drugs in the build-up to the fight and his win was overturned.
Turns out that Lesnar has had issues with drugs before, but not of the PED variety. After leaving WWE the first time around, the former WWE Champion opened up about how tough he found the schedule and how it took him to a pretty bad place.
According to The Beast himself, towards the end of that first run, he was drinking a bottle of vodka a day as well as taking a lot of painkillers. In fact, there's a two-year period that he apparently can barely remember.
#4 Putting a street dancer to sleep
Brock Lesnar seems to have some very close friends and relatives, and outside of that, he's apparently not too interested in human contact. He has his wife Sable, his children, and that may very well be it for The Beast.
Despite that assumption a few years back, Brock attended a local event called Street Dance. While buying drinks from a bar, a gentleman entered and claimed the drinks Lesnar bought were his. Things escalated and the guy tried to hit The Beast with one of the drinks. Big mistake.
What exactly happened is still unclear, but Brock Lesnar admitted that he managed to diffuse the situation by putting the unruly localite to sleep. Whether that was via choking him out or knocking him out remains a mystery.
#3 The wedding ring prank
One of the strangest real-life couples in pro wrestling today is Brock Lesnar and Sable. The two are far apart in age and are also from different generations in the wrestling business. Fair play to them though as the two have enjoyed a more successful relationship than most in the business.
Not only are Sable and Lesnar husband and wife, and have been for a while, but they also have a few children together, both on their own and from previous relationships. Brock took the opportunity to play a joke on his wife using one of their kids.
When one of their sons was one, The Beast got a babysitter to call Sable and tell her that he had swallowed her wedding ring. It was all a joke of course, but a blissfully unaware Sable sifted through a lot of dirty nappies before her loving husband let her in on the prank.
#2 Suplexing an NFL player
Brock Lesnar's attempts to make it as an NFL player and becoming a Minnesota Viking are well documented. It's what he pursued when he first left the world of professional wrestling, and although he was ultimately unsuccessful, he still played a few pre-season games for the team.
One of those pre-season games was against the Kansas City Chiefs. One chief, in particular, had some derogatory things to say about Brock Lesnar's teammate Daunte Culpepper. What happened next would have left that particular Chief eating his words.
The Beast Incarnate channeled his inner pro wrestler and took the culprit to Suplex City. This is no urban myth either and there is actual footage out there of the incident. That should have been a signal to Brock that he was made for a wrestling ring and not a football field.
#1 The shoot fight between Brock and Kurt Angle
When he made his main roster debut in 2002, The Beast Incarnate had an arch-nemesis in Kurt Angle waiting for him. The two legends did battle for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIX in what was one of the most memorable rivalries of the 2000s.
What you might not know is that the two are friends in real life. They traveled together a lot during their early years with WWE and likely built a bond over their amateur wrestling backgrounds. In fact, that aspect of their lives led to them having a shoot wrestling match against one another.
For years it was just an urban myth, but Angle himself declared it to be true in 2015. Once backstage, he and Lesnar had a real amateur wrestling match. Despite Brock Lesnar's pedigree, it was Kurt who won the bout. Angle, after all, is an Olympic gold medallist.
