Brock Lesnar is undoubtedly the greatest pure athlete to ever set foot inside a WWE ring. The Beast Incarnate has been on the top of both the professional wrestling world and the MMA world and was also the one to beat the Undertaker’s streak at Wrestlemania.
Brock reached the top of the professional wrestling world just months after his WWE debut when he became the youngest Undisputed Champion in WWE history. Since then, Brock has left WWE to find success elsewhere before making a sensational comeback and he’s been an unstoppable force since then.
But who is Brock Lesnar? What makes the ‘Mayor of Suplex City’ tick? To understand the Beast better, here are 10 things you didn’t know about Brock Lesnar.
10: Defeated Akebono
Remember Wrestlemania 21- the Wrestlemania that isn’t remembered for the sumo wrestling bout between Big Show and Akebono? However, Big Show isn’t the only WWE Superstar to have taken on the sumo wrestling legend on his turf.
Brock Lesnar wrestled the 500-pound behemoth less than a year after his bout with Big Show at Wrestlemania 21 and unlike Show, actually defeated him.
9: Childhood nickname
When I look at Brock Lesnar, I can’t imagine a nickname for him that isn’t different grades of either intimidating or terrifying. I just can’t think of him either as a kid, or having a funny nickname.
However, according to Brock’s childhood friend Justin Gaikowski he was both a child at one time and also has a hilarious nickname. Hint. It’s also the name of a vegetable.
In the 2003 WWE DVD, Brock Lesnar: Here Comes The Pain, Gaikowski said, ““I used to call him ‘Broccoli’. When you’re young, nobody likes to eat broccoli. I’d be like, ‘Hey, Broccoli! You’ve got bad taste!’ ”
8: Brock is Colour Blind
Colour blindness affects 1 in every 12 men, and The Beast is one of them. However, when you take into account that most of the deadly predators in the animal kingdom don’t conceive the full-colour spectrum either, it kind of makes sense.
Most people affected by colour blindness are able to see things as clearly as others but they are unable to ‘see’ red, green or blue light fully. Brock has the most common form of colour blindness, red/green colour blindness, which means he tends to mix up colours which have green or red as part of the whole colour.
7: He joined the National Guard when he was 17
Brock Lesnar joined the National Guard when he was 17 after a military recruiter came to his school and got him and his buddy to sign up. What brought The Beast’s military career to a screeching halt?
Brock wanted to be in the thick of the action, in the heat of the battle and to work with explosives but instead, he was saddled with a desk job which led him to quit and begin training as a wrestler. Yeah, it’s hard to visualize Brock Lesnar as some sort of clerk in the military sitting behind a desk.
6: Brock won his first WWE match by TKO
Brock Lesnar burst onto the WWE scene in spring 2002, accompanied by his advocate Paul Heyman. He interfered in a Hardcore Match between Al Snow, Maven, and Spike Dudley on the March 18, 2002, episode of Raw and destroyed all three wrestlers – he gave Al Snow a spinebuster through a trash can, F5-ed Maven and broke Spike Dudley in half with a triple Powerbomb.
Brock’s first match came at that year’s Backlash where he brutalised Jeff Hardy with a series of vicious Powerbombs which ended up leading to then-referee Theodore Long calling off the match and awarding the win to Lesnar by TKO.
5: He has his demons
Like a lot of other people in the spotlight, Brock Lesnar has had his demons, especially during his early years in WWE. Brock hated life on the road and was affected by niggling injuries and a torn MCL.
During those years, Brock was addicted to alcohol and abused painkillers and according to him, he drank a bottle of vodka a day at one point. Brock’s story of addiction isn’t that widely known as Brock kept it a closely guarded secret like most of his personal life.
4: Brock’s political stance
Although Brock mostly keeps his personal life a closely guarded secret, he has some strong views when it comes to politics. Brock is a Republican conservative and has some strong views about President Barack Obama and Obamacare.
Brock spoke about his terrible experience with the Canadian healthcare system while he was battling a life threating condition, Diverticulitis. He said that the healthcare he received in Canada made him feel like he was in a third world nation and spoke about his satisfaction with the current American healthcare system.
Brock said, “The only reason I’m mentioning this is – I’m mentioning this to the United States of America, because President Obama is pushing this health-care reform, and obviously I don’t want it. I’m a conservative Republican. … I’m speaking on behalf of Americans. I’m speaking on behalf of our doctors in the U.S. that don’t want this to happen, and neither do I.”
3: He refused to partake in a Japanese wrestling tradition
It’s traditional for Gaijin grapplers wrestling in New Japan Pro Wrestling for the first time to get slapped across the face by Japanese wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Antonio Inoki.
While most of the young foreign stars view this as a rite of passage and an honour, not the Beast Incarnate who flatly refused to take part. In his autobiography Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival, Brock wrote about Inoki, “No one was going to slap me. Not Inoki. Not anyone. They got the point.”
2: Biggest developmental deal in history
Brock Lesnar attended the University of Minnesota and came out as the NCAA Division-1 Champion. After University, the coach of the Indianapolis Colts offered Lesnar a tryout but Lesnar rejected it in favour of a WWE contract which offered more guaranteed money.
Although the details of the deal are still undisclosed, Lesnar himself has been quoted as saying, “I signed the biggest developmental deal in WWE history.”
1: The only person in history to….
Win the WWE World Championship, NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight championship, the UFC Championship and also win a NCAA Championship.
Unsurprisingly, Brock’s career is litter with championship gold. He won the NCAA Division-1 Championship while attending the University of Minnesota. He then went on to win the WWE Undisputed Championship just 5 months after his WWE debut and also became the championship’s youngest ever winner that night – till date.
In 2003 Brock also became the youngest person to ever win a Royal Rumble when he won it aged 25. Apart from this, he’s also a former King of the Ring winner along with being a 4-time world champion.
During his stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Brock Lesnar won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his debut match in a triple threat against Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono.
As for his MMA career, Brock Lesnar won the UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 91 after defeating Randy Couture by TKO.
One of a kind, that’s what Brock Lesnar is. Few can match his athleticism and back that with his size, speed, and strength.
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