What’s the story?
Brock Lesnar is one of the toughest men in the business and anyone who says otherwise is either blind or wants a tour of Suplex City. While the Beast Incarnate is enjoying his reign as the current Universal Champion, his career could have been drastically cut short on that fateful night at WrestleMania 19.
The fans cringe in horror whenever they revisit the infamous botched Shooting Star Press by Lesnar and are astounded as to how he came out of it with just a mere concussion.
Now, footage of what happened after the match has surfaced on Reddit’s Squared Circle and we must say, it isn’t pretty. Lesnar is seen swarmed by doctors, officials and people concerned about his well-being, and it all ends up infuriating the Beast Incarnate. See for yourself in the rare video below:
In case you didn’t know...
Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar faced each other at WrestleMania 19 for the WWE Championship in what turned out to be a 21-minute classic. Both the men put on a solid back and forth encounter, with the botched star press being the only blemish in an otherwise gruesome yet spotless affair.
Despite being rocked and dazed as a result of landing on his head, Lesnar completed the match and ended up beating Angle to become the new WWE Champion in the main event.
The heart of the matter
As Ric Flair mentioned in the video, attempting a Shooting Star Press in itself takes a lot of courage and for a 312-pound monster, the risk goes up a notch. Moreover, Lesnar managed to kick out and finish the match, putting on a spectacle of his legit toughness.
Lesnar in real life is quite similar to the guy we see on TV and for that very reason, it’s a tough ask for the officials to handle him in such situations. The bottom line was that he survived a career-ending injury and went on to script a career that no pro wrestler can ever be able to surpass.
The impact
Lesnar is the most successful combat sports athlete in WWE history. The man has the streak under his belt, has a UFC Heavyweight title to boast of and has won the top strap in Japan and WWE – a rare feat matched only by AJ Styles.
All of that would have been an unrealised fantasy had Lesnar’s neck sustained some serious damage. Thankfully it didn’t and as we speak, the Beast is the current Universal Champion.
While he is not scheduled to defend the title at the upcoming Payback PPV, Lesnar is expected to be back for the Extreme Rules or Bad Blood show to put the title on the line against the likeliest option, Braun Strowman.
Author’s take
While Lesnar is a freak of nature, he’s also one scary freaking dude. I surely would not want to get into his bad books even if he were in a wheelchair. I, for one, am a big fan of Lesnar, irrespective of his part-time schedule and the fact that he has just two moves in his arsenal.
Lesnar is a bonafide monster and it shows in the way he carries himself inside and outside the WWE. On that note, I’ll leave you with a video of Lesnar successfully executing the Shooting Star Press:
