Dive deep into the untold chapters of Brock Lesnar's initial WWE journey in this riveting video! From meteoric rises to unexpected falls, join us as we peel back the layers of the "Beast Incarnates" early days in the world of professional wrestling.
Brock Lesnar's first WWE run is shrouded in mystery and controversy, and this video aims to shed light on the darker corners of his wrestling career. Explore the behind-the-scenes struggles, backstage clashes, and the high-stakes moments that marked Lesnar's ascent to WWE stardom with Paul Heyman.
From his meteoric debut to becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history, we'll uncover the triumphs that defined Lesnar's initial run. However, the journey takes a darker turn as we delve into the legal disputes, and personal challenges that led to his shocking departure from the company.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#BrockLesnar #RoyalRumble #WrestleMania #WWE #Wrestling #Sportskeeda
Brock Lesnar's first WWE run is shrouded in mystery and controversy, and this video aims to shed light on the darker corners of his wrestling career. Explore the behind-the-scenes struggles, backstage clashes, and the high-stakes moments that marked Lesnar's ascent to WWE stardom with Paul Heyman.
From his meteoric debut to becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history, we'll uncover the triumphs that defined Lesnar's initial run. However, the journey takes a darker turn as we delve into the legal disputes, and personal challenges that led to his shocking departure from the company.
You can also visit our site: https://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe
#BrockLesnar #RoyalRumble #WrestleMania #WWE #Wrestling #Sportskeeda
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00:00 Remember that incredible history-making, ground-crushing run that Brock Lesnar had when he broke into the WWE over 20 years ago?
00:12 "I'm not a superstar. I'm an ass-kicker."
00:15 He was the youngest WWE Champion ever at just four months breaking into the main roster.
00:21 "WWE Championship, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar."
00:25 He stormed out of Ohio Valley Wrestling, a class that included other all-time greats,
00:30 but he was the next big frickin' thing.
00:34 And he beat The Rock at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, to capture that title.
00:41 Within a year, he already won the Royal Rumble, headlined a WrestleMania.
00:45 But his abrupt exit from WWE in 2004 may not have been as graceful.
00:51 He was the most accomplished young WWE superstar that we had seen in decades.
00:57 And in just a few short years, he was out of the company.
01:01 "I just didn't want to be in the locker room 20 years from now looking like these guys and still doing the same thing."
01:06 "Being an entertainer wasn't fulfilling my needs, so I just followed out and I used the building."
01:11 It's Sports-Gator Wrestling. I'm Kevin. Let's look at the dark history of Brock Lesnar's first run in WWE.
01:19 Brock Lesnar had incredible success on WWE television and skyrocketed to superstardom.
01:25 But behind all of that, there was a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, and moments where he had, quite literally, fear for his own life.
01:34 You probably know that Brock Lesnar was the beast, even during his amateur wrestling days,
01:40 becoming an NCAA Division I Heavyweight Champion in the year 2000.
01:46 That's basically the biggest honor for any wrestler at the collegiate level.
01:51 But his amateur wrestling and college days are a story for another video.
01:56 What was seen there and clear is that Brock Lesnar had all the skills, an otherworldly physique,
02:02 an incredible competitive drive, and that simple "it" factor where you knew WWE could see money and what he could become in the future.
02:12 When he was transferring colleges to further his amateur wrestling career, he drove 289 miles from Minneapolis to Webster, South Dakota
02:21 to tell his parents of his decision before leaving for another 1,600 miles to Susanville, California,
02:30 arriving at 5 in the morning for the first day of his classes.
02:35 This is an example of someone who simply, when he sets out to do something, he will do it.
02:41 Like many football hopefuls who eventually became wrestlers, the young beast incarnate was left with a big dilemma in his collegiate athletic career.
02:50 He wanted to pursue professional football, but knew that there was no guarantees he would make it.
02:55 On the other hand, WWE had already scouted Lesnar and offered him a lucrative quarter of a million dollar year contract,
03:05 something that was almost never heard of for a WWE recruit at the time.
03:10 As a broke college kid who had the skills, the body, there was no way he could refuse.
03:15 He was always going to be fast-tracked to the main roster through the Ohio Valley Wrestling Developmental Territory
03:21 and be ready for that opportunity when it came.
03:25 And it came on the post-WrestleMania 18 edition of Monday Night Raw.
03:31 A 24-year-old Brock showed up, turned heads, and unleashed his power upon the WWE platform.
03:40 He was an instant hit.
03:43 He had one of the greatest debuts in WWE history.
03:46 Think The Undertaker when he showed up at Survivor Series.
03:50 Think AJ Styles when he showed up at Royal Rumble in 2016.
03:55 It meant something right away.
03:58 But it was a tricky time for WWE outside of Brock.
04:02 Vince McMahon knew he had his prototype superstar, a homegrown in-house talent who had that "it" factor,
04:10 and he was going to turn into the next household name.
04:14 Even then, he was dealing with the fallout of The Rock and Stone Cold's careers going into the Twilight Stage,
04:21 and seeing the inevitable end of those big names, he knew he needed something else on the horizon.
04:27 Stone Cold Steve Austin walked out of WWE because he didn't want to lose to the surging Brock Lesnar
04:34 in a match in the King of the Ring tournament without a build-up to it.
04:38 And The Rock had his sights already set on Hollywood.
04:42 Because Brock Lesnar was chosen as the main face of the WWE at the time,
04:46 when the roster was already stacked with established names,
04:49 he was instantly exposed to the grueling schedule of WWE without being really prepared for it.
04:56 This was a kid fresh out of college.
04:59 No amount of maturity could have helped him deal with what he had to face next.
05:04 In his own words, he was on the road almost 360 days a year,
05:10 while simultaneously dealing with the physical grind that is pro wrestling.
05:16 It's not easy when you have to perform almost every night,
05:19 go in and out of the cities on flights, in cars, finding new places to eat.
05:24 It's a mental struggle on top of just the demanding physical one.
05:29 Doing it on a daily basis and not being maybe set for that opportunity before you get it
05:35 may have been the real problem for Brock as he quickly fell into the destructive pattern of the two Vs,
05:42 Vodka and Vicodin.
05:44 Why don't you think you remember that period very well?
05:46 Vodka and pain pills.
05:48 That's why.
05:50 If you're unaware, Vicodin is a painkiller medication that thousands of professional athletes have taken.
05:56 Plenty of professional wrestlers have unfortunately abused it,
05:59 including one of Lesnar's greatest rivals, Kurt Angle,
06:02 who even admitted to taking 65 pills of Vicodin at a day in the peak of his abuse.
06:08 His comment about not remembering anything may start to make more sense with the two Vs.
06:14 There was even that infamous plane ride from hell that WWE had in 2002
06:19 where Brock Lesnar got into a competitive grappling match with Mr. Perfect Kurt Henning
06:25 while they were on a plane completely out of his mind.
06:29 He doesn't even remember what happened, but on the Dark Side of the Ring series
06:33 it was revealed that they almost broke open the plane's emergency exit door in the process.
06:39 Lesnar said that they were "reprimanded" and that was all of the truth that he would share of it,
06:44 but he seemed to have forgotten that Mr. Perfect was fired directly as a result of the incident.
06:49 Brock Lesnar also had the wild recklessness that some pro wrestlers simply feel they need to have sometimes
06:55 to perform at the highest levels and take those high risks,
06:59 like say a shooting star press that you've never done on television at that point
07:04 on the main event of WrestleMania.
07:07 Yes, Brock Lesnar did that and it didn't go too well.
07:10 It's still a horrific sight to watch, the fact that he only got a concussion from it was a miracle.
07:16 He was lucky to even survive and he probably survived because he was simply a freak of nature athlete.
07:23 He went on to have another incredibly successful year in WWE
07:27 before the disgraceful exit he would have when he faced Goldberg at WrestleMania 20
07:32 when it was widely known in the entire audience at Madison Square Garden
07:36 that he was out of WWE and so was Goldberg.
07:39 On paper Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg in that time frame with Stone Cold Steve Austin as the guest referee
07:46 should have been a big deal, but Lesnar most definitely thought "F this"
07:50 when he flipped off the crowd at the grandest stage of them all.
07:54 But for him it isn't that surprising in the least that he called it quits.
07:58 In an interview with SportsCenter many years later, he was asked about not being able to recall anything
08:03 from those two years between 2002 and 2004.
08:07 He described the insane, daunting schedule that took a toll on him.
08:11 He described his consumption of alcohol and Vicodin as his best friends and his biggest enemies.
08:17 Did I take too damn many pills? Yeah. Did I drink too much? Yes.
08:21 Did I become aware of that I was drinking and taking too many pills? Yes, I did.
08:25 Lesnar admitted to Pat McAfee in their interview that he was running through a bottle of vodka
08:30 every one or two days and even popped a casual "couple hundred pain pills a month" to go with it.
08:38 During his time in WWE he saw people who had been relying on pain medication for 20 years
08:44 and decided that he didn't want to end up being like one of those guys.
08:48 For him, escaping the wrestling business wasn't just a result of burnout.
08:53 It was a last-ditch attempt to save his life from that spiral into very negative and dangerous behavior.
09:02 He was put on the biggest spot you could be in in WWE and had an offer and a strict no-quit attitude
09:09 while they were putting the world title on him after another world title, after another world title
09:15 and another major main event.
09:17 Brock Lesnar described it as being a caged animal and a hamster on a treadmill.
09:23 To quote him, he sums it up how he felt during that entire star-making run.
09:28 "I'm so blessed that I'm alive to tell this story, because there are a lot of people
09:33 who went through the same thing as me who aren't around today.
09:37 Thank God I woke up one morning and decided that enough was enough.
09:41 I knew if I kept on living this way, I would one day just stop living."
09:47 He never lost that competitive edge though.
09:50 Lesnar tried to make a go at it in the NFL, nearly breaking out of the practice squad
09:56 as a walk-on with the Minnesota Vikings.
09:59 After that, he headed east to New Japan Pro Wrestling where he would dominate
10:04 and become an IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.
10:07 But the situation was an entire mess in of itself because Lesnar had two major sources of stress.
10:14 One, he had an MRI scan done revealing that he had two broken vertebrae,
10:20 meaning that he had to travel across the entire world with an injury that required immediate surgery.
10:27 The second situation was that WWE was suing him because of a bizarre, challenging
10:32 and questionable non-compete clause that Lesnar had signed stating that he could not compete
10:38 with other pro wrestling organizations until 2010.
10:43 A whole six year non-compete clause.
10:46 Yeah, really beats the standard 90 days when you get let go.
10:51 The additional stress of the lawsuit didn't help him, and he fell further into his dependency
10:56 on those two Vs, having a legal battle and a serious physical battle in the form of a broken back.
11:02 He noted that his consumption of alcohol and pills, even at that level,
11:07 was considerably lesser than his former WWE peers.
11:11 Having lost touch with reality for a period of time, he decided to make a change
11:16 and move closer to his daughter with a renewed focus on his family and what his purpose in life was.
11:22 Once he ventured into mixed martial arts, he shot into immediate mega stardom
11:27 as the biggest box office draw in combat sports history
11:32 and truly one of the biggest crossovers between pro wrestling and the UFC.
11:38 And oh yeah, he became the UFC heavyweight champion on major pay-per-views.
11:43 Once it was time for him to make that return to WWE, an eight whole years later had passed.
11:49 He had also faced other physical challenges, including diverticulitis, which is not easy either.
11:56 Thankfully this time around, Brock was in the driver's seat to dictate his own terms
12:01 and get the most lucrative and comfortable contract he could with WWE
12:06 as a part-time multi-million dollar featured attraction,
12:10 who didn't have to be there on the toils of the road that he had to deal with before.
12:15 He could come in when he wanted and perform the way he wanted to.
12:18 For many of the years since he took on that part-time status role,
12:22 you have a lot of fans complaining about the lack of appearances
12:25 and not really having real matches all the time.
12:28 Four or five matches a year didn't seem enough,
12:31 especially for a guy who would go on to become a world champion seven more times in WWE.
12:37 That jaded perception seems to have changed over the years.
12:41 What you see more now is fans having a reverent appreciation
12:46 for the fact that Lesnar is such an incredibly unique human being,
12:50 a fantastic businessman, and now a true certified future Hall of Famer.
12:56 It's just a matter of when, not if.
12:58 Who in their right mind wouldn't want to get paid higher than all their co-workers
13:03 while working fewer days a year? I mean, it's just kind of natural.
13:06 Apply Lesnar's situation to your own job and tell us you don't appreciate what he's gotten away with here.
13:12 Professional wrestling's schedule is so grueling and daunting and taxing
13:16 for everybody involved in it, and we're not even just considering the wrestlers.
13:19 What about the crew out there?
13:21 It's considered even more hectic than most competitive sports when you get in that ring.
13:26 You might see a tough guy version of Brock Lesnar that he wants you to see on TV,
13:30 but by most accounts of people who have spoken about him,
13:33 he's an extremely nice, sincere individual who simply values his privacy a lot.
13:40 And what's wrong with that?
13:42 Don't be mistaken. He's still the ultimate alpha male of our species,
13:46 living on a farm in Canada, hunting what he wants, doing what he wants,
13:51 fishing, grabbing bass straight out of the river.
13:54 I don't know, like a bear or something. Are you going to tell me he couldn't do that?
13:57 I believe he could do that. It's safe to say that he doesn't miss those days.
14:01 He's running himself to the ground every day while having incredible success.
14:05 Now, that's a success maybe he gets to have a better perspective on.
14:09 Cody Rhodes, after beating Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2023 in one of those matches,
14:15 you should be considering one of the best of the year,
14:18 admitted that the beast incarnate is to him what Harley Race was to his father,
14:24 the American dream, Dusty Rhodes.
14:26 If you will, we will borrow a quote from the American nightmare
14:31 that perfectly sums up the man that Lesnar is now in pro wrestling.
14:36 When he's gone, I don't know when that'll be. Who knows?
14:41 Because he can go, but when he's gone, I think the world will realize
14:46 what we've got is a freaking unicorn, just a very unique once in a lifetime individual.
14:53 That is completely true.
14:55 Thank you for watching Sportskeeda Wrestling.
14:58 Let us know your favorite matches and moments from Brock Lesnar,
15:01 what you like about him. Maybe you saw him live.
15:04 What do you remember on that show when you saw Brock do his thing?
15:08 Let us know in the comments below.
15:11 Can you see me now? Can you see me now?
15:15 [music]