WWE fan and Minnesota Vikings fan here, Brock signing with the team was exciting even though he was a longshot to crack the roster. He did take part in that years scouting combine and his numbers are, as you'd imagine, quite impressive. 4.7 40-yard dash, 10 foot broad jump, 35 inch vertical jump, 30 reps on the bench press. It was pretty obvious that had Brock started football right after college instead of going into the WWE he honestly would have made a damn good defensive end in the NFL, time just wasn't on his side (he was 27 when he tried out) and you can't teach the proper technique in that short of time. I believe he was offered a contract to NFL Europe to develop but he turned that down to do MMA instead. Brock is one of those rare athletes that anything he would have done he'd have been excellent at. Part of me wishes that he didn't go to the WWE early on and would have either done football or MMA right from the start. He'd probably have went down as one of the greatest heavyweights in UFC history or he'd have easily been an All Pro defensive end in the NFL.
I appreciate the fact that Brock, despite being a huge star and earning millions while in the limelight just wants to have a simple life living in the middle of nowhere in Minnesota.
I attended one of the WWE shows in South Africa and the tour was named after brock Lesnar, it was called PASSPORT TO PAIN. Brock Lesnar versed The Big Show in the main event and Paul Heyman was in The Big Show's corner. Brock beat The big show with a chair shot. I can still remember everybody in the crowd(including myself) was chanting Brock Lesnar to give The Big Show the F5 but brock Lesnar didn't, But he gave Paul Heyman an F5 instead. I can Proudly admit that my little young self(at the time) was really excited to see Brock Lesnar in action. And the price of admission alone was worth it just to see Brock Lesnar.
Brock connects so well with the audience because of the perception that he gives zero fucks and shows up when he feels like it. That attitude is what people love these days.
Had Brock Lesnar stayed, he would've been the face of WWE, not John Cena. But I'm actually glad Lesnar left back in 2004. He carved a new name for himself in Japan and MMA.
@@kelseykjarsgaard5774don't need to be a heal or face to be the company top guy, look at roman now, lesnar would've been the top guy because of how big of a draw he was
Very informative video. Didn't know about Lesnars substance abuse issues in his 1st run, very similar to Kurt Angle from sounds of it. Story i always heard was he just didn't like the travel and wanted to try NFL. Got a lot more sympathy for him now.
I always respected Lesnar's decision to go away from WWE and shapes his own path. Now with the insight from his comments i admire his decision. Lesnar's not only lucky for his career in the sports but he is also smart. My respect for him it's growing.
The weirdest thing in that Lesnar/Goldberg match was the fans chanting “You sold out.” But Lesnar was walking away from a million dollar contract and Goldberg was not renewing. I still don’t get it.
I think because at the time there were rumours of him going to the NFL so I imagine ardent fans probably directed that at Lesnar, without realising he was wearing his body out at an alarming rate
When I played minor league football, I was considered and quickly denied for the Chicago Bears practice squad. For Lesnar to make it onto the Vikings preseason team and to be in the last round of cuts is remarkable. Especially since he never played college football. And then we won the mixed fighting championship. Guy's a good athlete.
As A South African who did not attend the show but know plenty of people who did , having Brock there was a huge draw. Just being able to see the Beast in Flesh was a huge selling point for WWE
As a South African I can tell you that I wasn't there but seeing Brock Lesnar,Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero in the same ring would have blow my little mind.
The sheer fact that you can realize that is amazing, those times were truly unmatched. Brock, Big Show, Undertaker, Kurt Angle, John Cena on smackdown and Triple H, Goldberg, Stone Cold, Kevin Nash, Batista, Steiner, HBK, Randy Orton on Raw just amazing
Honestly I’m ok with part timers… I don’t think it’s really fair to expect people to wrestle 52 weeks out of the year. That kind of grind is what has lead so many wrestlers to a quick grave.
Do not know who wrote this episode but it is amazing. One of the best videos you guys have ever done been watching a few years now. Also jack you did an absolute class voice over. Great job guys!
Imagine in another universe that Lesnar never did go to WWE and instead just went into MMA immediately after the NCAA like many wrestlers now do. He already had a decent career despite starting late and having that intestine problem. Scary…
He would have became another Tito Ortiz a heavyweight afraid to get hit and losing some matches to guys like Junior de Santos, Cain Velasquez & Alistair
@@attiepollard7847 he definitely was sensitive to body shots but I honestly think that had to do with his condition, like when Overreem dropped him. He took a few good shots and battled adversity though against Carwin. He accomplished a lot in just his rookie years so we have reason to believe that he would’ve been a big problem at HW had he been more experienced and polished. I think in that case he defeats way more credible guys than Tito ever did.
@@petarpetrov3683 very understandable but even without the disease that he was going through I still believe that he would have not last longer than UFC because of more skilled guys.
When WWE comes to South Africa, they rarely bring the biggest stars. The Brock tour being probably the only exception. SO yes, Brock being on that tour was a huge pull for me.
Luckily once he left, there was tons of star power still there. But once he returned, it’s like he hadn’t left at all. He went back to the top of the food chain and the dude began collecting titles left and right, which all consisted in amazing storylines.
@eleodoro de la fuente Not at all in my opinion. Everyone loses eventually though. But if that were the case, they’d stop fearing Brock Lesnar like that long ago.
I wish Brock Lesnar would've had got his lawyer to read his contract first and once officially released gone to New Japan then the UFC. However I'm happy that he got to do both of those ventures.
@@Giantsfanlewis Steroids, my ass. Go watch his amateur wrestling videos from back when Lesner was still in high school. The dude is naturally jacked. He's basically a genetic goldmine and an absolute freak of nature. So yeah, that is something.
Lesnar was handed a title shot in his 4th ever MMA bout against an aged Randy Couture. His overall record of 5-3-1, and the manner of his losses expose him greatly. How many fighters get a title shot after a 2-1 (1-1 in UFC) record ? Even in his "return bout" the man was caught roiding.
When Brock went to the UFC to fight and actually be very successful, is why he can do whatever he likes in the WWE with the schedule that he likes, apart from the obviously high star power he generates, he is legitimately the toughest guy in the WWE and has been since the days of Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. When you have someone like that you offer him the contract he wants with the conditions that he wants, he's worth it.
Love the man or hate the man, not many can say they fought, wrestled, and tried out for the NFL . I've followed Brock's career and I still think he was wrongfully put in a situation by Vince which ultimately screwed Taker's last few years in WWE.
That furtive clause which prevented Lesner from competing in any other wrestling promotion for the next 6 years is one of the scummiest things I've ever heard. And then following through with it makes it even worse. I'm surprised Lesner even agreed to return to WWE after all shit Vince put him through. That backstage clip where Lesner throws the Universal title in Vince's face at the end of WM 34 makes a lot of sense now.
As a South African I actually attended this show at the Coca-Cola dome. The day prior was a meet and greet which all stars were present at except Brock Lesnar (Was at Vodaworld in Midrand) At the time Lesnar was my favourite and his match was hardly anything special, meeting the other stars in person for me was much more of a highlight.
I was at a Cape Town show at this time and I saw the ending of Wrestlemania play out in the main event but with Brock, he came out with Heyman, they made fun of the SA cricket team, Cena came out with a SA cricket top on but got squashed
It all makes sense. At first I thought he was just a lazy fuck but now I realize he tried the best he could to preserve his body while WWE had no choice but to comply because they can’t afford to lose him as a draw.
Taker v Brock Hell in a cell was iconic. Too much blood to relive these days with replays etc. And it takes away from Brock v Taker at ConcussionMania.
I'm a South African and to be honest I would pay Money to see Brock in a paperview match here. So WWE I think South Africa deserves a stadium Paperview since there is a huge amount of fans here.
Cena had already suffered a massive loss to the rock earlier that year so he couldn't lose another big one whereas on the other hand lesnar was about to enter in a nearly year long feud with the game
@@gayatrikhaware2894 you sat that but that massive loss was supposed to be the start of Cena's downfall where he consistently lost all of 2012. it's even mentioned in the build and promo of Rock Cena 2.
@@wakeup2430 and then after Cena baffelingly won (probably with the same WWE logic that had The Field job to Orton at WM) Cena cut that promo saying he was taking time off to be with his family. And then showed up for work week after week as though nothing happened. And yeah considering that Cena headlined most of the PPV matches of that year, his claim 2012 was a terrible year was hilarious.
Exactly. Those same fans bitch that the guys who "are there every day" are getting "their spot" taken when Rock/Brock/Goldberg come back. Those guys have their own spot that is not replaceable, they are actual stars on a totally higher level than the Seth Rollins' of the world. Fans say WWE should book younger talent like they did Brock but the closest they came to that was Roman Reigns post-Shield run and the fans shit all over that. The WWE fanbase is filled with hipster man-children and what they think is good is not representative of the general population the way it was in 2002-2004 during Brock's first run. Crowds back then took things more at face value and weren't trying to book the show from their seats. The crowd started to get smarky after guys like Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit became world champions and the crowd was told "these guys deserve it" by the company. Vince put Eddie and Chris over as people; not their characters. This was a mistake because smarks adapted the mentality that you need to have 5 star matches to be a world champion, and that some guys "deserve it" and other guys don't because they have't gone through sufficient adversity. We started to see this come back to bite WWE when Cena moved to Raw and started getting rejected by the fans because they didn't think he was a good enough wrestler. I think Cena is to blame for what happened to him in around this time as well.. his character lost most of it's edge and came across as hokey compared "cool heels" like HHH. But even still, since Cena started getting mixed reactions, the company lost all confidence in itself that it knew what fans wanted and they haven't been able to build stars since.
They sure were quick to give Lesnar a big push when he first came to WWE. I think he eventually got burned out by all of the responsibilities he had as a top star.
My opinion on Brock has totally changed. I always assumed he was a greedy and cynical guy; selfish and a bit too 'Aryan.' But now I get it, he's just quite a shy family man with the right priorities about what's important in life. We would all probably live a little better if we learned to live like Brock.
Amazing what a few months away from the ring can do for you. It’s almost as if had they granted him the time he wanted he might have stuck around longer.
I would like to know how many people watch WWE because of Brock. I think the fans will watch with or without him. UFC fans don't care about WWE even with Brock wrestling
It wasn't rigged, Brock was just so good. He lost his first ufc fight but it was a rookie mistake over a former world champion, who he was beating badly before. His 2nd fight was against a wild vet of the sport who fought some of the best in the world and brock dropped and ragdolled him. His combo of size and speed was just different then what anyone had seen in the heavyweight division at that time and MMA history would remember him more fondly if he never got sick
It was not rigged you have to understand Brock Lesnar and guys like Conor McGregor with their charisma and their promos sell tickets that's for Dana White had to put him in that main event fight even when those three wins that he had from the other organizations
1) The ending is true, its not talked about. But his first Summerslam match against Triple H. He quit right afterwards. 2) Hes a farm boy with no sense of humor. Similar to Rulon Gardner. Both of their books play out the same way. 3) In his book he avoids it. But I think he honestly lost his NCAA Scholarship because they caught him with all that HGH.
If he had stayed The RUTHLESS.... AGGRESSION ERA would've definitely been better than the GOAT ATTITUDE ERA. i believe he was the missing piece why thw Ruthless Era comes in at number 2 in WWE/WWF Eras now
If I owned WWE, I would cancel all house shows forever, and build 1 arena for Raw and 1 for SmackDown. The superstars could live in town for the Raw and SmackDown shows and no longer have to travel all the time, and they would only have to travel for PPV shows in other cities once a month, and maybe 1 or 2 tours in other countries per year. They don't deserve the hellish lifestyle that WWE puts them through.
A bear would rip Lesnar apart within a couple mins.. But yes he's a beast. Imagine Brock vs a full size male Gorilla. Who wins? Or even a Chimp? those things are PURE muscle.
Brock Lesner No showing the South Africa tour would not have influenced me to good to a show, But I am in Australia somewhere he has no showed once and had the pick you match appearance to not do a second show here, consequently he has never done Aussie shows.
Lesnar's UFC run - brief and not particularly good - really broke him for me. By the end of it, he came off looking mentally weak, and his return to the WWE seemed an acknowledgment that he wasn't much of a tough guy after all.
I haven’t really kept up with his career, but didn’t he have diverticulitis while fighting and had to get a foot of his intestines surgically removed before he came back to wrestling?
@@rogregg29445 Yeah, had to look it up and double check lol. Just saw he went through NFL tryouts too with a broken jaw & left hand, bruised pelvis, and a pulled groin...which is insane.
@@mikeg155 That's what Lesnar says and that's part of the problem. It sounded like he was making excuses for his losses. Fight fans - myself included - hate it when a fighter tries to create an excuse for why they lost. Lesnar took the fights. No one made him do it. To complain after he lost that it was his stomach? It was really, really weak.
I know it's not an excuse but I wonder if the alcohol and pain pills may have been why he "Allegedly" exposed himself to Terri Runnels. Decision making skill may have been compromised. Still if true is disgusting.
After hearing this story you cant blame brock for going part time and knowing his worth! He knows he is a fucking beast and if vince wants him he has more than enough cash to pay for him... this story tells so much that we didnt know.. Just tells vince doesnt give a shit about his talent all he cares about is pound signs Glad someone finally made Vince eat that metaphorical plate of shit he loves to ram down his superstars throats
Never was a fan. No promo skills. Absent champion, hardly any strap defenses. Stone Cold is ten times the complete wrestler Brock could only hope to be.
Aye when it comes to these brits y’all have to take what they call they call the truth with a grain of salt. These boys stay trying to rewrite history lol...
Whats the point of having contracts if either party can break it at any given time??? If Brock signed a release with a non compete clause, with or without reading it, he should have been held to it, instead of crying and moaning to lawyers. It's your fault if you didn't read the contract in its entirety.
There were two brands Brock was SmackDown nd we all know Cena= Raw ...so u r absolutely wrong Cena hater nd in terms of star power Brock is no match to Cena...Cena has more fans in India than Brock has all over the world
Loooooser u know still pretending to be dumb ...no on associate Cena with down , Cena is raw he got all the push nd success in raw ... what's Brock has to do with Cena's SmackDown medicore bookings 😭😭🤣🤣😭.. it's Batista who got the benefit of Brock leaving
