Brock Lesnar Biography

Brock Lesnar poses before a UFC match

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Brock Lesnar was born on July 12, 1977, in Webster, SD. While a student at the University of Minnesota, he won the NCAA individual heavyweight wrestling championship in 2000. After graduation, he trained in the WWF's Ohio Valley Wrestling Facility. He is currently married to former WWE Diva Sable.

Early Career

Brock Lesnar made his WWF debut the night after WrestleMania 18 by destroying Maven, Al Snow, and Spanky. His manager was Paul Heyman who worked out a secret deal with Vince McMahon. Lesnar helped McMahon beat Ric Flair to regain ownership of the WWE. On June 23, 2002, Lesnar beat Rob Van Dam to win the King of the Ring. After the match, Heyman announced that Lesnar was receiving a shot at the title at SummerSlam as part of the deal with Vince.

Prior to the big SummerSlam match, Brock Lesnar forced Hulk Hogan to submit to his bear hug. After the match, he smeared Hulk's blood on himself. At SummerSlam, Brock beat the Rock to win the WWE Championship. These matches were the final appearances for both of his victims for almost a year. After taking the belt to SmackDown, the era of split champions in the WWE started.

One of the first men to go after the belt was the Undertaker. Brock used Undertaker's pregnant wife as a pawn in this feud and tried to convince her that the Undertaker was having an affair. He also broke the hand of the Undertaker. The feud ended when Brock winning a ​Hell in a Cell Match. His next victim was supposed to be the Big Show, but Paul Heyman turned on Brock and cost him the title at the Survivor Series.

WrestleMania

The Big Show lost the title to Kurt Angle with the help of Brock Lesnar. It was later revealed that Angle was behind everything. Brock won the ​Royal Rumble to get a title shot at WrestleMania XIX. He beat Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XIX but had to spend the night in the hospital due to a botched shooting star press. He then feuded with the Big Show again and this was highlighted by the ring collapsing during their SmackDown match and Brock winning a stretcher match on Pay-per-View by using a fork lift.

Brock turned heel again after losing the title to Angle in a 3-way match. He took his frustrations out on a 1-legged Zach Gowan and continually threatened Stephanie McMahon in her feud with her father. He regained the title by beating Angle in an Iron Man match on SmackDown! At the Survivor Series, he had bad words with RAW star Goldberg and then cost him the Royal Rumble a few months later. Goldberg got his revenge by causing Lesnar to lose the title to Eddie Guerrero.

Goldberg and Brock were scheduled for a big inter-promotional match at WrestleMania XX that was officiated by Steve Austin. Before the match, Lesnar quit the WWE but promised to appear at the match. The MSG card was brutal to both men (it was also known to be Goldberg's final appearance) and the crowd chants were the highlight of this terrible match that ended with Goldberg winning but the crowd only cheering for Austin stunning both men.

The Vikings

Brock Lesnar tried out for the Minnesota Vikings in the summer of 2004. He was cut by the team. Since then, he has been in a legal situation with the WWE due to a release he signed that would keep him out of the ring till 2010. Lesnar won the IWGP title in Japan on October 8, 2005. In April 2006, Brock and the WWE settled their differences out of court. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. In July 2006, he was stripped of the IWGP title due to "visa problems".

UFC Heavyweight Champion

In 2007, Brock Lesnar entered the world of Mixed Martial Arts. He won his first fight against Min Soo Kim and then signed a deal with the UFC. After losing his first UFC fight to Frank Mir, he won his second UFC match against Heath Herring. In his third UFC battle, he beat Randy Couture to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, Brock's career was derailed by two bouts of diverticulitis which each kept him out of the Octagon for a year. On December 30, 2011, he announced his retirement from the UFC after losing his return bout against Alistair Overeem.

Return to WWE

Brock returned to WWE in 2012 and has left a trail of destruction in his wake.  Despite fighting on a very infrequent basis he has broken Triple H's arm on two occasions, ended Undertaker's undefeated streak at WrestleMania, and manhandled John Cena en route to becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champions.

WWE & UFC Titles

Brock Lesnar WWE & UFC Title History:

UFC Heavyweight Championship

  • 11/15/08 UFC 91: Beat Randy Couture via TKO (strikes) in Round 2
  • 7/11/09 UFC 100: Unified the UFC Heavyweight Championship when he beat Interim Champion Frank Mir via TKO (strikes) in round 2
  • 7/3/10 UFC 116: Unified the UFC Heavyweight Championship when he beat Shane Carwin via submission in round 2

WWE Championship

  • 8/25/02 SummerSlam: beat the Rock
  • 3/30/03 WrestleMania XIX: beat Kurt Angle
  • 9/18/03 SmackDown!: beat Kurt Angle in a 1 hour Iron Man Match

WWE World Heavyweight Championship

  • 8/17/14 SummerSlam: beat John Cena

Sources: Pro Wrestling Illustrated Almanac, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, and Onlineworldofwrestling.com