Brock Lesnar has one of WWE’s most iconic, storied careers, but it almost started much sooner.
The five-time WWE Champion started with WWE in 2002, debuting as a monster heel under the management of Paul Heyman. However, Jim Ross recently revealed the company almost signed The Beast Incarnate a few years earlier, but a handshake deal prevented it.
During his podcast Grilling JR, the former WWE announcer was asked if the company was at risk of losing Lesnar to another promotion. Lesnar was making a name for himself while still wrestling in college in 1999 and 2000, and plenty of other promotions were around to snatch up the prospect, including a WCW which still had Ted Turner’s backing and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“Absolutely not, we had him,” Ross revealed. “And for that, we could always thank J Robinson, the wrestling coach at Minnesota, for his support on that deal.”
A former Olympic wrestler and Army Ranger, J Robinson was the wrestling coach for the University of Minnesota for three decades. Robinson had a notable career with a plethora of championships, though it ended abruptly following a prescription drug scandal.
At the height of Robinson’s tenure, Lesnar transferred in on an amateur wrestling scholarship from the University of Bismarck. His junior year saw him become the runner-up for the NCAA Division I Heavyweight Championship, but most importantly, that was when Ross, at the time responsible for recruiting new prospects as the head of WWE’s Talent Relations took notice of the young Lesnar.
With his natural athletic ability and awe-inspiring presence, WWE was immediately interested in the young wrestler. However, Robinson argued to allow Lesnar to finish out his senior year rather than sign on with WWE. With the blessing of Ross and road agent Gerald Brisco (who had been a teammate with Robinson on Oklahoma State University’s wrestling team), WWE agreed not to sign Lesnar until he had finished his senior year of college. Ross maintained that signing Lesnar would have been no problem. However, he did note he refused to tell McMahon about why Brock wouldn’t be signing with the company, as McMahon would have demanded Ross sign him immediately.
It turned out to be in Lesnar’s best interest. During his senior year, Lesnar would come back to win the NCAA Division I Heavyweight Championship, something he’s gone on to say was his greatest challenge to date. Lesnar signed with WWE shortly afterward and reported to the company’s then training facility, Ohio Valley Wrestling. The OVW Lesnar was something much different from WWE, where the physically gifted Lesnar would perform high flying moves and show off his athletic prowess.
After two years in OVW, Brock debuted in WWE as the dominant monster wrestler we know today and went on to have one of WWE’s most impressive rookie years. He quickly won the WWE Championship and became one of WWE’s hottest properties. That rookie year would be just that though - a year. Lesnar opted to leave the company to pursue a football career again, though that would only last a few short years before Lesnar returned to the squared circle.
Just over a decade later, after a stint in New Japan Pro Wrestling and making his name in MMA, Lesnar returned to the WWE and proved as popular as ever. But his lasting popularity can all be traced back to the lightning in a bottle that was his rookie year. Inarguably, if not for being allowed to push himself to win that early championship during college, the Lesnar fans know and love today may not have ever existed in the first place.