Speaker 1: I think people need to understand that Brocklesner was only
Speaker 1: here for two years. Brocklesner started the day after WrestleMania
Speaker 1: two thousand and two and finished at WrestleMania two thousand
Speaker 1: and four. Brock Lesner was here for twenty four months.
Speaker 1: That's it. His first run was that fast. His contributions
Speaker 1: were enormous.
Speaker 2: Only once in a long time can you expect to
Speaker 2: see an athlete accountimber a brock Leser.
Speaker 1: The number of moments that Brocklesner offered in those two
Speaker 1: years unheard of.
Speaker 3: Last pass five hundred pounds passed.
Speaker 4: This last n.
Speaker 3: The right to ploded.
Speaker 1: But it was only two years.
Speaker 5: In the early two thousands, an era in sports entertainment
Speaker 5: was introduced to the world.
Speaker 6: Today marks the beginning of a new era, an era
Speaker 6: from which greatness was born.
Speaker 5: Gone that correct, an era that would go down in
Speaker 5: WWE history.
Speaker 7: What the hell A just imploded, old body, It's gonna
Speaker 7: stop me, God obody.
Speaker 8: Time to shake up raw, time to shake up back
Speaker 8: down the jail is.
Speaker 6: An era defined in two.
Speaker 9: Words, ruthless aggression.
Speaker 5: From the time he was eleven years old, there was
Speaker 5: something special about this kid from rural South Dakota the champion.
Speaker 1: I won eighty nine from Webster brock Lesner.
Speaker 5: When he came to wrestling, he was always the best
Speaker 5: in middle school, high school, and even in college where
Speaker 5: he won the NCAA Heavyweight Championship.
Speaker 2: Rock Lesnar from Minnesota is your heavyweight champion.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy, work hard. I know I deserve it
Speaker 1: more than he did.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 9: We want to congratulate you.
Speaker 7: Good luck with the choices after this series.
Speaker 10: Thank you.
Speaker 5: Brock Lesner was a superstar in the makey and quickly
Speaker 5: caught the eye of WWE talent scouts.
Speaker 2: We spotted Rock and college and started recruiting him. We
Speaker 2: needed new faces, We needed new stars, new stars, that's
Speaker 2: what the business thrives on.
Speaker 9: We got Brock and developmental.
Speaker 6: We sent it to Louisville.
Speaker 11: Even if you have top stars now, that doesn't mean
Speaker 11: you're gonna have top stars in two years or three years.
Speaker 11: So it's not like you can just sit and say, Okay,
Speaker 11: I've got all the wrestlers I need for the next
Speaker 11: five or ten years.
Speaker 9: That's never gonna happen.
Speaker 11: So I hear I've got the NCAA Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.
Speaker 9: CA Okay, here we go.
Speaker 11: We're so excited to have the finest collegiate wrestler in
Speaker 11: the United States. Two thousand NCAA heavyweight champion brock Lester.
Speaker 12: Brock came in and he was just a stud physically.
Speaker 12: There was nothing that he couldn't do.
Speaker 13: The World Wrestling Federation and don't BW have tremendous.
Speaker 11: Hope for brock Lesner, tremendous athlete and look at him,
Speaker 11: couldn't hurt him through ran over room with a car.
Speaker 14: I am coming to seek and destroy.
Speaker 1: He's a once in a lifetime personality and athlete.
Speaker 15: He was as quick as the quickest guy, stronger than
Speaker 15: the strongest guy.
Speaker 6: Look at the raw power in the break a rock Lester.
Speaker 12: Who everything he did was just fast and powerful. You
Speaker 12: get a guy who looks like that who's a freak
Speaker 12: athlete but also really understands the psychology.
Speaker 1: There's some moneymare.
Speaker 11: Brock being a freak athlete one day in practice, just
Speaker 11: because he saw somebody else try it, or he saw
Speaker 11: it on TV or whatever.
Speaker 9: Does the shooting star press.
Speaker 6: Shelton out of the rank.
Speaker 9: Brock class Brow the top.
Speaker 5: Broke god god shoutig star Press, Shouting star Press.
Speaker 16: That play makes the same.
Speaker 11: This is not good for a huge guy to do
Speaker 11: something like that all the time, But for the big
Speaker 11: show boy, you bring a pull out all the stops.
Speaker 9: That's great.
Speaker 5: Lesnar's freakish athleticism stood out even among a group of the.
Speaker 6: Very best athletes to ever set foot in.
Speaker 5: OVW But brock grew impatient with the developmental process.
Speaker 1: Brock Lesner had learned all he was going to learn
Speaker 1: and developmental and he was tired of developmental money. Brock
Speaker 1: Lesner knew he was the biggest box office attraction that
Speaker 1: WWE was going to have, and Brocklesner was tired of waiting.
Speaker 1: So Brock made a decision. Moved me up to the
Speaker 1: main roster or kissed my ass goodbye. It was a
Speaker 1: no brainer of a decision. So Brock is working dark matches,
Speaker 1: which are the matches that take place before the television
Speaker 1: goes live.
Speaker 9: Oh my god, that's next.
Speaker 17: World World What ball?
Speaker 7: Wait?
Speaker 17: Two hundred sent of day five pounds.
Speaker 13: Run BLUs thep.
Speaker 1: He was getting horrible advice from these veterans that were
Speaker 1: still hanging on to their jobs as producers. You're too big,
Speaker 1: you move too fast. Don't move so fast, stay still,
Speaker 1: stand in the middle of the ring and don't move.
Speaker 1: So I got together with Brock and gave him some
Speaker 1: different advice than what he was receiving, and I asked
Speaker 1: Vince to watch Rock's match, and Vince loved it. Vince
Speaker 1: told me he was going to put Brock and Hayman
Speaker 1: together on screen.
Speaker 2: And this is one of the hardcore titles. This title,
Speaker 2: as we have said, competed twenty four hours a day,
Speaker 2: seven days a week at what's the hottest free agent.
Speaker 14: Er?
Speaker 6: You know who it is? But what are you doing
Speaker 6: out here?
Speaker 17: He's just he's.
Speaker 9: Just drawing, goes, look at this monster.
Speaker 15: There were these things called talent rosters, with every talent
Speaker 15: and developmental and the main roster all kind of condensed
Speaker 15: onto one page. The top of every year. We would
Speaker 15: pick three and go all right, these three people we're
Speaker 15: gonna get over and they're going to become stars.
Speaker 6: And look at les unrelegated power.
Speaker 15: Certain people like brock Lesnar. You just look at them
Speaker 15: and you go, okay, well that's one.
Speaker 9: This is a highly trained assassin.
Speaker 18: Once you see brock Lesnar, you know exactly who he is.
Speaker 18: He's an ask let us stand, I don't know.
Speaker 6: There's another human being online. But that was a kid
Speaker 6: that move on Recushi.
Speaker 19: It was like this model that you'd never seen before.
Speaker 6: Sup the hell did he call from?
Speaker 18: Brock was just like very intimidating to wrestle against, because
Speaker 18: you know, this is a guy that is real.
Speaker 1: If he wanted to, he could kill you.
Speaker 8: Let them stand next to block lessler, you can't do
Speaker 8: how anything you pa Well please.
Speaker 20: Paul was the perfect mouthpiece for Brock because here's a
Speaker 20: big guy that could go out do all of Paul's bidding,
Speaker 20: and Paul can flap his gums and do what Paul
Speaker 20: does best.
Speaker 1: It was a natural fit to take the credibility that
Speaker 1: I had and parlaying that onto whom I legitimately believed
Speaker 1: in my heart and my school. Was the next big
Speaker 1: thing in this industry, drock lest.
Speaker 8: The detrockable rock Lester de perthes too pain rock.
Speaker 1: Lesner, Ladies and gentlemen, But.
Speaker 13: That thing, rock Lesner, you are the next big thing
Speaker 13: than fornight, The next big thing will ride.
Speaker 21: And we are ready to have buddies until the crown
Speaker 21: the two thousand.
Speaker 6: And two King of the Ring and vandamn catlighte.
Speaker 7: Up on the top.
Speaker 9: Oh my god, less A just he just.
Speaker 7: Comment them into their holy and fine las are comment
Speaker 7: dem into their and it's over less of the tag
Speaker 7: of the Rings, and this rookie now has earned a
Speaker 7: man of them shot at the undistooted title.
Speaker 6: That Sommer's.
Speaker 9: Normally. Of course, over time you kind of move your
Speaker 9: way up the ranks. Brock got thrown into the fire
Speaker 9: right away.
Speaker 15: The business in itself thrives on new, So when you
Speaker 15: have someone like Brock coming onto the scene, it's a
Speaker 15: godsend certainly behind the scenes, and it's from the audience
Speaker 15: perspective too. They're yearning for new more than anybody.
Speaker 5: In just three months, the rookie had already earned a
Speaker 5: shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam, but classic Lessner,
Speaker 5: he didn't feel.
Speaker 6: Like waiting that long for the spotlight.
Speaker 1: Why do we want to let Tagger as this man?
Speaker 1: There's no reason for this.
Speaker 9: Rock think about this Rock.
Speaker 1: Paul Cogan versus Brock Lessner in August two thousand and
Speaker 1: two on SmackDown is an opportunity for Brock Lesnar to
Speaker 1: be minted a long term main AFEC.
Speaker 7: This is the biggest match of rock Lester's career.
Speaker 9: He's built to go. He's an analog.
Speaker 12: And when you see those traps coming up, you know,
Speaker 12: there sticking out of his neck, and you see his
Speaker 12: eyes roll back in his head like a shark when
Speaker 12: he's coming at you.
Speaker 9: It's a gut chuck.
Speaker 6: And now it's the.
Speaker 21: Strength of the next big thing.
Speaker 6: And look at the cockiness, the arrogance in this kid.
Speaker 1: The mats oh no.
Speaker 21: Plants, Hogan, talk about your roofless aggression, Paul, Heaven's bringing
Speaker 21: that out of rock West Hollywood.
Speaker 6: Hultkogan is hurting. He'll bolt strictly from the mouth of Hogan.
Speaker 9: Houlgus busted up on the inside.
Speaker 6: He's getting the light squeezed out of him. It's over.
Speaker 6: This monster has squeezed the life out of Hull Hogan.
Speaker 1: Any fan watching WWE in two thousand and two thought
Speaker 1: brock Lesner was the next big.
Speaker 21: Thing, rubbing the blood of Hogan like a badge of
Speaker 21: honor across his chest.
Speaker 1: After the match with Hulk Hogan, everyone knew brock Lesner
Speaker 1: was the next big thing.
Speaker 21: Brock Lesner, believe me, the legendary Hollywood Hulk Hogan a
Speaker 21: bloody fest, a shell of himself in the middle of
Speaker 21: the Ring.
Speaker 15: I remember a lot of consternation going back and forth
Speaker 15: in the production meeting in terms of whether this guy
Speaker 15: was ready.
Speaker 9: The question became if not, now, when and why not?
Speaker 11: Now?
Speaker 9: You're right, he may not be ready, But if it's
Speaker 9: not him, who's it going to be? And there wasn't
Speaker 9: anybody else ready to step into that role. We needed new,
Speaker 9: We need it fresh, and he was new, but he
Speaker 9: was fresh.
Speaker 22: I knew Brock from seeing him around, but until I
Speaker 22: saw the build up for his match with The Rock
Speaker 22: at SummerSlam two thousand and two, I don't think I
Speaker 22: realized how big this guy could be or how much
Speaker 22: the momentum it shifted to his side.
Speaker 8: Just like Hogan's career is now over, the same thing
Speaker 8: will happen to The Rock this Sunday?
Speaker 1: What SummerSlam?
Speaker 18: When there's potential to be built upon, when you know what,
Speaker 18: you know it, when you see it, you see it,
Speaker 18: and I think everybody from Vince to The Rock saw it.
Speaker 23: The Rock was a huge proponent of let'school with Kid.
Speaker 23: We looked at Brock for the future.
Speaker 20: This is a guy that could be a champion that
Speaker 20: every one, no matter where you were, would believe.
Speaker 6: It's a hot August side of the Northeast, and it's
Speaker 6: scorched here and thinned that. I thought platheum.
Speaker 24: As we get set perphaps, some most did pestipated Summer
Speaker 24: Slam in history wheel the Rock continue his reign as champion,
Speaker 24: or will two thousand and two be the Summer of Rock?
Speaker 16: The following contest is schedule for one ball, and it
Speaker 16: is for the WWE of this student's championship and challenging
Speaker 16: the challenge her being accompanied by.
Speaker 13: A mating Pall Hayman from Minneapolis, Minnesota Wing and at
Speaker 13: two hundred and.
Speaker 18: Ninety five pounds.
Speaker 17: The next big thing Rock cis, sir, the.
Speaker 9: Time mccork is done.
Speaker 3: This has chicken time.
Speaker 9: Lestan knows that and so does the Rock. And it's
Speaker 9: no time right now.
Speaker 6: Well, the next big thing become the big thing tonight.
Speaker 10: This is.
Speaker 5: Miami, Laura.
Speaker 25: Why are two and seventy five pounds?
Speaker 4: Is the w w U?
Speaker 13: The Sudici.
Speaker 3: Whoa who guys died Little times fall pushing the right
Speaker 3: Here we go the Rock to Lighty.
Speaker 6: With the title of Kelly.
Speaker 22: The crowd kind of shifted in the rocks favor, which
Speaker 22: was really startling because the Rock was so incredibly popular.
Speaker 22: Clearly there was a seismic change.
Speaker 21: Luster, Spy Bluster and Herrick tims the fans into this match.
Speaker 6: Every single step of the way.
Speaker 5: O.
Speaker 16: What ahead, what ahead?
Speaker 21: Look out, It's run on the rock bottom buck dum
Speaker 21: Pad Lester didn't have a mother.
Speaker 4: And look at.
Speaker 26: A time to the rock the tuner Rod.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna Prester have the fit of the Rock rock Cluster.
Speaker 9: His champion.
Speaker 17: Of the student tippr Oh next big Thing Rockstener five
Speaker 17: from rock Leicester has taken out the Rock.
Speaker 6: Rock Lester has become.
Speaker 21: The youngest Chippion in w W history.
Speaker 3: Who in the hell will be able to stop the
Speaker 3: next big thing fall the look rock.
Speaker 7: Lester has flim them out in just five short months.
Speaker 21: His monsters a top of the World Rockburst, the two
Speaker 21: thousand and two King of the Ring winner, now the
Speaker 21: WWE Undispeedar Champion.
Speaker 6: Is there anything stopping brock Lesnar.
Speaker 1: I don't believe.
Speaker 14: So nothing's ever held me back and from now on
Speaker 14: it's me and everybody. I'm just looking down at you
Speaker 14: and it's harder to fight to the top than it
Speaker 14: is to fight and beat him down. I'm the number
Speaker 14: one man to be around here for a long time.
Speaker 5: SummerSlam was a turning point for the Rock, whose full
Speaker 5: time focus shifted to his budding Hollywood career. So with
Speaker 5: the Great One on his way to Tinseltown, brock Lesner
Speaker 5: was suddenly the top dog in WWE, a shock to
Speaker 5: everyone except Brock.
Speaker 21: You're looking at Thewe's animalistic future.
Speaker 5: Brock's meteoric rise to the top was embraced by the
Speaker 5: WWE universe, but outside the.
Speaker 6: Ring, Brock really didn't care much for the constant attention.
Speaker 20: Brock was still young, gone from OVW, and now he's
Speaker 20: in the big leagues and he's a champion.
Speaker 9: It was a lot, very very quickly. I don't know
Speaker 9: if Brock appreciated the enormity of it all.
Speaker 20: I think that Brock at the time was looking at
Speaker 20: the business as a business, and I'm gonna be a
Speaker 20: businessman about it. I'm gonna go out and do what
Speaker 20: I have to do when I have to do it,
Speaker 20: and I'm gonna go home.
Speaker 14: I spent many hours out there. I'm the tractor and
Speaker 14: chasing cattle around too, lots of hard work.
Speaker 15: I don't know many people know brock Lessner, the person
Speaker 15: Brock's not like sitting down and having a chat with
Speaker 15: you and talking about the latest movie or TV show.
Speaker 15: Brock's a private person.
Speaker 9: Everyone knows that.
Speaker 12: I think he's fine to keep his walls up and
Speaker 12: keep everybody away.
Speaker 10: You know.
Speaker 12: I think there's a part of him that it likes
Speaker 12: to be intimidating to people, you know. And I think
Speaker 12: maybe because he just doesn't want people getting close to him.
Speaker 12: Brock's a very private person to a certain extent. He
Speaker 12: doesn't like people.
Speaker 20: Not a lot of bs and Brock. You wind him up,
Speaker 20: and Brock goes and he looks at wrestlings. This is
Speaker 20: how I'm gonna be able to afford the life I
Speaker 20: want to have.
Speaker 5: Despite brocks matter of fact and meanor, he continued to
Speaker 5: put on an awesome display of power and letticism and
Speaker 5: complete domination in the world. No other rookie can ever
Speaker 5: dominated the WWE quite White rock Lessing, Yeah.
Speaker 21: Hell hit a sail versus the Undertaker. Fine to the Undertaker.
Speaker 21: Rock Lester has defeated the Undertaker at the Undertaker's own game.
Speaker 3: By god away the way that five Lester has at
Speaker 3: five five hundred pounds, and here cuts the new riff
Speaker 3: away the right, ri Ro the Tanger. Wait a minute,
Speaker 3: Paul Hayman is shut up the rock Lefter.
Speaker 5: At Survivor Series, Lesner's historic run would finally hit an
Speaker 5: insurmountable obstacle. His mentor and manager Paul Hayman turned against Rock.
Speaker 6: Helping Big Show take the title.
Speaker 5: With Paul Hayman no longer by his side, Lesner still
Speaker 5: proved to be a force to be reckoned it. Lesner
Speaker 5: added to a sensational rookie season by winning the two
Speaker 5: thousand and three Royal Rumble.
Speaker 22: Now I ask Brawn, Kladra has a limited the underpaper
Speaker 22: krag Klaser has won the Rambo.
Speaker 6: Earning a shot at the title. At WrestleMania nineteen.
Speaker 7: There comes up Pain straight to the main event that Russellmania.
Speaker 19: Pretty impressive year for Brock Lesner, and so then it's
Speaker 19: the pressure of how do you top that and how
Speaker 19: do you keep that momentum going and make it even better.
Speaker 10: I knew that when Brock got up here to the WWE,
Speaker 10: it was going to be about him and me because
Speaker 10: we came from the same sport. N c WA champion
Speaker 10: Arson Olympic gold medalists, the most Antiicentvega batch of the world.
Speaker 18: The two where they went from knowing nothing and in
Speaker 18: the years two times where main event stars.
Speaker 21: Card Angel is the best pure athlete in the history
Speaker 21: of sports entertainment.
Speaker 18: You just don't see that, especially twice in a generation.
Speaker 9: The two greatest athletes, the greatest that ww ring.
Speaker 6: We'll fax each other for the ultimate prize.
Speaker 5: The two most accomplished amateur athletes in WWE history were
Speaker 5: set to collide in an epic battle on the grand stage,
Speaker 5: and it seemed destined to set the standard for years
Speaker 5: to come.
Speaker 10: We were excited, we were main eventing. Everything was aligned
Speaker 10: for us to have the match of the night.
Speaker 6: Russell Maania turns to the double wraight title.
Speaker 1: Rock Lesnar main eventing WrestleMania, Mince brock Lesnar as a
Speaker 1: WrestleMania main eventor, and now we can plan the next
Speaker 1: ten WrestleManias around brock Lesnar.
Speaker 13: Wednestake.
Speaker 1: When Daddy WrestleMania.
Speaker 10: To blame, I brought up the bronc and week prior
Speaker 10: and said, hey, it'd be cool if you hit your
Speaker 10: old finish that he used to do in OVW is
Speaker 10: shooting star press. What is brock doing seeing on the
Speaker 10: top row A three hundred pound man doing that shooting
Speaker 10: star Press. People are gonna remember that forever.
Speaker 15: If you're ever gonna do it. The main event at
Speaker 15: WrestleMania would be the time.
Speaker 6: Listen to the shooting start, plus watching it with everyone
Speaker 6: backstage did oh my god.
Speaker 9: It was horrified.
Speaker 20: We didn't know if Brock had broken his neck and
Speaker 20: wondering this Brock okay and get a little bit of movement,
Speaker 20: and then finally they took it home.
Speaker 1: Shooting Star Press was a classic example of Brock could
Speaker 1: be given bad advice, and that bad advice almost costs
Speaker 1: Brock his entire career.
Speaker 20: Guys were clear, please clear.
Speaker 5: This hole a Fortunately, it looked a lot worse than
Speaker 5: it could have been. Lesnar escaped with just minor injuries
Speaker 5: and now champion once again. The demands on Brock's time
Speaker 5: would weigh heavily.
Speaker 9: There's not an off switch when you're on top of wb.
Speaker 20: Brock came to us with his concerns, and Brock expressed
Speaker 20: that won the lightnings load and if Brock could have
Speaker 20: done once a month, and I know he would have,
Speaker 20: but that wasn't the business at the time, and you
Speaker 20: know you'd get a grumpy Brock some days, and you
Speaker 20: attribute that to he's young's first time, he's doing a
Speaker 20: lot of this, and you'll get used to it, kid,
Speaker 20: you know, come on, you'll get used to it.
Speaker 9: And for some people that's just they don't want to
Speaker 9: get used to it.
Speaker 15: The superstar part of being a WW superstar obviously entails
Speaker 15: a lot, and you know, I think after a while
Speaker 15: there was a little bit of I didn't really sign
Speaker 15: up for this, because you don't really know the life
Speaker 15: until you start embarking on the life.
Speaker 18: There are pressures that you don't see that nobody knows about.
Speaker 18: Sacrifices you have to make. Being the guy with the
Speaker 18: ball and a rocket ship strapped to you. That is
Speaker 18: a ton of pressure. And then you add in how
Speaker 18: much pain you're in because you're wrestling over two hundred
Speaker 18: times a year and what that can do.
Speaker 10: Broc and I were made eventing a lot of shows,
Speaker 10: and Broc and I also don't know how to take
Speaker 10: it easy. Wrestling two hundred and fifty dates or three
Speaker 10: hundred dates a year. It's grueling on anybody, but especially
Speaker 10: if you're brock Lessener and you're main eventing every night, because.
Speaker 9: This is a tough job. Man it'll wear you.
Speaker 10: Down very very quickly.
Speaker 1: Nobody has a schedule like WW do does. It's a
Speaker 1: hard gig.
Speaker 26: I mean, it's a hard thing to do, to to
Speaker 26: be on the road and in the grind and traveling
Speaker 26: and then wrestling, and you're hurt and you're banged up
Speaker 26: and you're driving and flying and living out of suitcases.
Speaker 27: Brock did mention how much he absolutely hated travel, and
Speaker 27: I can certainly understand that.
Speaker 6: As big as he was, I could see that it
Speaker 6: was getting to him.
Speaker 10: He actually bought an airplane so he didn't have to
Speaker 10: go to airports anymore, and he would fly an airplane
Speaker 10: in every city. It was a private plane. That's how
Speaker 10: private Brock was. He literally bought an airplane and hired
Speaker 10: a pilot to fly around all over the country.
Speaker 9: All right, Brock, explain where you are and what you're doing.
Speaker 10: Where am I today?
Speaker 9: You could tell?
Speaker 15: You could tell when someone's enjoying the hell out of
Speaker 15: themselves backstage and when someone is like, let's just get
Speaker 15: this over with and move on to the next one
Speaker 15: kind of thing. And I think, you know, like Brock
Speaker 15: found himself during that period of time, and he knew
Speaker 15: what he liked and knew what he didn't like and
Speaker 15: had no problem saying, all right, I'm going to do
Speaker 15: what I like until I don't want to do this anymore,
Speaker 15: and then I'm going to do something else.
Speaker 1: He quickly grew to being miserable, and I knew brockhead
Speaker 1: to get out, because a miserable brock Lesner is not
Speaker 1: safe for himself, let alone anybody else.
Speaker 5: In two thousand and four, the grind of being at
Speaker 5: the top of the mountain in WWE eventually caused Lesner
Speaker 5: to hit his breaking point.
Speaker 6: Not even two years into.
Speaker 5: His WWE career, brock Lesnar came to a decision that
Speaker 5: would send shockwaves throughout the entire company.
Speaker 9: Rock just sat me down and said, hey, quittin.
Speaker 20: It was that simple. It wasn't a long explanation. It
Speaker 20: wasn't it wasn't blaming anybody or anything. He had obviously
Speaker 20: given a thought and had a plan.
Speaker 9: Do whatever you guys want me to do, but not
Speaker 9: gonna talk me out of it.
Speaker 15: I think there was a lot of different emotions. I
Speaker 15: think there was surprise, some resentment by some people. We
Speaker 15: did all this for you, and that's how you're repaying us.
Speaker 15: You're walking away after we did.
Speaker 6: All of this for you.
Speaker 15: I think everyone was a little shocked by that, But
Speaker 15: at the same time, the signs were there. It's not
Speaker 15: like he'd show up every day with a smile and
Speaker 15: doing a tap dance and being, Hey, what can I
Speaker 15: do today? I'm happy to be here kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Practicson individual.
Speaker 27: He's a very unique individual, and he knows who he
Speaker 27: is and how we wants to live his life, and
Speaker 27: things weren't going according to his plan.
Speaker 5: The final match of Brock's young career was set for
Speaker 5: WrestleMania twenty in Madison Square Garden against another departing superstar, Goldberg,
Speaker 5: but this turned into a night both men wished they
Speaker 5: could forget.
Speaker 20: We're about ready to set the stage for the Goldberg lessener.
Speaker 6: One on one matchup.
Speaker 2: Is going to be, no doubt, a smash small I
Speaker 2: AM Pact MATCHA.
Speaker 15: The thing I remember most about that match was being
Speaker 15: surprised how the Internet reports permeated to the crowd.
Speaker 18: That was like one of the first times where you know,
Speaker 18: the Internet and social media had an impact on what
Speaker 18: you saw on screen.
Speaker 9: Certainly, rumors are running ramp for their lessener.
Speaker 6: Is Cokbuddy playing in.
Speaker 2: The National Football League, therefore leaving their WWE.
Speaker 18: That rumor has.
Speaker 2: Made the rounds and certainly no episode lepisdes where are
Speaker 2: like the fans want.
Speaker 9: To see him go?
Speaker 18: I remember hearing about it, knowing about it, and then
Speaker 18: like seeing the audience all on the same page, just
Speaker 18: being like they were so disgusted with all of it.
Speaker 1: You're in New York City where you have the smartest
Speaker 1: of the smart fans.
Speaker 9: Goldberg, You're walking out on his BRONC.
Speaker 1: You're walking out of episode of hell with both of you.
Speaker 1: You're not just leaving ww You're leaving me too, you know.
Speaker 27: And and they let them have it, and to have
Speaker 27: them go out there in sense the disappointment that the
Speaker 27: audience was experiencing had to be devastating for them to
Speaker 27: have the audience disconnect that obviously from what you're doing
Speaker 27: is you almost feel like you're standing out there naked.
Speaker 27: It's it's a horrible feeling.
Speaker 3: Jack Hammer, look.
Speaker 7: Jack Hammer on the log, don't bercreaks. Lesner got a
Speaker 7: page out of the Book of Stone Past.
Speaker 2: Steve often but oh.
Speaker 28: Well and.
Speaker 7: Stone coll Starner often just done the Lastner run down.
Speaker 6: On the w w A ring.
Speaker 28: There's nothing brought could have done that night. He could
Speaker 28: have had the greatest match in the history of wrestling,
Speaker 28: and the people were still going to chant what they
Speaker 28: wanted to chant, and heckle him and and do what they.
Speaker 23: Want to do.
Speaker 18: As a fan watching and seeing Brock Lesner walk away,
Speaker 18: you're like, you can't believe it. This is everything that
Speaker 18: most of us are pining away for all the time,
Speaker 18: and it just falls in your lap and you're like, nah,
Speaker 18: I don't want it, Like what can't you handle?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 18: What's wrong with you? Come on, get it together and
Speaker 18: make it work.
Speaker 15: There's also a little bit of sense of too, of like,
Speaker 15: you know what, good for Brock If he's miserable, don't
Speaker 15: be here because that's not going to be healthy for anybody.
Speaker 15: If your heart's not into it, go And to his credit,
Speaker 15: he did, and he didn't retreat either. He ended up
Speaker 15: doing extraordinary stuff.
Speaker 29: If you want to get farther ahead in life, you
Speaker 29: gotta stick your neck out. So I'm looking forward to
Speaker 29: the future. I could really care about the past. What's
Speaker 29: done is done, and let's move on and do something different.
Speaker 22: I think Brock saw WW as an incredible challenge that
Speaker 22: he then conquered and that he wanted to be good
Speaker 22: at something else.
Speaker 5: Brock's first challenge outside of the WWE was a seemingly
Speaker 5: impossible one. After not playing football for almost a decade,
Speaker 5: Brock decided to try out for the NFL, and after
Speaker 5: an impressive showing at the NFL Combine, the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 5: invited him to camp. Brock appeared in several preseason games
Speaker 5: and was so impressive the Vikings had a tough decision
Speaker 5: to make.
Speaker 1: Brock Lesniar was the last person cut before the main season.
Speaker 28: That's unheard of. He didn't play the game since high school.
Speaker 28: For him to do as well as he did shows
Speaker 28: what a great athlete he is.
Speaker 4: But he ended up, you know, saying, you know what,
Speaker 4: football is not what I want to do. I just
Speaker 4: wanted to give it a try. And his next challenge
Speaker 4: was MMA, and.
Speaker 10: Brock liked that style because that lifestyle was training at
Speaker 10: home six months and then going to an event one
Speaker 10: time to fight. That's Brock's cup of tea. That way,
Speaker 10: Brock can stay at home trained, spend time with his family,
Speaker 10: do his hunting and fishing, and he doesn't have to
Speaker 10: deal with the real world.
Speaker 5: After an impressive stint in mixed martial arts. Lesnar signed
Speaker 5: a contract with the UFC in two two thousand and eight,
Speaker 5: and less than one year into his new career, rock
Speaker 5: Lesner was the UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Speaker 25: If you look at what Brock Lesner did, the guy
Speaker 25: comes over from the WWE and actually becomes the heavyweight
Speaker 25: champion of the world. It's literally impossible crazy at times,
Speaker 25: you know how it can be dealing with rock Lesner.
Speaker 25: I'm sure he has a very very unique personality.
Speaker 28: Here's a guy who followed his dream and it was
Speaker 28: probably against what everybody else thought of, certainly against what
Speaker 28: I thought at the time.
Speaker 9: We were all dead wrong.
Speaker 6: Rock Lesner had conquered UFC, so it was on to
Speaker 6: the next challenge.
Speaker 16: Oh mind.
Speaker 3: A labscape of the wing has been drastically changed.
Speaker 4: I was really glad that he came back home because
Speaker 4: a pro wrestler and a pro wrestling world champion is
Speaker 4: who he really is.
Speaker 6: I don't last look say it up. Larster's got sat
Speaker 6: up after eight long years away from w w E.
Speaker 6: It was like he never left. I through that fick
Speaker 6: that they got a dark time car.
Speaker 3: The strike is over.
Speaker 5: Only Brock Lester could walk away before his prime, come
Speaker 5: back almost a decade later and be a dominant, maybe
Speaker 5: even more so than when he left.
Speaker 6: It's ridiculous, so dot it that to this day brock.
Speaker 5: Lesner's domination in WWE is unparalleled, and it all began
Speaker 5: in the era of ruthless aggression.
Speaker 20: The ruthless Aggression era was a time of creating, in
Speaker 20: a time of creating the future. Rock was someone brand new,
Speaker 20: came in with brutality wrestling fundamentals.
Speaker 9: And he was fresh.
Speaker 28: Brock is a once in a generation at best athlete.
Speaker 15: I think Brock was a major major factor in revitalizing
Speaker 15: WWE post WCW doing down because he's a homegrown talent
Speaker 15: and never seen before until he hit a WWE rain.
Speaker 15: As far as the sports entertainment world, there's just this
Speaker 15: energy of when that Brock music hits that when you
Speaker 15: were experiencing it in an arena in two thousand and
Speaker 15: two was unlike anything you've ever seen before.
Speaker 22: Nobody made the suspension of disbelief easier than Brock.
Speaker 9: Lesson He's I've a Drago. It was terrifying as a
Speaker 9: movie character
Speaker 12: Wh