Athletes - Brock Lesnar

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	Athletes - Brock Lesnar

Brock Edward Lesnar (born July 12, 1977 in Webster, South Dakota) is an American professional wrestler, best known for his four year career with World Wrestling Entertainment. He is currently working for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is the reigning and defending IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Before entering professional wrestling, Lesnar was an outstanding amateur wrestler and went to the University of Minnesota on a full wrestling scholarship, where he was roommates with WWE's Shelton Benjamin, himself a talented amateur wrestler. Lesnar won the 2000 NCAA wrestling championships as a heavyweight. He finished runner-up in 1999. Lesnar also wrestled in junior college prior to joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In 2000 Lesnar signed with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling for development, where he wrestled in a tag team named the Minnesota Stretching Crew with Benjamin (a reference to the Minnesota Wrecking Crew). During his time in OVW he became known for performing the Shooting Star Press, a move more commonly performed by smaller, lighter wrestlers and rarely by a wrestler of his size. He was trained as a professional by Danny Davis.

RAW

In 2002, Lesnar was called up to WWE and was immediately pushed. He debuted on Raw on March 18, 2002, beating down Al Snow, Maven and Spike Dudley. Paul Heyman made his on-camera return in WWE as Lesnar's manager, touting Lesnar as being "The Next Big Thing."

Lesnar then feuded with the Hardy Boyz. A ruthless Lesnar was seen giving Matt Hardy an F-5 on the steel ramp, which led to an angered Jeff Hardy wanting revenge on Lesnar. The two squared off at Backlash. Lesnar was able to kick out of Hardy's finisher, the Swanton Bomb. A frustrated Hardy went to grab a steel chair, and was about to use it on Lesnar, but he countered and planted his own finisher, the F-5. Lesnar was declared the winner when the referee stopped the match as Jeff Hardy lay knocked out in the middle of the ring after receiving three powerbombs. The feud between the Hardyz and Lesnar lasted for a few more months, with Lesnar always ending up victorious.

SmackDown!

In June, Lesnar won the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Rob Van Dam in the final round. This victory earned him a shot at the WWE Undisputed Championship in the main event at Summerslam, where he defeated The Rock. Lesnar, at age 25, was then the youngest WWE Champion ever (as of 2005, he is still technically the youngest WWE Champion ever, but Randy Orton is the youngest world champion in WWE history, having won the World Heavyweight Championship at 24). The next night on Raw, SmackDown! General Manager Stephanie McMahon announced Lesnar would defend the title only on Smackdown, forcing Raw GM Eric Bischoff to create the World Heavyweight Championship. That fall, Lesnar feuded with the Undertaker, who he defeated in a Hell in a Cell match at No Mercy 2002. He lost the championship in November at the Survivor Series pay-per-view to The Big Show in under six minutes after being betrayed by Paul Heyman.

After winning the 2003 Royal Rumble match in January 2003, Lesnar regained the WWE championship in the main event of WrestleMania XIX from Kurt Angle. Toward the end of the match, his attempt at the Shooting Star Press failed, as Angle was too far from the ring post. Despite the fact that Lesnar had made that distance in the past with his Shooting Star Press attempts in OVW this time he was exhausted and couldn't make the complete distance. Lesnar landed correctly for the move, but short of his mark (on top of Angle's chest). The result was that Brock's head slammed into the side and ribcage of Kurt Angle at the end of his rotation out of the SSP. This stunned Brock and forced Angle to improvise the finish of the match. The botched move gave Lesnar a concussion. This was Angle's last match in WWE for several months, as he took some time off to have neck surgery. Later Brock admitted in interviews that this event took away some of his confidence and led to him realizing that he could get seriously hurt in the ring. This realization made him second guess his vocation and eventually helped in his decision to briefly leave Professional Wrestling and try out for the NFL (particularly the Minnesota Vikings; see "Departure from WWE" section below).

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Athletes - Brock Lesnar

World Wrestling Entertainment

RAW

SmackDown!

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