Shinsuke Nakamura Doubted Brock Lesnar's Passion for Pro Wrestling While in NJPW

Shinsuke Nakamura recently recalled an encounter he had with Brock Lesnar while both men were with New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the memory wasn't exactly a good one. In fact, Nakamura seems to confirm what many fans have felt about Lesnar in recent years as WWE has scripted him to appear disengaged with the wrestling business.

Nakamura wrestled Lesnar at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2006. He recalled the bout in his autobiography, which was translated from Japanese to English by a Reddit user.

"Part of that was luck. But that match was seriously rough. First, Lesnar was saying all this stuff about how he respected New Japan, but it felt to me like that was just for show, that he didn't really respect the promotion. Like, somewhere, he was looking down on Japanese people. I lost the match, and that was the first time I cried at pro wrestling after a match.

"It was the main event at Tokyo Dome. This was a pretty hallowed stage, and I knew I hadn't fought the way I imagined I would. And there was, like, this temperature difference between me and Lesnar. I didn't get the sense he had any love for pro wrestling. It felt like he was just doing his job."

Nakamura has requested to wrestle Lesnar in the past as part of WWE but the bout has not happened. The two were supposed to have a rematch back in 2006, but Brock ended up leaving New Japan after a contract dispute without ever losing the IWGP title. He was eventually stripped.

Nakamura recalled:

"I felt like this was too much; he was seriously scoffing at us. Lesnar won the championship and took the belt home, I told Simon [Inoki] if the company didn't get it's shit in order, that belt was definitely going to get nicked. I didn't honestly believe that when we fought. But it ended up just like I feared. He has the physical stuff, plus a straightforward strength and a certain amount of flexibility, so there was a bit of the monster to him. But I didn't like his personality, you know? He might have made a real mark in UFC, but he didn't even seem to notice the audience booing. I was like, 'Oh, this guy's a heel to the core.'"

[H/T to UpRoxx]