Between his two WWE runs, Brock Lesnar has utterly dominated WWE’s main event scene with multiple WrestleMania main events and 1,440 combined days as world champion across eight reigns with the WWE and WWE Universal Championships. It should come as no surprise then that when Vince McMahon first met “The Beast” after he’d won the NCAA Division I Heavyweight Championship as a collegiate wrestler, he immediately knew he’d be a star.
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“Gerry Brisco and I brought Brock Lesnar to a TV taping in Minneapolis because he went to college there,” Jim Ross told TalkSport’s Alex McCarthy this week. “I said to McMahon ‘that new kid I’m recruiting is here tonight. If you get a chance I’d like you to say hello him.’ So McMahon is walking about with his Mr. McMahon walk and he happens to glance over and Gerry Brisco is standing by this monster. Vince made a U-turn and beelined right to Brock — he had never seen him. Never watched him wrestle. He knew Gerry and I was high on him, but Gerry didn’t meet with Vince on a regular basis, I met with Vince every day. I said ‘we got this kid we’re going to sign and he’s going to be extraordinary. You’re going to love him.’
“So when Vince laid eyes on him he knew that we had the guy,” he added. “If he had any aptitude whatsoever — we knew athletically he was going to be great, he’d already proven himself as an athlete — but if he could get the showbiz side of it and have the aptitude to be a pro wrestler, he was going to be our guy for a while. And that worked out.”
Paul Heyman, Lesnar’s advocate, gave his latest update on Lesnar’s status in an interview with Ariel Helwani last October.
“It depends on if there’s a worthy challenger and enough box office appeal,” Heyman explained. “Right now, he’s very happy being a farmer and a magnificent father to his children. However, if there’s something that WWE can offer that intrigues, motivates, or inspires Lesnar, and if the money is right and the business is solid, I’m sure he would be willing to do it.”
Lesnar is currently technically a free agent, as his last contract with WWE expired last summer. However, he is expected to return to the company once WWE is able to start touring in front of live crowds again.
