Brock Lesnar first came to prominence when he won the 2000 NCAA wrestling heavyweight championship after placing 2nd in 1999. After college, he and his roommate, Shelton Benjamin, decided to pursue careers in professional wrestling. They began their careers in Ohio Valley Wrestling, a developmental league for the World Wrestling Federation, where they quickly rose to prominence and made it to the big time. Shelton Benjamin went on to be very successful in the WWF and has since gone on to become on of Ring of Honor's main draws. Brock Lesnar received a major push after wrestling a few dark matches, clearly demonstrating his talent in the ring.
In his time in the WWF/E (the company had changed names due to a lawsuit from the World Wildlife Fund) , Lesnar became the youngest WWE champion of all time, at age 25. Even though the push he received was incredibly heavy and quick, Many people saw Lesnar as being the future of the WWE and professional wrestling in general, now that the Monday Night Wars were over. With his win over the Rock and feud with Kurt Angle, it was clear that Lesnar was over with the crowd and was cemented in his superstar status.
At the end of his career with the WWE, Lesnar had a dream feud of sorts with Goldberg, a wrestler that Lesnar had been compared to for quite some time. At their match at Wrestlemania however, it was well-known that it would be Goldberg's retirement match and that Lesnar would be leaving the WWE to seek a spot on the roster of an NFL team. The crowd reacted very negatively to the match, giving loud applause to guest referee Stone Cold Steve Austin when he gave both wrestlers Stone Cold Stunners on his way out.
Lesnar's NFL career as a defensive lineman lasted 4 preseason games for the Minnesota Vikings marred by unsportsmanlike conduct and very hard hits that were not tolerated even before the NFL made their illegal hit rule more strict. Lesnar stated that he wanted to try out because he "didn't want to be 40 wondering if he could have made it in the NFL." Following Lesnar's failure to secure a spot on the VIking's 53-man roster, he faced much ridicule in the WWE. A year later, Lesnar returned to wrestling in New Japan Pro Wrestling, but was dogged by lawsuits from the WWE that seeked to have Lesnar barred from competing in professional wrestling or mixed martial arts.
Lesnar eventually won the lawsuits and was allowed to compete in MMA. Lesnar had a very hyped up career in UFC, defeating big names like Randy Couture, Frank Mir, and Shane Cerwin before losing via TKO to Cain Velazquez. Despite the hype and super-high salary though, Lesnar's time in UFC is more memorable for his 2 bouts with diverticulitis, a disease that I have had the unfortunate pleasure of also dealing with. After is 2nd diverticulitis attack, Lesnar opted to have surgery to remove 12 inches from his large intestine to fix his colon and bowel movements.
At UFC 141, Lesnar was visibly shaken after taking a hard knee to the gut from Alistair Overeem mere seconds into the fight. To a sufferer of diverticulitis like myself, it was clear that Lesnar's surgically repaired large intestine was not prepared to take hits of any sort, having only been repaired in May of this year. Lesnar's facial expression during the match was one of "why the hell did I think I could do this fight so soon?" Lesnar is also 34, an age that is considered very old in combat sports.
Any sports writer expressing surprise at Lesnar's retirement has no clue how devastating diverticulitis can be and doesn't fully realize that the surgery to remove a foot off the large intestine is one that can take several years to recover from. Also, Lesnar is 34, dude. He's old and done when it comes to sports.
Happy New Year, UFC. Have fun trying to get a new main draw since Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Frank Mir are now all gone and Cain Velazquez proved to be a big flop, easily losing to the experienced boxer, Junior dos Santos.
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