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Brock Lesnar sat down for a rare podcast interview with Barstool Sports at this link.. Here are some highlights:
When he realized he was good at wrestling: "I wasn’t great at wrestling. I was a late-bloom guy. Guys, I graduated high school, I was six foot tall, 205 pounds, and I didn’t even have one hair under my armpit. And by the time I was a sophomore in college is when I grew another three inches and put on 40 pounds. And I just—I was a late bloomer. I was still growing when I was 20 years old, so I didn’t—I just outlasted everybody. I had this vision and this deep drive inside of me where I thought, I want to—I want to do something with this. And I didn’t have much success at wrestling until I hit college. I was never—I never had—I never got recruited out of high school to wrestle anywhere. I never got a scholarship. The highest I placed in high school was third place. And I just—I went to a junior college and I just kept pulling the plow and I just kept—I saw the carrot dangling out there and I just kept after it."
Whether he ever wanted to quit: "I quit wrestling probably a hundred times in my head. You know what I mean? And that’s what I tell my kids too. We’ve got to keep it light and keep it fun too. But yet, dude, this is a vicious—when the kids turn 15 in this sport, it’s a vicious cycle. You’ve got to—that’s what I mean. There’s a lot of talent that gets left behind in the dark, in the dust, with the kids getting drafted at 15 and all this other stuff, and then the kids seeing highlight reels of this guy, or—it’s a big challenge. I’m just trying to keep my kids motivated and keep it that hard work will pay off. And I don’t know what the end game is for them. They might not ever play hockey, but I want them—I want my kids to be committed at something and keep them occupied. Hockey sure does. Every weekend we’re playing, every weekend. It’s a rigorous schedule on these kids. And I tell my kids too, I would’ve never lasted probably when I was 15 or 16 under the schedule that these guys are doing."
Getting recruited by Minnesota: "Yeah. So I went to a junior college in Bismarck, North Dakota, right out of high school because it was basically my only option and I placed fifth my freshman year in the championships. And then that was the point, guys, when I was 19. I got beat by a kid that I was embarrassed that I got beat by him. And I still—I ran into this kid, I don’t know, many years ago after we had wrestled. And he beat me and I met him after I was in the WWE and I saw him on the West Coast and I just gave him a hug and I—and he was like, “What is that for?” And I was like, “Because you beat my ass.” And it kept me—that kept the fire burning for me. And then the next year as a sophomore, I just had it in my mind that nobody’s going to beat me. And that summer, I trained like a madman and I won a junior college championship and that’s how I got discovered as a Gopher. The Gophers flew me out the next day and I was like, “This is my home.”
Training "like a madman" in that era: "I was 19 and that’s when my switch went off. And I said, “You know what? I can do this.” And I’ll tell you what I did. I moved back to my hometown and I knew that I had to just go on lockdown. And I found a job that would put some money in my pocket and fill my cooler for the day. Like when I say cooler—my protein and my carb, all my food. So I worked for a power line company. They brought me on, and I went around fixing power poles. And the first day I show up for work and this old timer’s driving the truck and he said, “Did you—” I go, “Where are we going for lunch?” He said, “You didn’t bring a cooler?” And I was like, “No.” And he gave me a yogurt for the day. And I’m like, “I’m not going to survive the day here, boys. I’m starving.” So the next day I was like—I went down to the Ace Hardware and bought a big 48-gallon cooler. And I just filled my—I stopped at the grocery store every morning and I filled that thing up because I knew I had to put some weight on if I was going to compete as a heavyweight. I was only 225 or maybe 230 pounds at the tim, and then I just—I went to work all day there, and then in the evenings I hit the gym and I did all of my workouts at night. I focused on that. And I—even my girlfriend—I pushed, put everything to the side, okay? I put everything to the side. I didn’t go to the parties. I didn’t hang out with the guys all summer. They never saw me. The only time you saw me was in the gym or running, and that’s it. just put my head down for three months there and I came back as a sophomore. You have to put all the distractions aside, boys. And to the young kids, they don’t understand: if you’re going to go all in, you have to go all in. I take my hat off to the one-percenters of the world, guys. They’re different people. You have to just be different. You’ve got to do the things that nobody else wants to do."
His paents: "You know what, I want to shout out to my mom and dad too. My mom and dad—my dad, he needed help on the farm and he let me go to practice. He let me do that stuff. And I’ll never forget, I came home one day and we had wrestle-offs, which means that there’s four guys to fill the spot, but we can only have one. So we have a tournament and we wrestle off for the position, and I didn’t win. I came home and I was pissed off and I was banging the pitchfork around and throwing buckets. And my dad goes, “What’s the matter with you?” I was like, “I didn’t win my wrestle-off.” And I was mad and I was—I just beat the hell out of this post in the barn with the pitchfork and broke it in half. He said, “Why don’t you just quit then? Just quit wrestling and you can farm with me.” And I looked at him and I was like, “Hell no. I ain’t quitting.” Then even my mom had so much expectation on me. My mom, bless her heart, and I thank her to this day—even if I didn’t win a little kid’s wrestling tournament, she left me there to find my own ride. She was pissed and I didn’t want to ride home with her for three hours. In the backseat of that car, she just let me have it. And I was like, “I can’t believe my mom actually—she left me here.”
Not competing in the Olympics: "The Olympics was always in my mind, but by the time that I struggled so hard financially and with the hardships of the sport, by the time I was a senior and I had won a national title, I was discovered. I had a couple different options, but I was tired, guys. I had no money. I was a financial aid guy. I had to give my—I gave my scholarship up because back then we were only allowed 10 full rides on a team. We needed 40 guys on the roster....Only 10 full rides on the team. So you might get a quarter scholarship, you might get a half. They recruited me and enticed me to come there on a full ride, but then after six months I gave my scholarship up so that we could recruit other kids and keep the program strong."
Signing with WWE developmental for the money: "One thousand percent. So when I won my NCAA title, the WWE approached me because I lived in Minneapolis. I had a big media following there. Back when I was in college, I was the big man on campus. It was me and Kevin Garnett running Minneapolis. Yeah, like I was—they turned me into this unbeatable monster, and I was doing all the radio stuff back then and going down and getting free steaks whenever I wanted, and everywhere I went there was a pat on the back. So it was cool. But yeah, once I was done with my eligibility, then I was just tired of being broke. The WWE was the only real offer on the table for me, my only option to go and make some money."
Not knowing what pro wrestling was: "Guys, I never watched—I didn’t even know all that existed until I got to college. Wow. So it’s not like that was the dream. It was competing, wrestling in college. It wasn’t WWE. Not at all. Then I got down to OVW and I was like, it just clicked with me. I was like, “This isn’t really hard. There’s a good guy and a bad guy.” I just picked it up really fast and the company saw my improvements. And next thing I know, I’m the youngest WWE champion in history. I was 24."
His first run and deciding to leave: "Yeah, but then they put me with a guy. They gave me a manager. They gave me a manager, and it was Paul Heyman, who, bless his heart, has been a good friend of mine for many years. And they put the mic on him and turned me into this demolition man, and it was fun. But literally, I wasn’t prepared for it at the time. I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t know that we were on the road 300 nights a year. I had no idea that I could get hurt at this stuff. And it was like—so before I knew it, I was on the pain train, with Vicodin and vodka, and then I was like—I’m looking around at the legends in the locker room at the time and I’m looking across and I go, “Man, I don’t know if I can hang with these guys like this.” You know what I mean? And I was feeling like I still had some athletic endeavors inside, so that’s why I stepped away from it. And then I tried my hand in the NFL, had a cup of coffee there, maybe just a half a cup."
Going into Football: "I played high school ball, but that was it. I played high school ball. I wasn’t—like I said, I wasn’t that great of a—I was a late-bloom kid, man. So yeah, it is crazy. I think more they gave me the opportunity because I was a little bit of a hometown hero there already. And they did me a huge solid by at least giving me the opportunity. And then it turned into a reality as I got into camp and I was doing all right, and then they wanted to send me to Europe. I had already been on the road for four years and knew that wasn’t going to get something. Then I went to wrestle in Japan to make some money. And that’s when I discovered the fight process. Tthen before I knew it, I was training for fighting and then I’m getting a UFC contract and I’m fighting in the UFC."
Responding to a host saying John Cena was happy Lesnar left (because it opened the door for Cena to move upwards): "Yeah, John Cena was very happy because a year before I left I had just re-upped. I had just signed a new contract. It was a 10-year contract, 20 million guaranteed. I’m 22 years old and I guess for me, the company was pretty chapped at me at the time because they invested a lot into me. And I understand that now. But if I would’ve stayed there, I wouldn’t be who I am today either. You know what I mean? So I’m glad that I had enough wits about me to leave. But everything turned out."
What made him decide he wanted to step away: "I can remember when the light bulb—or when it hit me—and I was in the locker room. I’m looking around and I’m seeing some of these old boys, that this is the life that they’ve lived for 30, 40 years. And I’m like, “Man, I’ve got something else to give here.” And I was like, “I want to go and see what else is out there for me. it was a big move. I left the company and I learned a lot of lessons there. The paychecks stop coming in, but the bills still keep coming, right?....And I went through—it was living hell in 2004 to 2006, some of the worst years of my life. But it’s those character-building years that you learn from. You know what I mean? And there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes it’s not there. But you’ve got to keep fighting for it."
The WWE locker room and whether he was tested: "Teah, definitely. I was a shooter, an amateur guy. I had a lot of credentials to my name. Of course, I got tested along the way by the old timers and the guys. You have to pay your dues. Back then, you paid your dues and you had to earn your respect. It’s different now, obviously. Things have gotten a lot softer and there aren’t any more kangaroo courts, so it’s different now. But I go there—I’m the old guy now. Shit, I had to go back to work so I could feed my kids. You guys should see my grocery bill. I had left the company years ago and I’m grateful that I’m back for a short time here. And I’m really grateful for all the opportunities that I’ve had in my life."
Ending the Undertaker streak and Undertaker getting concussed that night: "For me, guys, it was—it’s really simple. This is a business. It’s a business. And I think a lot of the guys live and breathe the lifestyle of it. And for Taker, it obviously wasn’t my call to make. At the time, Vince McMahon—if there was a person that could take the streak away with a legitimate background and people could believe it, I guess it was me. There’s a lot of people that are pissed that it’s me, but it’s not my call. You know what I mean? And so my hat’s off to Undertaker, Mark. He’s a great guy. And at the end, guys, it’s just a business and you have—it’s a give and take. And it was time for Taker to give, and it was time for Brock Lesnar to take it....I don’t know what happened during the match, but Taker was a mentor of mine. I worked with Taker for many years. So now we’re out in this match and Taker got hit left field day-of. He’s coming to his 20th WrestleMania thinking that, oh, he’s going to win. And then two hours before we go on, the rug gets pulled on him. A lot of different emotions there, I’m sure. Then I was excited, but I also felt bad too. Like, I’m the guy and I get to be the guy. And so we’re out in this match and next thing I know, Taker’s not being Taker. And I’m like—so we had to—we’re—it’s a dance out there and you just have to do your best to get through it. and we did. Out of respect, because Taker—I spent a lot of time with Taker and I wanted to make sure that he was all right. And that’s part of the deal. I did go to the hospital and make sure he was okay and that’s just part of the respect thing."
Discovering MMA: "So I went to wrestle New Japan Pro Wrestling, was that at the time. And I went over there and you guys remember K-1? Fighting, really—the kickboxing and K-1 in the nineties was real big. And so they discovered me when I was in Japan and they presented a fight to me. And that was actually my first fight ever with that company. It was called K-1 Dynamite. And I fought at the L.A. Coliseum. That was my first fight gig."
UFC: "I knew that if I was going to stay on the pain train, I just wanted something else. I wanted to see what else was out there and I didn’t—I had no idea that I was going to blow up and become the UFC champion. That was a goal. But for me to have my third fight against Randy Couture, of all the guys—it’s—I could’ve shelled up and been scared about it, but that’s how confident I was though. That’s what I mean. You’ve got to have this, you’ve got to have an alter ego. You’ve got to have something inside that makes you believe in order to achieve. It was perfect for me. It was perfect. And then I discovered real early that if I play a heel in the UFC, I don’t have to do all the media...I could just tell people whatever, so whatever. People see the entertainment Brock Lesnar and they think that’s who I am, but it’s not who I am. And I don’t let people into my circle enough to know. It’s been a mystique for a long time. But I can still be an asshole when I want to be."
Putting his UFC training team together: "Here’s a funny story, because I grew up—I had two older brothers, and the Lesnar name in South Dakota is notorious for bar fights, street fights. So I had older brothers that were getting bailed out of jail on Sunday night. It was a for-real deal. So I had these big shoes to fill when I was a little kid. They were older than me, five or six years older. And so, what’s this little Lesnar kid going to do? You either get picked on or the shit beat out of you because your brothers did something on the weekend. So you’ve got to get tough in a hurry. But one thing that—I think I’m very coachable. I’ve always been able to get out of my own way and absorb things. And I knew when I got into the UFC I needed a coach. I went to these other camps and I saw right away that some of these guys, the way they trained—it wasn’t my philosophy. So I took a lot of that. I knew right away that I had to get a management team together. So I went and sniped my assistant wrestling coach from the University of Minnesota, Marty Morgan. I brought him—I took him away from the college, offered him a coaching position. It was the best thing I ever did. So I know what I’m not good at and I hire people to help me get good at it. And so I just brought—I built my own camps. My training camps would cost me a lot of money. I would bring a lot of people in so I didn’t have to go to these other gyms. I could train on my own timeframe, all that stuff. So each camp was 16 weeks and I invested into that. So I had nothing to do with my time other than to learn the game of mixed martial arts. So I brought in the best jiu-jitsu guy I could. I brought in some of the best kickboxers and training partners. And you are either—like I said, iron sharpens iron, and there’s only one way to go. And you can only get better. I wish—hindsight, it was—and plus I had a name already. So I had to hotshot this thing and capitalize on my name, and it just kind of worked out."
Where he was financially when the UFC run started: "So when I got cut from the Vikings, the IRS showed up at my doorstep. I was in a custody battle for my daughter, and I was getting sued by Vince McMahon for a non-compete. It was a tough time in my life from ’04 to ’06. So there were people—and I won’t mention them—that helped me through those times. And I was able to get on my feet again. And I thank them a lot. And they know who they are, but they helped me out and got me stable and they believed in me. There is nothing more powerful, you guys, than people and relationships and other human beings that believe in you. You need that circle, right? And it’s no different than in the dressing room. If you walk into that dressing room, guys, you know right away that you can either get elevated or eliminated. So I had a lot of that. I had a lot of that. So relationships for me are the most important thing. And that’s why I tell my kids, you need relationships with your coaches."
Dana White and getting his UFC deal: "The UFC—Dana White wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t know that. He wouldn’t return my phone calls. So what happened was, I fought at the L.A. Coliseum for K-1 Dynamite, and then I wanted to get into the big leagues, and there was only one big league at the time. It was the UFC. So my team reached out and wanted to do something with the UFC. So guys, this is how bad this is, this is the stuff that you have to do. So I said, “Screw it.” I bought four nosebleed tickets to the MGM. Randy Couture was headlining against Gabriel Gonzaga for the Heavyweight Championship. I sat there in the stands through the entire event, and as soon as Randy won that fight, I scaled security and ran to the octagon and grabbed Dana. And I introduced myself. I said, “I’m Brock Lesnar.” We went to the back and he says, “Listen, I’ll give you a shot.” So he gave me a one-fight deal. I said, “Take a gamble on me.” And so he gave me a one-shot deal and I lost that fight against Frank Mir. And I went back to the locker room and I was like, “I screwed it up.” Dana comes in and he’s—because they know the pay-per-view versus instantly, so the numbers must’ve been really good—and at that point Dana’s like, “No, you’re not done.” And then the next day we negotiated a real contract."
Why Dana had zero interest in Brock: "...Because I had no credibility. Okay. And I don’t blame him. I was an amateur wrestler and a fake entertainer, and so he didn’t care. I fought a tomato can my first fight, I beat him in 90 seconds, and whatever, I didn’t prove myself yet. So he threw me to the wolves. He said, “I’m not giving you any easy fights.” My first fight is against Frank. He’s a—I don’t know how many times defending champion at the time. A lethal dude. He almost broke my leg in half. So he’s the real deal. So it was just one of those things where I had to prove myself to him."
Beating Randy Couture: "People ask me that and I think my most prestigious award for me is my national championship in college. Because to be that young kid and to be raw and to carry that dream and finally win at a discipline that you’ve been trying to master for 17 years—that was probably my biggest accolade that I hang my hat on. But beating Randy, I must have believed that I could beat him, but—here’s in Randy’s defense too. Randy wasn’t at the top of his game either, so he was on his way out. Dana was trying to get rid of Randy because they didn’t see eye to eye on the pay scale and all these other things. So I think Dana was really hoping that I was going to beat him. And he was very ecstatic about it at the time. But Randy’s a good guy. I brought Randy into my training camps after that and he helped me out a lot. There’s a mutual respect. The rush that you get in that cage—there is no other feeling, guys. The words can’t describe it. When you walk into that octagon and that door shuts and it’s you versus him, that takes some brass balls, guys. It does. I look back now and I can’t believe I did it."
Whether he was ever scared of an opponent: " I wasn’t never really scared of anybody, but I felt threatened. You know what I mean? There’s certain threats. You can’t go in there thinking with a scared mindset, and you don’t go in the cage fighting angry either. It’s a competition. And if you keep that mentality with it and you fight with your emotions, you’re probably going to lose because you’re going to do things that you shouldn’t be doing. But some of the fights—Cain Velasquez, he handed me my ass in Anaheim. But I think for me, going through diverticulitis really took a lot of fight out of me. That really—I almost died with that disease. And afterwards it changed my life a little bit and changed my mentality toward the sport. Like, hey, you can get hurt at this pretty easily. And so it was one of those deals where early in my career, it was all or nothing. You know what I mean? And then there were some fights left on my contract where I was like, “You know what? I’m not going to leave this money on the table, so I’m going to go fight."
His Sword Tattoo: "I got that tattoo. I was shit-faced drunk in Scottsdale, Arizona. Okay? I did it. Yeah, I did it. I was in Scottsdale training for the NFL, had just gotten in a motorcycle accident, and I was just kicked down hard. I had been going through all that stuff and there was a tattoo shop across the street from the biker bar, and that’s not a good place to have a tattoo shop. I got this tattoo. I didn’t even know I got the damn thing. I wake up the next day and I’m like, “What in the—is this thing?....No planning whatsoever. It was a half a gallon of vodka and maybe a few Vicodin."
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