SUMMARY
- Brock Lesnar made his debut on WWE in March 2002 and continued his super successful first run until 2004.
- Lesnar, for most of his career, has been managed by Paul Heyman, but very few people know that Heyman was not the first manager of Brock Lesnar.
Brock Lesnar, originally known as Brock Edward Lesnar, is one of the biggest names in the wrestling industry. He is a former mixed martial artist who also does pro wrestling and is signed to WWE. The 46-year-old combat athlete is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and an explosive in-ring performer.
Lesnar made his debut on WWE in March 2002 and continued his super successful first run until 2004. He became the youngest WWE Champion at 25, won the Royal Rumble, and fought in WrestleMania 20. After that, he went on to pursue a career in the NFL. He returned to WWE in 2012 and feuded with John Cena. He was the one who broke the unbeaten streak of The Undertaker in WrestleMania.
Did you know? Before Paul Heyman became his advocate, Jesse “The Body” Ventura accompanied Brock Lesnar to the ring for a 2001 dark match. pic.twitter.com/Or9fg9abTI
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) January 7, 2024
Lesnar, for most of his career, has been managed by Paul Heyman, but very few people know that Heyman was not the first manager of Brock Lesnar. Jesse Ventura, a former pro wrestler turned manager, was the first to serve as a manager for ‘The Beast Incarnate’. Jesse had a varied career and did many jobs, from commentary to politics. He served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1993 to 2003. The 72-year-old was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.
In a non-televised experiment, WWE once paired Jesse Ventura and Brock Lesnar together. Jesse served as a manager for Brock and accompanied him to the ring during an event in Minneapolis around 2001. The show was never televised, and only the live audience in the arena got to see this pairing.
Brock Lesnar’s relationship with Paul Heyman
There have been numerous iconic manager-wrestler duos in the Stamford-based promotion, and one of them is Brock and Heyman. Paul Heyman has managed Brock since 2002. There have been moments of on-screen betrayal since then, but in real life, both of them are dear friends.
In an interview on The Michael Kay Show, Brock opened up about his relationship with Heyman and told how he met him for the first time. He said, “I got called up on the road from OVW, I was a prospect in developmental and they brought me up to live events. Paul was on something to do with the creative team.” Lesnar said that he was called up for Ohio Valley Wrestling as a development prospect and saw Paul there for the first time.
Lesnar further added, “Paul saw me taking it all in in the stands, came up, and introduced himself, we sat down and had a connection. He’s a dear friend in real life.” He talked about how Paul approached him for the first time. Paul Heyman has expressed his thoughts on Brock Lesnar in an interview with Esquire Middle East.
Paul Heyman explained how Lesnar is a private man, and in their 20-year-long friendship, they never had a disagreement. He stresses the fact that he maintains Lesnar’s privacy with complete integrity, and therefore the Beast Incarnate trusts him. Lesnar trusted Heyman to write his biography, ‘Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival’, which was released in 2012.