Brock Lesnar is a ten-time World Champion and has wrestled some of the greatest of all time on some of the biggest stages imaginable.
He’s one of the most celebrated and well-known stars in WWE, but not all of his big fans have been universally popular.
At WrestleMania 35 Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to become WWE Champion. The victory was universally welcomed by fans and it provided one of the biggest feel-good moments in recent WWE history. After the victory, Kingston went on to defend the gold against the likes of Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, and more. However, that run came to a shuddering halt on the October 4th, 2019 episode of SmackDown when Kingston lost the title to Brock Lesnar in just seven seconds.
Brock Lesnar’s Win Wasn’t Popular Backstage
In contrast to the euphoria which greeted his World Championship win, the loss was slammed by WWE fans and remains one of the most unpopular booking decisions in recent memory.
Speaking on his podcast, FTR, Dax Harwood has now revealed that the match wasn’t popular backstage either. Reflecting on the decision, Harwood, who was still with WWE at the time, revealed that he was “very upset” about what happened.
“I was very, very upset. I remember that I texted Kofi. Actually, it was a group text with the three of them, The New Day, and myself and Dan. I apologized to him and said, ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you, man. We’re so upset. I can’t believe this is for real, not because of obviously anything with Brock, but how much he had worked and how hard he had worked to get to this point.”
Harwood added that the entire locker room was heartbroken over how the match transpired.
“Dude, especially when we were working with him, with Randy, I saw him outside of Vince’s office or go into Vince’s office every single week to try to make things better, to try to make his championship run better. He worked so hard to be a great champion. I think a lot of people, you know, maybe they think ‘Oh, man, his championship run wasn’t successful’ because, you know, whatever.
It wasn’t for lack of trying because I saw him every week, man, try his damnedest to make something of nothing and it broke all of our hearts, you know, the whole locker room. It broke all of our hearts that that’s where the championship was being taken because, not anything to do with Brock, but because Kofi had worked so hard, and seeing someone work so hard for so long, to get this opportunity taken away from him.”
Brock Lesnar hasn’t wrestled for WWE since defeating Bobby Lashley at Crown Jewel in November 2022. It has been heavily speculated that he could return at the Royal Rumble.
H/t to Ringside News