Brock Lesnar has proven himself to be one of the most dominant athletic forces the world of professional wrestling has ever seen. Taking the WWE by storm in 2002, he became the youngest ever WWE Champion and going on to win the title a total of seven times throughout his career.
However, The Beast Incarnate’s show of dominance wasn’t limited to the WWE. Following his first exit from the company after WrestleMania XX in 2005, Brock Lesnar began working in New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his October debut. At WrestleKingdom the following January, he successfully defended his title against NJPW standout and future WWE star Shinsuke Nakamura.
In his 2018 book King of Strong Style, Nakamura details the loss as “seriously rough” as he didn’t believe Lesnar respected New Japan or the Japanese people.
“That match was seriously rough. First, Lesnar was saying all this stuff about how he respected New Japan, but it felt to me like that was just for show, that he didn’t really respect the promotion. Like, somewhere, he was looking down on Japanese people.”
Continuing, Nakamura revealed that his loss to Lesnar was the first time one of his professional wrestling matches made him cry.
“I lost the match, and that was the first time I cried at pro wrestling after a match. It was the main event at the Tokyo Dome. This was a pretty hallowed stage, and I knew I hadn’t fought the way I imagined I would. And there was, like, this temperature difference between Lesnar and me. I didn’t get the sense he felt any love for pro wrestling. It felt like he was just doing his job.”
Brock Lesnar And Shinsuke Nakamura Have Both Won Royal Rumble Matches
After a successful career in NJPW that saw him win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship three times, Shinsuke Nakamura signed with WWE in 2016. After becoming a two time NXT Champion, the star was drafted to the main roster following WrestleMania in 2017, and the future seemed bright for the star when he won the 2018 Royal Rumble. However, he was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Championship when he faced AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans.
Brock Lesnar, meanwhile, is a two time Royal Rumble winner. He first had the honor of winning the iconic match in 2003, less than a year after making his WWE debut and following his first reign as WWE Champion.
Lesnar’s second Royal Rumble win came just this past year. Brock Lesnar entered the 2022 Royal Rumble premium live event as WWE Champion, but he lost the title to Bobby Lashley throughout the course of the night. However, his luck took a turn for the better when he was entered in the Royal Rumble match later in the night, and he ended up winning the event.
At Elimination Chamber in Saudi Arabia, Brock Lesnar regained the WWE Championship, but he lost the title to Roman Reigns in a Winner Take All match at WrestleMania 38, meaning that Reigns now holds both the WWE and Universal Championships simultaneously.