WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar namedropped at major wrestling event
Despite spending nearly all of his professional wrestling career with WWE, former Universal Champion Brock Lesnar recently received a shout-out from the commentary team at another major wrestling event.
The event in question was New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 17 event. During the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and Jay White, the commentary team mentioned The Beast Incarnate.
The reason for Lesnar's name to be mentioned was due to Brock's history with NJPW, with the WWE Superstar wrestling for the Japanese promotion after he left WWE in 2004.
Commentary mentioning that Brock Lesnar was the last wrestler to come in from outside of Japan and win the Wrestle Kingdom main event is pretty cool tbh.
#NJPW #WK17
Jay White, the man who entered the main event as the champion, was looking to become the first non-Japanese competitor to win a main event match at the Tokyo Dome since Brock Lesnar, which was mentioned on commentary.
Lesnar is also one of two non-Japanese wrestlers to win two main events at the Tokyo Dome. The first came in October 2005 when he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match against Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono.
The second came when he defended the title against Shinsuke Nakamura on January 4th, 2006, making him the first non-Japanese wrestler since Hulk Hogan to win two main events at the Tokyo Dome.
What is Brock Lesnar's history with New Japan Pro Wrestling?
After leaving WWE in 2004 and failing to make the Minnesota Vikings roster in the same year, Brock returned to the world of professional wrestling. He ended up wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he achieved a lot of success, albeit with a lot of controversy surrounding it.
As stated above, Lesnar is a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Still, WWE did everything they could to prevent Brock from making appearances for the company due to World Wrestling Entertainment stating that he had a six-year non-compete clause.
17 years ago today:
Brock Lesnar defeated Kazuyuki Fujita and Masahiro Chono to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Tokyo Dome!
#njpw https://t.co/8hMSVsbtjX
Lesnar would stop appearing for NJPW in 2006 due to problems with his visa, but The Beast Incarnate decided he would keep his title. This led to NJPW stripping him of the title and creating a new championship in its place.
Brock would appear in Japan one final time, finally dropping his version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kurt Angle at an IGF event in 2007, with the company being founded by Antonio Inoki.
Did you know Brock Lesnar wrestled in Japan so much? Let us know in the comments section down below!