4 WWE Superstars that Brock Lesnar refused to wrestle and once he refused to win
Brock Lesnar reportedly walked out of last night's episode of SmackDown after the news of Vince McMahon's WWE retirement was made public.
Lesnar and McMahon have worked closely together over the past two decades and the former Chairman has always allowed The Beast to have a level of creative control.
Over the years, Lesnar has developed power in WWE, which has allowed him to pick and choose the stars that he shares the ring with.
The following list looks at just four WWE Superstars that Brock Lesnar refused to wrestle and once that he refused to win.
#5. Brock Lesnar initially refused to break The Undertaker's WrestleMania streak
The STREAK is OVER. @BrockLesnar DEFEATS #Undertaker!
And we never thought we'd tweet those words. #21and1
Brock Lesnar was chosen by The Undertaker himself to break his WrestleMania streak back in 2014, a decision that The Deadman himself has since noted that he regrets. Lesnar was on a high at the time and became the biggest star in the company following the win, a win that Lesnar initially refused.
As part of an evening with Shawn Michaels, The Heartbreak Kid revealed that several stars were unhappy with the decision, including Lesnar himself. In the end Lesnar went out there and changed the course of history by pinning The Deadman, who would return to the company several times afterwards before finally retiring from the business in 2020.
#4. Former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal
AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2017 was great
And for weeks before that, they had promoted Jinder Mahal Vs Brock Lesnar.
Like, a big part of me wants to know how WWE would have done that match at a time where they were booking Jinder strong! https://t.co/g9hTZINJSo
Jinder Mahal was handed the biggest push of his career back in 2017, as the company began to expand in India, they opted to make Mahal the World Champion.
After a few months at the helm, The Modern Day Maharaja was looking forward to Survivor Series where he would be forced to take on Brock Lesnar.
The week before the show, AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal in the United Kingdom to become the new Champion in what was one of the biggest shocks of the year. It was later revealed by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer that this was done because Brock Lesnar refused to wrestle Jinder Mahal.
"You know why they did that? Because Brock did not want to work with him [Jinder Mahal]," via Sportskeeda.
#3. Shane McMahon
Brock Lesnar then gives Shane McMahon an F5 after he comes out. Odd, odd ending to SummerSlam. https://t.co/uEGiTqfxvu
Shane McMahon is the son of former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, who has allowed him several privileges in WWE.
Shane has wrestled a number of high-profile matches throughout his career and was reportedly scheduled to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33. Lesnar was coming off a feud against Goldberg and flat out refused to be part of a match against McMahon at the biggest show of the year.
According to a report by The Wrestling Observer, Lesnar "certainly didn't want to do the match," and instead ended up facing Goldberg in a rematch.
McMahon, on the other hand, went on to face AJ Styles at the Showcase of the Immortals instead.
#2. Hardcore Holly
Hardcore Holly had quite the reputation in WWE and was part of a brutal match against Brock Lesnar at The Royal Rumble back in 2004. After his victory over Holly at the annual event, WWE had plans for the two men to face off once again as part of their tour of South Africa.
Lesnar went on to explain the reason for his refusal in his Death Clutch book, but although he initially refused the match, he was later forced to go ahead and compete against the former star as part of the tour.
"Now I have to travel all the way to South Africa to work with Bob Holly? Could anyone please tell me why? I knew no one would pay to see that match. Since I'm not really needed, give me some time off. I really needed the break by this time, but John Laurinaitis told me how much I'm needed on the card. AGAINST BOB HOLLY? Are you sh***ing me?" (H/T WhatCulture)
#1. Brock Lesnar recently refused to wrestle Riddle
He looks just like Brock Lesnar but younger and doesn’t hate me enough to refuse a match with me yet, Awesome! 🤙 #stallion #bro #thenextbigthing https://t.co/piB5u9PKEq
Riddle managed to make himself a number of enemies after he was promoted to the main roster, including Seth Rollins, Goldberg and Brock Lesnar. After hounding Lesnar on social media and making it clear that he would be the man to end his career, Lesnar and Riddle came face-to-face at the 2020 Royal Rumble.
It was as part of this meeting that Lesnar and Paul Heyman made it clear that Riddle will never share the ring with The Beast.
"Let's just say he came up to me with a security guard, not that he needed the security guard. He came up to me, put his arm around me and told me we were never going to work. So, I shouldn't mention his name or talk about him or anything like that. And I should not call him out on social media. And I said, 'Whatever you want, Bro.' via Sportskeeda.