Is Brock Lesnar really just a jacked white boy?
When UFC announced Brock Lesnar’s return for the UFC 200 PPV, the entire world stood up and took notice. After all, Lesnar has been WWE’s marquee name; from ending The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania to manhandling John Cena like no one had ever seen before, Brock Lesnar, for all intents and purposes, was WWE’s biggest star.
Everyone was excited about Lesnar’s return to UFC. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion became their main attraction – the Conor McGregor of the last decade. When Lesnar pummelled Frank Mir and flipped the crowd off at UFC 100, the world bore witness to the birth of a phenomenon. While UFC did have its fair share of “bad boys” in Tito Ortiz and the likes, Brock Lesnar was a different animal.
To understand the reason behind Lesnar’s popularity, all you need to do is a glance at his amateur wrestling record, combined with his superhuman strength during his pro wrestling days. The more you scratch the surface, the easier it becomes to understand his charm. Being a freak athlete isn’t common in today’s world, but Lesnar has always been an anomaly.
However, one particular individual wasn’t impressed with Lesnar’s credentials. In fact, there was only one person who was skeptical about Lesnar being clean. His opponent for UFC 200, Mark Hunt lobbied for USADA to test Lesnar, and ensure that both men entered the cage clean, and on an even platform.
Every fighter who intends to fight in the UFC enters the USADA testing pool four months prior to the fight date. However, Lesnar was exempted from this rule, which didn’t go down well with his opponent. When asked about the PED allegations prior to the fight, Lesnar simply replied, “I've been dealing with that my entire life. I’m a white boy and I'm jacked -- deal with it. What do you want me to say? I'm a white boy and I'm jacked. Deal with it.”
On the surface, Lesnar’s response doesn’t strike anyone as odd. However, upon closer inspection, we can uncover several possibilities, which may have attributed to Lesnar’s meteoric rise to fame. While no one can prove that Lesnar has been on PEDs since the beginning of his professional wrestling career, recent facts, and the holes in WWE’s Wellness Policy program point to a much bigger issue.
Brock Lesnar’s initial run with WWE
Lesnar’s initial run with WWE left the former WWE Champion disenchanted with the business, and Lesnar recently opened up about his alcohol and drug problems, which led to Lesnar walking away from the business. Back when Lesnar was with WWE in early 2000s, there was no Wellness Policy. In fact, WWE put the Wellness Policy in place following the sudden demise of Eddie Guerrero.
Under WWE’s Wellness Policy program, WWE superstars cannot take PEDs, drugs (non-recreational or otherwise) and pain killers (unless specified otherwise by WWE’s doctors). In fact, a large number of former and current WWE stars faced suspensions when they were popped during WWE’s random drug tests.
The fact that the company didn’t have a proper drug testing program in place during Lesnar’s initial run with the company opens up various possibilities. Moreover, the Wellness Policy program came into effect in 2006 - 2 years after Lesnar left the company