Details on Brock Lesnar unselfishly offering to lose against WWE legend
John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) has revealed that Brock Lesnar offered to lose against him during their WWE live event match in Abilene, Texas in 2002.
JBL played football for Abilene Christian University before his wrestling career began. Due to his association with Abilene, the WWE Hall of Famer was treated like a hometown hero whenever he wrestled in the city.
Speaking in a YouTube Q&A, JBL said Brock Lesnar unselfishly asked to lose the match because he knew his opponent had friends in the crowd.
“I was working with Brock in Abilene and I said, ‘Hey, Brock, I wanna talk to you,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, your college buddies are here. I’m gonna put you over.’ I said, ‘Brock, they don’t care who goes over. I couldn’t care less. You win, I win, it doesn’t matter.’ I said, ‘We’re going to a place afterwards,’ and so that’s what I was telling him,” JBL said.
JBL won the match, which took place on April 14, 2002, to hand Brock Lesnar his first loss following his call-up to the main roster. The two men faced each other in four more live event matches between April 2002 and June 2002 (H/T Cagematch.net), with Lesnar winning each time.
JBL on Brock Lesnar’s suplex ability
"Brock Lesnar looks like he ate Brock Lesnar!!!" - @PatMcAfeeShow
#SmackDown @BrockLesnar https://t.co/RdXgRFOfsY
Brock Lesnar suplexed John Cena 16 times at SummerSlam 2014 in one of the most dominant victories of his career. The following year, he coined the popular phrase “Suplex City” during his match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31.
JBL explained that superstars often find it difficult to suplex tall opponents due to the risk of suffering a head injury. In Lesnar’s case, however, The Beast Incarnate had no issues suplexing opponents of any size.
“Brock caught me, throws me into a suplex,” JBL recalled. “And I asked him before, I said, ‘Brock, are you sure you wanna do this?’ Not strength-wise, it’s just the logistics of throwing a guy really tall. And Brock said, ‘I’ve been suplexing people since I was five years old.’ I said, ‘Alright.’”
After their first successful suplex, JBL asked Lesnar to suplex him again. The Next Big Thing threw his opponent across the ring “like a child” another two times before finishing the match.
Please credit JBL’s YouTube channel and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.