WWE History: The day Brock Lesnar threatened to quit WWE before his main roster debut
Brock Lesnar has never been one to bow down and take orders from anyone. The former NCAA champion was signed by WWE in the year 2000 and immediately sent to OVW. It was clear early on that Brock had what it took to make it in the WWE and self-confidence has never been an issue for him.
After spending about a year in WWE's then-developmental system, OVW, learning the basics, Brock did something that is practically unheard of from a rookie in WWE - he demanded that WWE sent him to the main roster and threatened to quit and go home if they didn't comply.
Gerald Briscoe has since spoken about the incident, describing what Brock said on the phone when he called him:
“One day I get a call, and it’s Brock. He’s really frustrated. He wanted to leave. Brock said, ‘I’ve got other options. It wasn’t an ultimatum or anything, it was just him giving me his lay of the land and telling me what’s going on. He said, ‘I want to be out of here in two months. We’re ready for the main roster.’”
Jim Cornette later revealed in an interview that Brock Lesnar was so highly regarded by WWE that he was making multiple times what the other developmental talents were making at the time. Here's what Cornette said:
"With Brock I'll be honest with you, he was getting paid about four or five times more than everyone else in the developmental programme because of who he was. You don't come across an athletic specimen like that who won the NCAA Heavyweight Championship everyday. However he was not a natural wrestling fan, not a natural wrestling student, he was a bit boring in the ring to be honest because he wasn't used to being a showman. Also for a world class athlete I didn't think he was trying five times as hard as his salary."
However, taking the unprecedented step of demanding a call-up to main worked out well for Lesnar. He won the WWE Championship withing six months of his main toster debut in 2002 and is currently one of the highest paid Superstars on the WWE roster
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