Vince McMahon Seeing Brock Lesnar as a Big Deal Led to Him Dethroning “One of the Hottest Guys in the Business” 21 Years Ago

Brock Lesnar currently stands as a key crowd catcher in the promotion. The amount of growth he brought to the business in terms of television rating, and live crowd is ridiculous. Thanks to WWE higher-ups who rightly envisaged the Beast Incarnate’s mammoth star power and chiseled it out accordingly.

There are very few men in the business who got as many great bookings as Lesnar. Vince McMahon chose to bank on him right from the very beginning of his iconic WWE run. After scoring a stunning WWE debut in 2002, Lesnar only had to wait about a period of four months to get a giant push. Much to every veteran’s surprise, he overthrew The Rock during a startling SummerSlam main event. Former WWE starlet Matt Hardy discussed the aftermath of the epic match and how the locker room reacted to the shell-shocking segment.

Brock Lesnar caught the locker room’s attention as McMahon pushed him higher than The Rock

The WWE Universe widely recalls it as the ‘Night Brock Lesnar Sent the Rock Packing to Hollywood’. It was really a groundbreaking decision on WWE’s part to elevate a rookie like Lesnar to a higher status than The Rock by handing him the coveted World Championship belt. But that doesn’t mean a star-loaded locker room failed to give a warm reception to the newly minted superstar.

During the recent episode of Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy, the 48-year-old AEW wrestler looked back at the segment. Describing Vince McMahon’s backing behind Lesnar’s meteoric rise, he noted, ”I mean, I don’t know who was the biggest supporter of Brock. I definitely know Vince saw him as a big deal. Once again I talked about how he was like Vince was a huge supporter of his and everybody that was there. It seemed like he seemed very legit.”

Hardy then went on to say how the rest of the locker room perceived The Beast’s career-changing win. ‘‘They were okay with him having that insane trajectory to the top and winning the world title and like capping off this amazing you know journey by beating The Rock who was one of the hottest guys in the business’‘, he added.

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However, despite Brock Lesnar snatching The Rock’s youngest WWE Champion status, the Great One seemed quite pleased with the booking, with no hard feelings involved.

The Rock gained massive respect for Brock Lesnar despite losing the top spot to him in SummerSlam 2002

Fans widely perceive the Undisputed WWE Championship match of SummerSlam 2002 as a perfect passing-the-torch moment between The Great One and the Beast Incarnate. After a 16-minute stiff confrontation, Lesnar put DJ down with a fatal F5, establishing himself as the new face of the company.

The Rock immediately teased a heel turn with a thick crowd collectively turning against him.

More than two decades later, The Brahma Bull took to his Instagram to reflect on that unforgettable match of his career. He abundantly praises Lesnar terming him ‘one of the greatest pure athletes’ he had ever danced with. The Holywood superstar also mentioned his electric chemistry with The Beast.

Now, while DJ has carved out a spectacular Holywood career, dropping his in-ring endeavors to the side, Lesnar still continues to write his prestige story in the promotion.

We need to see if the duo ever meets inside the squared circle in the future or not.

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What’s your take on Matt Hardy explaining locker room reactions to Brock Lesnar’s epic SummerSlam victory against The Rock in 2002? Let us know in the comments.