Brock Lesnar Did a ‘Stone Cold Steve Austin’ on Top WWE Star 15 Years After Being on the Receiving End

Professional wrestlers are contractually bound performers who have to adhere to the promotion’s vision. Failing to do so might induce legal complications for the athletes. However, there have been many instances in the past wherein a wrestler doesn’t agree with a planned feud. This is only possible if the performer in question has a major backstage influence or is a certified crowd-puller.

Brock Lesnar certainly fits both the bills and is said to enjoy the liberty of picking and choosing his opponents. A WWE legend recently revealed that Lesnar refused to work with a top talent back in 2017.

Ever since his WWE debut in 2002, The Beast Incarnate impressed one and all with his supreme build and intense ring work. The roster was full of legends at the time, many of whom had no qualms about putting Lesnar over. However, Stone Cold Steve Austin notably refused to put the then-young wrestler over in 2002. Austin reportedly no-showed an edition of Raw where he was supposed to lose to Lesnar in the King Of The Ring qualifying round.

WWE legend reveals the top star Brock Lesnar refused to work with

WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg recently appeared in the Oh You Didn’t Know Podcast where he discussed the 2017 Survivor Series. Lesnar was scheduled to face then-WWE champion, Jinder Mahal, in a Champion vs Champion clash at the event. However, the WWE title surprisingly changed hands at a Smackdown episode as AJ Styles was crowned the champion, which led to him facing Lesnar at the Survivor Series instead.

Remembering about the time, Road Dogg said, “I really want to clarify, it isn’t that he {Lesnar} had no intention of wanting to work with Jinder. It’s that he really thought he could have a better match with AJ. So, I just wanted that to be clear. Look, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Brock saying I’m not working with that guy. Well, I did, I did hear that with Kevin Owens, but only him.”

A possible timeline of events

Road Dogg, who serves as a backstage producer and is a creative team member with WWE since 2014, would have had a firsthand experience of the said incident. Lesnar won the Universal Championship from arch-nemesis Goldberg at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.

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Goldberg himself had won the title from Kevin Owens at The Fastlane event that year. Owens never got a rematch for the title, presumably because of Lesnar’s refusal to work with him.

Brock Lesnar pulling strings to face an opponent of his choosing should not surprise the fans. It is still unclear why he refused to face Kevin Owens back in 2017. And the wrestling faithful would be ruing the fact that they might have missed out on an enticing encounter. Fans would be hoping that The Conqueror shrugs off any issues he had about facing Owens and the two do end up having a match in the future. 

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