Released today is the autobiography of Brock Lesnar -  Death Clutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival written with Paul Heyman.

We all were taught the lesson in school… “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”  If you were to just look at Brock Lesnar, I’m sure you can form an opinion of what you think he is.  How many “Brock Lesnar” types have come into the pro wrestling business and never made more then a tiny ripple in the fabric of the business?  Brock Lesnar is a special type of human being and one I’m looking forward to learning more about in this new book.  He became the biggest star in the WWE only to leave while on top to chase the NFL.  Then Brock entered MMA and became one of the big draws in the UFC.  His life is full of triumph and struggle including the recent pull out of UFC 131.  Read here.

I met Brock nearly ten years ago when I first started in WWE in 2002.  Brock was highly touted in the WWE developmental system.    A developmental talent in WWE is like a an un-popped kernel of corn.  At any one time WWE could have thirty to sixty talents in their system hoping to be the next Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold, or The Rock .  In fact, in 2001-2002 WWE had John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, and Brock Lesnar all in their developmental system.  Jim Ross (head of talent relations at the time) had lead a great initiative to stock for the future with talents who would shape the next decade of the WWE.   There were also some talents who never made the big time but that happens in any talent development system.  Brock Lesnar was destined to make an impact and it was the help of a few people that lead to him becoming “The Next Big Thing.”

I had seen Brock work a few dark matches and they were fine, sold pro wrestling affairs but didn’t really make him stand out as something different.  Brock was getting different advice from different people on “who he should be.”  There wasn’t one voice that was leading him.  Watch this dark match with Curt Henning to see Brock before he made his debut on WWE TV here.

One day, Brock Lesnar approached Taz (@OfficialTaz) for advice on what he should do.  Taz, being a huge amateur wrestling fan and a big fan of Brock’s, sat down with Brock.  He shoot straight on who he thought Brock should be and who he should listen to.  Brock used to ride in the car with Taz and Kurt Angle on house shows.  Taz then introduced Brock to the man who had helped shape his rebranded character in ECW in 1995 – Paul Heyman.

Heyman went to Vince with the Brock dilemma.  Vince brought up how much he had invested dollar wise in Brock and instructed Heyman to take charge of the project.   With the blessing of Vince, Heyman laid out the next dark match for Brock.  His opponent was a man who kept his job at WWE for over ten years for one reason, he knew how to get guys over – Funaki.  The match highlighted Brock Lesnar as a killer and as something “different” then the norm.  The next night featured Brock vs. Spike Dudley.  Spike, like Funaki, made a career in getting guys over.  When Heyman went to Spike with the match, Spike came up with exactly how to spotlight Brock.  The climatic moment of the Spike match was seeing Brock Lesnar throw him around with a series of powerbombs.  Eyes were opened and “The Next Big Thing” was about to be born.

It was during Wrestlemania 18 week where Vince asked the same question he seemingly asked every year.  “What’s NEW after Wrestlemania?”  The name Brock Lesnar was immediately brought up.  The wrinkle added by Vince was for Brock to be managed by Paul Heyman.  The original idea of Heyman’s return to TV would be managing Chris Benoit when he returned from neck surgery.  The Lesnar plan was a shift but the ground work for the relationship was forged that day with Taz.  And the night after Wrestlemania 18, this happened…

The same spot with Spike Dudley from the dark match was the exclamation point on the debut of Brock Lesnar.  It launched Brock Lesnar into the WWE and he captured everyone’s attention in two minutes.  Simple, focused presentation started him down the path of becoming “The Next Big Thing”.  Taz continued helping Brock in various ways including branding Brock’s entrance on Smackdown with “Here Comes The Pain.”  Heyman not only remained his manager on TV but close with Brock during his entire WWE run and even today penning Brock’s book with him.  Legend has it that Paul would even sneak steaks out of Vince McMahon’s office to give to Brock.  Yup, Heyman was throwing meat to the monster.

David Lagana (@Lagana)

Source: IWantWrestling.com (Written by David Lagana)