Brock Lesnar Gives Insight On Backstage Relationship with Vince McMahon & His WWE Return, Compares Wrestlemania 31 to UFC 100

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In another appearance on ESPN, Brock Lesnar talked about another wide range of topics.

Lesnar on returning to WWE: “It’s been good. For me, it was a lifestyle commitment and a lifestyle choice to make the decision not to go back to UFC. I was forced out of the UFC because of an illness that took a lot of fight out of me at the time. And then a couple years went by and I decided I had the itch to get back in the cage again, and felt that I was cheated out of a few fights because of diverticulitis. But then after I sat back and analyzed everything, it was a family lifestyle choice for me. And WWE, when I came back the very first time in 2012, treated me very well and we had a good relationship. It didn’t end well in 2004 when I left for the NFL, we were in a big lawsuit. It was all water under the bridge and I came back and now it’s kind of refreshing. I can come in and do my thing when we need it and it’s not life on the road all the time either.”

Lesnar on whether Vince McMahon welcomed him back:“Absolutely, it was good. It was really good. We see eye to eye a little better now. Our relationship I think is better than it has been.”

Lesnar on whether Vince sees him as a commodity: “Well, obviously. I left the company and basically made my own brand, made Brock Lesnar and went to the UFC. I just didn’t come in there lightly. I rocked the cage and won a championship. And leaving there, there’s a lot of credibility to that, and it brings a lot of credibility to WWE.”

Lesnar on whether UFC 100 or WrestleMania is bigger:“Honestly, last night at Raw in Minneapolis, Target Center, I had a great homecoming. I haven’t been in front of my hometown crowd in a long time. It’s been about ten years. It was a great experience. But UFC 100 or WrestleMania? WrestleMania, I mean last year we had 80,000 people. It’s all electrifying, but when you’re in competition in UFC, I wasn’t able to absorb any of that ever because you’re going out to hurt somebody. It’s a whole other mindset. My years in UFC, I don’t remember anything other than being a stone cold, barbarian killer.”

On being an athlete and a performer: “It really came natural to me to portray myself, to be myself about 200 percent. And when I step into the ring, I want to bring that believability through the ring ropes, into the first row, all the way up to the top in the nosebleeds. It comes very easily for me.”

On being a heel: “It comes very natural to me. Now they’re digging it. When I first came back, they weren’t digging it. Now I’m getting cheered out of the building.”

On the reaction to ending Undertaker’s streak: “I just go home and hide and I’m not around that many people. The outside world to me? I’m sheltered and I protect myself. It was a weird reaction and it’s different, but I don’t get caught up into the world of it. At the end of the day, I’m just a farm kid from South Dakota and that’s who I will always be, and I’m a farmer now. To get in the ring and wrestle, that’s my hobby. It’s not my identity.”

Lesnar on connecting with the fanbase: “It’s like any spectacle sport, football, anything. If you don’t have the fans, you don’t have anything. If you don’t have the people who pay for the ticket then you don’t have the money to pay for your bread. You have to be able to connect with the people. You have to have a lot of fan appreciation, you really do.”

Lesnar on the most unreasonable competitor: “We’re all in this together in business as a team, so I’ve never really come across anybody that rubbed me like that, honestly.”

Lesnar on NFL training camp: “It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Out of all the stuff I’ve done, going through an NFL training camp and not knowing what the hell was going on, it’s very difficult. The technique, everything. And it’s a grueling eight weeks, I mean, grueling.”

 

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs