Former UFC heavyweight champion and WWE superstar Brock Lesnar announced his retirement from combat sports earlier this week on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
The announcement confirmed fans’ suspicions that the 49-year-old wrestled his final match last Saturday, losing to Oba Femi in “Hell in a Cell.”
It was only fitting that the former University of Minnesota alumnus ended his career in Minneapolis, wrestling in the Minnesota Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium.
Lesnar’s professional wrestling career was laden with success, capturing 10 world championships in the WWE and even the IWGP heavyweight championship in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Like Hulk Hogan, it’s impossible to extricate Lesnar from his personal conduct outside the squared circle. Lesnar has been many things in his career. He was “The Next Big Thing.” He was “The Beast Incarnate.” He is a fundamental force of destruction. He is complicit in the sex trafficking of Janel Grant.
However, it’s the overwhelming quality of his work in the squared circle that has endeared him to fans for the better part of three decades. Lesnar mastered the hard-hitting, heavyweight main-event style of wrestling that is synonymous with WWE.
While some are reluctant to accept the legitimacy of Lesnar’s retirement, it seems apropos to celebrate his body of work in the only way I know how: a compilation album.
Here are five of my favorite Brock Lesnar matches:
Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles
Nov. 19, 2017
Survivor Series 2017
Professional wrestling is at its zenith when its easily understood. The beauty of this champion versus champion challenge is that it managed to distill both AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar down to their purest forms. Styles conjured a vintage, early-aughts babyface performance to challenge the behemoth that was “The Beast Incarnate.” Lesnar reacts in kind, trying to extinguish the embers of Styles’ fighting spirit.
Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg
April 2, 2017
WrestleMania 33
The developmental stages of being a “mark” are unavoidable. You’re introduced to pro-wrestling through the most broadly appealing means imaginable. You fall in love with the intricacies of wrestling. You find a cruiserweight wrestler whose unbelievable dexterity and athleticism makes lumbering heavyweights seem trite. For better or worse, most fans stop at one of those crucial stages. If you watch enough wrestling, it all comes full circle, and you realize that Goldberg is fucking awesome. The primacy of work rate has polluted the minds of sycophants.
This is the meeting of two fundamental forces, hellbent of destruction. Lesnar and Goldberg exercise a deft hand, befitting of two super-heavyweights throwing devastating haymakers.
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns
March 29, 2015
WrestleMania 31
While the “heist of the century” may have colored fans’ lasting impressions of this match, there’s something remarkable about what Lesnar and Roman Reigns achieved at “WrestleMania 31.” There’s a tangible weight that captures the essence of a true heavyweight slugfest, reminiscent of George Foreman and Ron Lyle, or Larry Holmes and Ken Norton.
Lesnar is one of the few athletes who could physically overwhelm Reigns, shrugging off his heaviest blows with blatant disregard.
Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker
Oct. 20, 2002
No Mercy 2002
The allure of The Undertaker was equal parts spectacle and splendor, the strata of a giant and Universal movie monster. Lesnar was something different altogether, engulfing the Deadman in a way that was previously inconceivable.
Not only was this the crown jewel of Lesnar’s remarkable rookie campaign, but it’s still arguably the greatest match in “Hell in a Cell” history. The Undertaker’s work selling his legitimately broken hand only magnified the performance, as did his sheer bloodletting.
Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena
April 29, 2012
Extreme Rules 2012
When Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012, it felt like the world of mixed martial arts was invading WWE to scoff at its illegitimacy. John Cena embraced that plight and accepted the responsibility of taking Lesnar to task.
There’s beauty in watching Cena bend around Lesnar’s inescapable gravity. True to form, though, Cena refused to give up, rushing headlong into a fist-fight with Goliath and staging the greatest comeback in his storied career.
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