Brock Lesnar Revealed His Best Financial Year in WWE Prior to Rejoining the Company in 2012

Published 07/18/2022, 3:00 PM EDT

WWE quickly sent Brock Lesnar to the top of the card after his debut as the management believed in Lesnar to be the next break-out star in WWE.

When Brock Lesnar debuted on the main roster, he was still under his OVW contract. Yet he won the WWE title under the developmental payday. However, did you know that ‘The Beast Incarnate’ earned major money in just the second year of his WWE career in his first run?

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In the autobiography Death Clutch, Brock Lesnar has called 2003 his best year, financially. He was making more money and also had some major feuds with top stars like The Big Show, Kurt Angle, and John Cena.

Lesnar states, “Even by the time I was already a two-time champion, I was still working under the “developmental contract” I signed when I was recruited to train in OVW. Finally, we got around to discussing a new contract, and I signed a major deal with WWE on July 1, 2003.”

The former UFC Heavyweight Champion was happy with the way things were going for him financially once he signed a new contract. Lesnar had come into WWE with very little money and two years later he was on the brink of becoming a millionaire.

In the book, Lesnar wrote about what Jim Ross had said about him. Lesnar revealed how the UFC Hall of Famer kept telling him that he “had joined the millionaires club faster than anyone”.

It seems ‘The Beast Incarnate’ came into WWE to make records that were never made. He became the youngest WWE Champion at the age of 25 years old.

Lesnar left WWE a year later to pursue other career opportunities. He joined UFC and made a successful MMA career only to return. The Beast returned to WWE in 2012 and is one of the highest-paid superstars on the roster.

2003: A year in a review of Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar had already made a promising start in WWE and proved that he was there to achieve big things. Lesnar walked into 2003 and continued a feud with Paul Heyman and The Big Show and added Kurt Angle into the mix in January of that year.

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Who Ended Brock Lesnar’s 503-day WWE Universal Championship Reign?

The year started well for Lesnar, as he won the Royal Rumble that year after eliminating The Undertaker. He later had a classic WrestleMania 19 match against Kurt Angle, which he won. Fans, though, remember this match for Lesnar botching a shooting star press and landing on his head and neck.

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He feuded with the likes of Kurt Angle Paul Heyman and The Undertaker for the rest of the year. However, at Survivor Series, Lesnar crossed paths with Bill Goldberg. They faced each other at WrestleMania 20 in 2004. This was the last match in WWE at the time for both superstars.

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Written by:

Tushar Deogharkar is a WWE writer at EssentiallySports. Tushar has done his Master's in Tourism Management and is an ardent fan of pro wrestling. He follows WWE and AEW very closely and wants to learn how the promotions are run.

Edited by:

Paras Pande

Brock Lesnar Revealed His Best Financial Year in WWE Prior to Rejoining the Company in 2012

2003: A year in a review of Brock Lesnar

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