The rookie year in WWE had made Brock Lesnar a top superstar. In the early months, he was feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan, The Rock, The Undertaker, etc. 

One WWE superstar Lesnar didn’t have a match with was Stone Cold Steve Austin. Their match was planned, but The Texas Rattlesnake backed out due to no prior storyline. Moreover, a few years later, while wrestling in Japan, Lesnar understood the reason Austin backed out in 2002.

In the autobiography, Death Clutch, Brock Lesnar has an entire chapter relating to his New Japan Pro Wrestling run. There is has mentioned he felt what Stone Cold Steve Austin felt in 2002 when NJPW owner, Antonio Inoki, wanted Lesnar to face Akebono without any future storytelling. The WWE star had pictured millions out of their feud.

Lesnar iterated, “Now I understood one of the reasons why Steve Austin had been so angry that day in Atlanta when WWE wanted to hotshot our first match on Monday Night Raw.”

WWE had booked both the superstars for King of the Ring in 2002. However, they booked Stone Cold to lose, but he refused to take the pin against a newcomer without a proper storyline between the two.

Similarly, in Japan, the booking decisions frustrated Lesnar. He knew NJPW would mint major money with Lesnar vs Akebono’s feud. However, the creative team didn’t want them to have a program after the match. 

Lesnar wrote, “But the Inokis had no long-term vision for Brock Lesnar vs. Akebono. They wanted me to beat him, right on television. I couldn’t believe it. Why would they want me to kill what could be a great feud with one match on free TV?”

Lesnar was not happy with Inoki’s decision. Moreover, they had booked a squash match for the IWGP World Title between them. Furthermore, Lesnar became a good friend of Akebono and called him Big Chad.

How did Brock Lesnar planned to have the rematch with Akebono?

The Inokis wanted Brock Lesnar and Akebono to have a match without any feud ahead. However, the former UFC star was stubborn and made the NJPW creatives approve the ending that Lesnar wanted, which he has termed as “F**k Finish” in his book.

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He writes, “I had this idea about me and Big Chad doing all these big-man spots, and at the right time I’d smack him in the head with the IWGP title belt. The Inokis kept wanting me to just beat Big Chad, but I wore them down until they agreed to do the finish my way.”

Surprisingly, this decision of Lesnar didn’t sell with the crowd in the arena. The fans weren’t accepting the finish when Lesnar hit Abebono with the title. They had to improvise the finish on the spot. This move made the NJPW officials upset, but he was at least satisfied with the match he and Akebono gave.

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