8 Times WWE's Rules Didn't Apply To Brock Lesnar
'The Beast Incarnate' is a law unto himself.
No WWE Superstar divides opinion like Brock Lesnar, who remains one of the company's most captivating special attractions on his best days, but whose popularity has plummeted throughout his ongoing 474-day run as a part-time Universal Champion.
Though his most ardent supporters will argue that he's still the biggest draw in the sport, increasing volumes of WWE fans lose patience with Lesnar every week. The reasons for this are legion. Brock's diminishing in-ring returns are one, and that the company are now trying to actively generate go-away heat during his current absence is another, but many more stem from the perceived preferential treatment he has received throughout his time in WWE.
It often feels like 'The Beast Incarnate' is above the law, and immune to the rules and regulations that govern most WWE employees' lives. This has been particularly true during his most recent run, throughout which Lesnar has regularly violated guidelines that would've had lesser names fined, suspended, or worse.
Such is the life of a man who has not only hustled his way to a reported $500,000 per match, but the right to author his own rulebook, transforming the world's biggest promotion into his own personal playground.
8. Using His Own Sponsors
Athlete-specific sponsorship doesn't typically happen in WWE. Performers are free to secure certain endorsements away from the camera (hence the endless stream of wrestlers promoting specific health tea brands and nutrition services on social media), but not onscreen, where, even as "independent contractors," they must adhere to the company's strict standards.
WWE brand every wrestler to death, and pepper each show with swathes of endorsements and commercials, but this level of freedom isn't generally extended to the performers. Their stance is understandable from both an aesthetic and financial standpoint, though it does exclude talent from a particularly lucrative revenue stream.
Brock Lesnar is above this regulation. When 'The Beast' returned in 2012, he did so wearing fight shorts emblazoned with personal sponsorship logos. They were holdovers from his UFC days, before the mixed martial arts organisation banned fighters from cutting their own deals, with Brock likely negotiating the right to advertise companies like Jimmy John's on his attire into the terms of his WWE deal.
The idea of every wrestler roaming around like a walking advertisement board sounds atrocious, but it's hard to imagine Lesnar's peers were best pleased with the preferential treatment.