9 Wrestlers Who Won Titles On Their Debuts

8. Brock Lesnar (IWGP Heavyweight)

JON moxley United States
NJPW

After being booed out of Madison Square Garden during his WrestleMania XX debacle with Bill Goldberg, Brock Lesnar gave pro wrestling the F5, and quite aside from a quiet life hauling hay on a Canadian farm, instead decided, Pete Becker style, to conquer the world of professional football (pigskin).

Things didn't quite work out as expected - even Brock freakin' Lesnar couldn't withstand a truck hitting his motorcycle without sustaining injury - and with the his tail tucked between his injured groin, he was forced to give up his gridiron dreams.

Wowed by Brock's legitimacy, New Japan's Antonio Inoki, in the first throes of Inokism, invited the former college wrestler to Japan. In October 2005, the Beast in the East defeated Masa Chono and Kazuyuki Fujita to claim his new promotion's top prize. On the night, Brock's winning F5 was renamed The Verdict - a snarky reference to WWE's failed attempt to file a restraining order preventing Lesnar working anywhere else following the terms of his release.

Lesnar, practicing for his future Universal Title run, was eventually stripped of his belt 280 days after he refused to defend it, citing "visa issues". This guy.

 
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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.