Top 10 Wrestlers With Amateur Backgrounds In WWE History
2. Brock Lesnar
Like Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar has used the skills picked-up during his amateur wrestling career to build successful careers in both MMA and pro-wrestling. The former UFC Heavyweight Champion started wrestling in high school, placing third in the South Dakota state championships during his senior year, but things really took-off for him at Bismarck State College.
In his second year, Lesnar captured the NJCAA heavyweight wrestling championship ahead of transferring to the University of Minnesota on a wrestling scholarship, where he met Shelton Benjamin. There, Lesnar became the 2000 NCAA Division I heavyweight wrestling champion - the highest possible national accolade for a college wrestler. He left university as a four-time All-American with a 106-5 record, and proved himself a natural pro-wrestler upon transferring to the squared circle.
Lesnar has built his career on the outrageous power, speed, and fast-twitch explosion developed throughout his dominant amateur wrestling career. Comparable to Vader in terms of size, strength, and shocking agility, there’s nothing Lesnar can’t pull-off in the ring (apart from a Shooting Star Press against Kurt Angle, of course). He remains one of the most impressive wrestlers to ever set foot in a WWE ring, and the company’s biggest star attraction to this very day.