Brock Lesnar's WWE Power Plays You Won't See On Camera

"The Beast Incarnate" Brock Lesnar has had one of the most interesting careers in professional sports, from his beginnings in amateur wrestling where he won his first championships, to his initial run in WWE, starting on the main roster in 2002, to his time in the NFL. He even had a career inside the octagon in UFC before returning to the professional wrestling ring in 2012.

Despite being named in a civil lawsuit against his former boss, Vince McMahon, alleging sex trafficking and abuse by the former WWE chairman, Lesnar made his return to WWE after a two-year hiatus at SummerSlam to dominate against former rival John Cena, leading to a match between the pair during Cena's retirement tour at Wrestlepalooza, which Lesnar won in quick fashion.

While some WWE fans may not agree with his most recent return to the ring, there is no denying Lesnar's impact on the sport of professional wrestling. The achievements of the seven-time WWE Champion are vast, from him ending The Undertaker's streak at WrestleMania 30 in 2014, to his Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank victories, the latter of the which even led to the "Boom Box Brock" meme. Lesnar has been a top name in WWE for over 20 years now, despite his various breaks from the business, and he's one of the company's current top stars.

Lesnar has sometimes used his top star status in WWE to politic backstage. One of "The Beast Incarnate's" biggest power plays in recent years is the fact he works under a very part-time schedule and isn't always traveling to shows. When he does, it's usually reported that he's flown in privately. The various power plays by Lesnar aren't seen outright on WWE TV, but oftentimes, they're certainly reflected on the product.

Lesnar previously used his backstage power to make sure he didn't work with fellow former MMA star Matt Riddle, at least not one-one-one, as the pair met briefly in the Elimination Chamber in February 2022. Their beef stems from when Riddle wanted to work with "The Beast Incarnate," going as far as to say he wanted to "retire Lesnar." Riddle tried his hardest to manifest the match, including on social media, which Lesnar apparently was not happy about. The pair were involved in a verbal backstage confrontation at the 2020 Royal Rumble, where Lesnar told the younger star he would never work with him and a match between them would never happen.

Riddle, who was released from WWE in September 2023, has continued to be open about his issues with Lesnar, and in January 2024, he revealed during a virtual signing that he was meant to win the 2022 Royal Rumble, until Lesnar nixed the plans in a backstage power play move. Riddle said that Lesnar changed the direction of the storyline when he put himself in that year's Rumble after losing earlier in the night to Bobby Lashley. 

"The King of Bros" explained that Lesnar "didn't want to do business with everybody," said he was winning, and nobody, including producers, stood up to him. Riddle clarified his comments days later on "The Kurt Angle Show" and said he wasn't "guaranteed" to win, but doubled down on Lesnar's backstage influence and how he changed the finish to the Rumble match.

Lesnar isn't just adamant about who he refuses to work with in WWE. Over the years, he's actually requested to work with a few stars, including former Universal Champion Finn Balor before his Judgment Day days. Lesnar and Balor worked a match against one another at the 2019 Royal Rumble, which saw Lesnar retain the Universal title by making Balor submit to the kimura lock.

According to a report by Dave Meltzer at the time (via Fightful), Lesnar had wanted to work with Balor for a year, since the 2018 Royal Rumble. Meltzer reported that Lesnar likes working with opponents smaller them him, such as AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan (now Bryan Danielson in AEW) and that the match against Balor was scheduled for the 2018 Royal Rumble, but the idea was scrapped by Vince McMahon. According to the veteran wrestling journalist, McMahon didn't think Balor was "over" enough at the time, so Lesnar ended up facing Braun Strowman and Kane in a triple threat match where he retained his title.

In 2020, Big Show revealed on an episode of Corey Graves' "After the Bell" that Lesnar asked to work with him during Lesnar's first run in WWE, even before he had the backstage power he does these days. Big Show said that after they started working together, when he was fresh off some time back down in OVW, he felt like it changed a lot of people's perceptions about who he was as a talent. He credited Lesnar outright for helping change people's opinions of him in WWE.

It's often rumored that the former WWE Champion, now part-timer, wants to go on earlier during premium live events so he can get out of the building earlier, but sometimes, Lesnar also uses his backstage pull to get a different spot on the card for reasons that benefit his opponent, as well. Lesnar and his "advocate" Paul Heyman pushed for Lesnar's Universal Championship match against Seth Rollins to go on first at WrestleMania 35, making it the first time "The Beast Incarnate" had ever opened a pay-per-view. 

The 2019 "Showcase of the Immortals" was historic, as it featured the first-ever women's WrestleMania main event, with Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey, and Charlotte Flair competing in a winner-takes-all affair. According to reports, Lesnar and Heyman thought that the fan reaction to the Universal title match would only get more negative as the night went on, so they pushed to have it open the event, though it was ultimately Vince McMahon's decision, and he agreed.

At the time, WrestleMania was still a one-night event that went on late into the night, and if they didn't open the show, Lesnar and Rollins likely wouldn't have gone on until four hours later, as it was reportedly initially booked to take place right before the big women's main event match. Instead, the men opened WWE's biggest show of the year, and Heyman stormed down to the ring to interrupt the opening festivities to get the match started. In the end, it was Rollins to hit Lesnar with a low blow while the referee was downed, followed by three stomps to Lesnar to win the Universal Championship.

While WWE is full of sponsorships all over all the product, from the ring, to the turnbuckles, and even the tables used in stipulation matches, which are now complete with Slim Jim logos, thanks to the TKO era, that wasn't always the case. It's only been in recent years, since WWE and UFC merged, that WWE has become more sponsor-heavy, like the mixed martial arts promotion. 

In a previous era, former chairman and CEO Vince McMahon was reportedly staunchly against selling sponsorships to be placed on the ring canvas. McMahon reportedly didn't want his stars to have outside sponsorship deals, either, as it didn't generate revenue for WWE overall. That's why when Lesnar returned to WWE from the UFC in 2012, fans were surprised to see him still sporting the Jimmy John's logo on his trunks, a sponsor Lesnar had since around the beginning of 2010. The logo was also featured on Lesnar's "Suplex City" t-shirts, which were also often specifically branded to cities where WWE was holding shows that particular week.

According to an F4WOnline report at the time (via Bleacher Report), Lesnar likely negotiated the ability to promote his own sponsors on his gear in the contract he signed when he returned, and the sandwich shop logo was grandfathered in. There were numerous reports that "The Beast Incarnate" signed a one-year WWE deal for a whopping $5 million. The Jimmy John's logo was removed from Lesnar's gear when the sponsorship expired and was not renewed, just prior to his match with Balor at the 2019 Royal Rumble.

One of Lesnar's biggest backstage power plays was the fact he competed at UFC 200 against Mark Hunt while still under contract with WWE. After the announcement was made regarding Lesnar's return to UFC, WWE took to its own website to clarify things. An article at the time stated that he remained under contract to WWE, but had been granted a "one-off opportunity" to compete at the event and would return to compete at SummerSlam a month following the July 2016 fight.

WWE seemingly supported Lesnar's decision, at least publicly, and went as far as streaming the weigh-ins on its website. When Lesnar defeated Hunt, the company continued to throw its support behind him, posting photos of the fight, as well. 

The return to UFC was a gamble for both ends of Lesnar's career, as his star power in WWE could very well have been impacted if he lost to Hunt, especially by TKO, as Hunt was known for his knockout power. Lesnar had been absent from the sport since 2011 due to a battle with diverticulitis. When asked about the fight and if it could effect his marketability in the future, Lesnar told ESPN, "I really don't give a s***."

He won the bout by unanimous decision, but the result was later changed to a no contest due to Lesnar failing a drug test. Following the victory, Lesnar would go on to main event SummerSlam, where he infamously defeated Randy Orton by technical knockout when he hit "The Viper" with legitimate elbow strikes, busting him open. Lesnar retired from the UFC for good in 2017.