Death Clutch - Brock Lesnar [12]
Vince was flanked by his lawyer, Ed Kaufman; Gerald Brisco; and Jim “J.R.” Ross. Kaufman was a typical corporate type, and looked totally out of place. Brisco was a former amateur and professional wrestler who worked behind the scenes at the TV tapings, and also as a talent scout for the company. J.R. was the host of the TV shows, the play-by-play announcer who was also—at that time—the executive vice president of talent relations.
We all sat down at a large conference table in Vince’s spacious office. I don’t recall all of the details of the meeting, but there was one moment I’ll never forget.
As Vince and his team were explaining what I could expect from life in the WWE (remember, it was still WWF, or World Wrestling FEDERATION, at the time), J.R. leaned over the table, looked me dead in the eye, and said with his Oklahoma drawl, “Mr. Lesnar, there are three things we take very seriously in this company: Faith, Family, and Federation.” I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, so I just nodded.
I sure got it after a couple of years on the road, because by then I thought I’d lost my faith . . . I didn’t have a family because I was on the road three hundred days a year . . . and all I had was the Federation. That’s how Vince McMahon ends up owning all these guys. All they have is that company, that business. All they have is what Vince allows them to have. He owns their careers, and their careers become their lives, so he owns them.
It’s a vicious cycle. These guys sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice. Then they make it, which means they have to work three hundred days a year, in a different city every night. That’s when they lose their homes and their families. They end up working themselves to death, paying for homes they rarely visit, for kids they never see, and for ex-wives and then ex-wives’ homes.
Even early on, I could see that is not how I wanted to end up. But I have to say, between that first meeting with Vince, and the last time I laced up my wrestling boots, it was one hell of a wild ride.
PRO WRESTLING 101
As soon as Vince was sure I was serious about professional wrestling, and that I was willing to make the necessary commitment, we got down to business. In no time at all we agreed on the money, shook hands, and I was on my way.
My lawyer took care of the details, and just saying that now sounds funny to me. Only a few weeks before, I had gone to “my lawyer’s” office in downtown Minneapolis for the first time, and I had to borrow money from him to get out of the parking ramp. Now I was paying him to look out for me.
Before the ink on my new contract was even dry, I was told that I had to relocate to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), WWE’s developmental territory in Louisville, Kentucky, to begin my pro wrestling training as soon as possible. I called J.R. and told him that I had some amateur wrestling community commitments in Minnesota, and it would be few weeks before I could make it to Louisville. I got lucky on that one, because WWE was working hard to develop a recruitment “understanding” with the amateur wrestling community, and I was given the extra time.
For the first time in my life, I had money in my pocket. I used my signing bonus to pay off my student loans, and I bought a motorcycle. I hadn’t even stepped foot into a wrestling ring yet, and I was debt-free. Those WWE paychecks were coming in every week, and I thought I had it made.
I’ve heard people say I got a handout from WWE because I got a big contract without coming up through the ranks like everyone else. That just pisses me off. I’ve never asked for a handout in my life, and I’d never take one if offered. Vince McMahon didn’t become a billionaire by giving money away. People who think I got a handout from the WWE, or from anyone else for that matter, have no idea what they’re talking about.
Truth is, I worked my ass off to become an NCAA Division I Heavyweight Champion. Nobody handed me that honor. I worked for it. After I accomplished that goal, I looked at myself as a commodity, for sale to the highest bidder—similar