Ranking Brock Lesnar's Most Memorable Matches and Moments of WWE Career
Brock Lesnar appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and announced that he was officially retired from professional wrestling at age 49:
It brought an end to a career that saw Lesnar achieve every major milestone in the industry, including winning championships and headlining the biggest shows.
He even left for eight years, tried out for the Minnesota Vikings and won a UFC Heavyweight Championship to prove he was every bit the once-in-a-lifetime athlete he was touted as.
In tribute to a Hall of Fame-worthy career, these are the most memorable matches and moments of Lesnar's extraordinary WWE career.
Honorable Mention
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The Debut
Just 24 hours after the generational clash between The Rock and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18, Brock Lesnar stormed onto Raw, debuting by dismantling Al Snow, Maven and Spike Dudley during a Hardcore match. Flanked by Paul Heyman, The Beast launched a run that would reshape WWE and deliver a rookie year still regarded as one of the most dominant in company history.
Smashing The Hulkster
It was during that rookie campaign that Lesnar clashed with Hogan on the August 8, 2002 episode of SmackDown. The Next Big Thing beat, battered and bloodied The Immortal One before submitting him in a devastating bear hug. It was the first squash of an iconic star in his career but hardly the last.
The Tractor
Lesnar entered Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee on a tractor for his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns in true Cowboy Brock fashion. The vehicle was not just there for decoration, though, and he used it to tip over the squared circle. Lesnar lost that match, but it was a stellar, chaotic, Attitude Era-esque brawl that ranks among his best encounters with The Tribal Chief.
10. Cena and Cole Left Stunned
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Lesnar returned to WWE after more than two years away in 2025, hitting SummerSlam to confront John Cena and flatten him with a thunderous F-5.
He received a monster reaction from the fans and a hearty "holy s--t!" from commentator Michael Cole, all of whom never expected to see The Beast Incarnate in a WWE ring again.
Few knew it at the time, but it was the start of a one-year farewell tour that lacked the pomp and circumstance of others but may have been more important to the long-term success of WWE.
9. King of the Ring
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Checking his first box in WWE, Lesnar entered the 2002 King of the Ring and wasted no time laying waste to the competition.
The Beast settled his ongoing rivalry with Bubba Ray Dudley, pinned Booker T in the quarterfinals, bested Test in the semis, and downed Rob Van Dam to seize the crown.
Not only was it the first step on his path of destruction toward the Undisputed WWE Championship, but he also accomplished the feat by defeating three Hall of Famers along the way.
The triumph catapulted him toward a guaranteed championship match at SummerSlam, where he would face The Rock with the opportunity to make history.
More on that one in a moment.
8. Hell in a Cell
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In his greatest test to date, Lesnar battled The Undertaker in the concluding match of their two-month rivalry, with the Undisputed WWE Championship on the line inside the most unforgiving match in WWE, Hell in a Cell.
The main event of No Mercy 2002 pushed Lesnar to his limits. He was beaten and battered like never before. The Undertaker knew the steel structure more than anyone, and Lesnar was forced to fight from underneath early on.
He did, though, bloodying The American Badass and ultimately reversing a Tombstone Piledriver into an F-5 for the win and successful title defense.
It was a milestone moment for Lesnar, who continued to prove his doubters wrong by delivering in one of WWE's most physically demanding matches, against one of the company's true measuring sticks.
7. Suplex City
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Lesnar entered the 2014 SummerSlam main event as the No. 1 contender to WWE champion John Cena, with a chance to avenge his loss to the franchise star two years earlier in his first match back with the company.
Not only did he avenge it, but he also squashed Cena, introducing him to Suplex City while fans inside the Staples Center in Los Angeles watched in awe.
He drove the fight out of Cena, delivering 16 German suplexes. An F-5 ended Cena's night and reign as Lesnar assumed the position of champion atop the WWE mountain.
As one-sided a main event as you will see in WWE, it set the tone for the remainder of The Conqueror's run with the promotion.
6. The Return
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Eight years after he last set foot in a WWE ring, Lesnar returned to the company on the April 2 episode of Raw.
Stepping through the curtain to a thunderous ovation, The Beast stalked toward the ring and confronted the man who had picked up and carried the mantle for the company when he exited in 2004: John Cena.
Lesnar dropped the franchise star of WWE with an F-5, making a huge statement right out of the gate, setting up a blockbuster main event at Extreme Rules with his Ohio Valley Wrestling alum, and giving the company a second consecutive pay-per-view match between two iconic Superstars.
The return kicked off the second half of a career that would somehow eclipse the excellence of its predecessor.
5. WrestleMania XIX
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When Kurt Angle won the WWE Championship in December 2002, it became fairly clear that all signs pointed to him defending against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX in Seattle.
Despite a severe neck injury to Angle threatening the contest and the Olympian's career, the bout was booked for The Showcase of the Immortals, giving fans the first-ever main event featuring two amateur wrestling greats.
Lesnar, the former NCAA champion, outwrestled Angle on a night when his career nearly came to a screeching halt.
Late in the match, Lesnar scaled the ropes and executed a Shooting Star Press. He did not get full rotation, though, and landed on his head and neck. Concussed, he managed to deliver one final F-5 to his opponent, cover him, and win the WWE title.
It was a scary moment for The Beast and the final time we would ever witness his rendition of the high-risk maneuver. Still, it remains a banner moment and match in his career and, arguably, the best pure wrestling match to ever close WWE's most prestigious event.
4. Ring Collapse
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The June 12, 2003 episode of SmackDown featured the rekindling of the rivalry between Lesnar and The Big Show in the main event.
A titanic clash between two marquee heavyweights, it concluded when Lesnar met his opponent on the top rope and delivered a superplex to the giant.
As both men crashed to the mat below, the ring collapsed, providing fans with a visual unlike anything they had ever seen before. The show went off the air with both men lying unconscious and the referee bouncing around the squared circle, unable to keep his footing amid the chaos.
To this day, it is a moment that is closely associated with The Beast and his first WWE run.
3. Putting Over Oba
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It is difficult for any pro wrestler to call it quits. It is even more difficult to recognize the next generation of stars, especially those who have been at the pinnacle of the industry.
That was not the case for Lesnar.
Upon his return to WWE on the Road to WrestleMania 42, he repeatedly sold for his opponent at the show, Oba Femi, and on wrestling's grandest stage, put the NXT export over in as definitive a fashion as possible.
He lost cleanly to The Ruler and, despite teasing his retirement that April night in Las Vegas, returned to work two more matches with him.
At SummerSlam, in what would be his final match, Lesnar stepped inside Hell in a Cell one last time and proceeded to put Femi over again, succumbing to the Fall From Grace.
He could have walked off and left some ambiguity to the situation but instead, Lesnar did something he seldom did: he reentered the ring and embraced the victor.
From there, he grabbed the microphone and announced to the world that Femi was the future and he was the past, a sign of respect and acknowledgment that was almost as important for the young star as the win.
In his final performance for the WWE Universe, Lesnar put over the future of the company and let the fans know they could trust and believe in Femi before taking his final walk up the ramp and into pro wrestling immortality.
2. The Next Big Thing Has Arrived
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Riding a wave of momentum that included the King of the Ring victory and a dominant win over the legendary Hulk Hogan, Lesnar arrived at SummerSlam as the clear favorite for an Undisputed WWE Championship Match against The Rock.
In front of a pro-Brock crowd in Long Island, New York, The Beast absorbed everything The Great One threw at him, surviving a Sharpshooter, one Rock Bottom, and blocking another.
He sent the People's Champion back to Hollywood with an F-5, pinning his shoulders to the mat and winning the first of 10 world championships.
While he won the King of the Ring tournament to set up the SummerSlam main event, the win over the Rock was his real coronation, the moment that announced to the wrestling world that he was, in fact, the Next Big Thing and his time to run roughshod over WWE had arrived.
1. 21-1
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The most unforgettable moment of Lesnar's career came at WrestleMania 30, when The Beast took to the squared circle for a match with his longtime rival, The Undertaker, on a stage on which the Deadman had never lost.
The Streak had been built to mythological proportions over two decades, becoming as important (if not more so) than the main event.
There was every reason to believe that Lesnar was about to add his name to a list of legendary competitors who stepped to Undertaker and were defeated.
And then it happened.
Lesnar delivered an F-5, covered The Phenom, and the referee slapped the mat three times.
Fans in New Orleans sat in disbelief, their jaws dropped as the reality of the moment set in. Lesnar had done what no other Superstar in company history had, defeating WWE's Last Outlaw at WrestleMania and becoming the One in 21 and One.
History dictates that it probably was not the time to end The Streak but it remains the single most shocking moment in modern WWE history and the greatest accomplishment of Lesnar's Hall of Fame resume.
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