WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently took to his podcast, The Ross Report, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During the episode, “Good Ole’ JR” discussed the first time Vince McMahon laid eyes on his future cash-cow, Brock Lesnar.
The first meeting between them took place at SummerSlam back in 1999 when the show was being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, near where Lesnar attended college:
“It was the first time Vince McMahon physically laid eyes on Brock Lesnar.” Ross said. “You’re not going to hear that in a lot of places. Brock came to the event. We were recruiting him. Jerry Brisco was recruiting him heavily. He was on him. He was our number one target and we got him.
“We got our guy. And he came to the show because, Brock, I don’t think he had been to a pro wrestling event in his life. He was not a fan. It didn’t mean he hated it. He just was occupied with working on the farm, playing football, and wrestling at a high, high level. So I remember that.
“I remember Vince walking out of his office and down [the hall] and I said, ‘Brock Lesnar is here’ and I had to refresh his memory about who that was. No face, no name – Vince didn’t know. And so, I said, ‘he’s standing out here’ and when Vince walked by, he gave him a little wave.
“He saw, ‘wait a minute, is that what I think it is? Is that 6’3″, 280 [lbs.]? Is that blonde hair? Looks like an angry Viking or a heifer bull.’ So Vince made a little detour, shook Brock’s hand, the rest, as they say, is history.”
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
