Jim Ross is well-known for revealing some fun behind the scenes anecdotes on his podcast The Ross Report but the latest may be among the best yet. Brock Lesnar has always been a talent valued by Vince McMahon and that's especially been the case in recent years. However, what exactly did the Chairman of the Board make of the future WWE and UFC Champion when he first laid eyes on him?
Apparently, that first meeting took place at SummerSlam all the way back in 1999 when Brock had just been signed and was brought behind the scenes as it was taking place in his home state.
"It was the first time Vince McMahon physically laid eyes on Brock Lesnar. 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."
What a first meeting, eh? It certainly would have been quite something to see Vince's reaction to a walking powerhouse like Lesnar and it's easy to see why The Beast was pushed to the moon shortly after he debuted on the main roster. While Lesnar would later leave the company, Vince always had faith in him, hence why he ultimately ended up being such a huge part of WWE when he returned.