10 months ago
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WWE
Shelton Benjamin and Brock Lesnar have a storied history, with Benjamin coaching Lesnar when he wrestled at the University of Minnesota. Recently, Benjamin spoke on The Kurt Angle Show about his first memories of coaching Lesnar. He said, through laughter, that it wasn't pleasant. He said that Lesnar was a great guy and lots of fun, and he wasn't the Lesnar that everyone sees now. Benjamin said there are two different sides to "The Beast Incarnate."
"At the time, my first impression of him, when we actually got in the ring, it was just to wrestle him. I wanted to see what he knew," Bejamin said. "Because of course, me being, I was extremely competitive anyway, and the one tournament we were in together he actually won because I had lost in a previous bout, so I was like, 'Really. I want to know what he can do.' And I shot in on him and all he did was thrust his hip forward and I flew back across the room and I said, 'Well, that's not going to work.'" Benjamin said Lesnar is "built for war" and when it came to learning wrestling skills, he was a "sponge." He said everything they taught Lesnar, he picked right up. He destroyed guys effortlessly in his first few matches at Minnesota, according to Benjamin. He recalled the first time Lesnar lost a match, where he was running his opponent off the mat, taking him out of bounds, so Lesnar's scores weren't counting. He lost the match by just one point.
"It was clear he dominated that kid ... and [the kid] just lucked out that night. That never happened again," Benjamin said. "So as far as Brock as a pupil, a sponge. He picks up everything, but in all honesty, I coached him for about a few months ... But the first six months it was more coaching and fine-tuning. After that, it was just straight wrestling. What else can you teach him? He was a juggernaut."
