Brock Lesnar's TNA Negotiations Confirmed by Former President Scott D'Amore

While Angle said that TNA Management told him no and speculated it was over a contract budget issue, D’Amore didn’t say that. All he said, it didn't happen, and D'Amore now wonders what would have happened if Lesnar had come to TNA on a big contract. Would he still have done UFC? He wrote:

“Kurt Angle revealed this week that Brock Lesnar was in talks with TNA back in 2007. This is absolutely true — I was the producer of almost all Kurt’s early matches in TNA and he came to me saying Brock wanted to come over. Kurt was very excited about this and, obviously, it would have been a huge, maybe trajectory-altering signing for TNA. I passed it on to Dixie Carter, who owned TNA at the time. But, as you already know, it didn’t happen. It’s a huge what-if, not just for TNA, but for Lesnar. If he came to TNA on a big contract in 2007, would he have still debuted in MMA that year? Would he have felt the need to go fight in the UFC in 2008 and help usher in a legion of new fans for the UFC? I suppose we’ll never know.”

Lesnar, at the time, was a free agent. He left WWE in 2004. In 2005, he had a run in New Japan Pro Wrestling after a failed attempt at joining the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. He actually, on June 29, 2007, lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to then TNA World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle. The match happened at the debut of Antonio Inoki’s promotion, The Inoki Genome Federation. After that, from 2008 to 2011, Lesnar signed with the UFC.

What Could Have Been?

Angle joined TNA in October 2006 and would stay with the promotion until March 2016. During his time with the promotion, the Olympic Gold Medalist feuded with the likes of Christian Cage, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, and AJ Styles. He also held the TNA World Heavyweight Championship a total of six times.

So what would have Lesnar’s run in TNA been like? Probably similar to Angle’s. He definitely would have been the TNA World Heavyweight Champion and probably would have defeated Angle for the title.

He and Samoa Joe would have been in a great feud in 2007. Luckily, wrestling fans did get to see them clash ten years later in 2017 on WWE’s Great Balls of Fire PLE. At the time, Lesnar was defending the then-WWE Universal Championship. Another good feud could have been with Scott Steiner. Something that didn’t happen when both of them were in WWE.

Abyss would have been an interesting choice, too. Especially with Father James Mitchell on his side. So maybe with TNA and WWE working together now, fans could see Lesnar in a TNA ring. Though first he needs to face John Cena this weekend at Wrestlepalooza.