When it comes to Brock, the perceptions about the guy are quite simple; some love him, while others are quite critical of his ways. In this article, we take a look at both sides of the coin with wrestlers that love Brock and the other crop that have been critical of his work in the past.

His legacy is quite controversial. Some despise the fact that he got into wrestling without any recognition of the business, while his fans claim he was born to wrestle. The pessimist will also claim that Brock is only in it for the money while not being a team player, “clocking in and clocking out” during his appearances at shows. For those that love Brock, this is the reason why he’s so over is because of the fact that he’s exactly the same on and off screen. He keeps things 100 (no pun intended to Konnan), and although that’s rubbed some the wrong way, you’ve got to respect him for being real no matter what his views are of the wrestling business.

In the article, we celebrate both the good and the bad with these 15 Superstars and their takes on Brock. It should be noted that for the most part, Lesnar is well respected and although he lives the life of a loner, rarely is he that big of a jerk to fans outside of the ring. With that said, enough of the talk and let’s get to it. Here are eight wrestlers that love Brock Lesnar and seven that ripped him. Enjoy the article and like always, be sure to share it with a friend!

Love: Ryback

Daniel Bryan discussed Ryback’s love for Brock on an episode of Table for 3 which aired on the WWE Network. According to Ryback, Bryan started a rumor that he was taking Cialis the day Brock came to a TV taping in order to, “impress Brock”. Obviously, the story was pretty far fetched, and Ryback would even claim Bryan was a huge backstage bully making up so many fake stories behind the scenes.

The association to Brock didn’t stop there for Ryback. According to the big guy, he pitched WrestleMania match against Lesnar for three years in a row claiming it would make huge money. In one instance, Ryback pitched the idea to Vince of leaving the WWE for six months to pick up the MMA style into his repertoire setting up the match against Lesnar. Vince was having none of it and ultimately, despite Ryback’s love for Lesnar, he never got to work with the beast. Looking at all his hatred towards the WWE, it seems like a return will never happen for the big guy, thus ending the possibility of this match ever going down.

Ripped: Roman Reigns

Although the match was very well received, the back story to Roman versus Brock at WrestleMania 31 wasn’t as prestigious. During his interview on Talk Is Jericho, Reigns claimed the build up to the match was kind of weird with limited amounts of discussion. According to Roman, the proceedings of the match were very last minute and having to deal with the two headed monster of Heyman and Lesnar wasn’t the easiest. The story goes that Paul and Brock basically wanted the match to be an absolute squash fest that saw Roman get his butt kicked for the entire matchup. According the two, the 80,000 in attendance just wanted to see Roman get his butt kicked. Although that was likely the case, Roman wasn’t into the idea of having limited offense and eventually, ends were kind of met.

Regardless of his critiques for Brock, Reigns claims the match itself was the best of his entire career and went extremely well given the circumstances and lack of preparation heading into such a fight.

Love: The Undertaker

If someone was finally going to break the streak, the criteria to do so involved two things: one, lots of money and a future for the guy that does win and two, it needed to be somebody The Undertaker liked. For years many thought that person was John Cena but ultimately, both ‘Taker and the WWE felt like the guy to do it should have been Brock.

Surprisingly, it was The Undertaker who was pushing for Brock to win the match which just shows how highly he thought of Brock. Although Lesnar wasn’t too crazy about the idea, there’s no doubt he felt honored that The Deadman would think of him in such a light. Brock would ultimately end the streak at WM XXX and it seems like the encounter brought them closer together. At the following WrestleMania, the backstage camera crew caught Lesnar pumping The Undertaker up before his match against Bray Wyatt, showing how tight the two really are behind the scenes.

Ripped: Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy’s wrestling career has been like a stock that’s constantly moving up and down; he’s enjoyed some big time lows, but also, some of the highest highs. With that said, Matt is also a huge pro wrestling fan so he hasn’t exactly shied away from his feeling regarding certain Superstars in the past and one of them, was Brock.

According to Hardy, the first Brock that beat the hell out of the Hardys, compared to the Brock that took on Matt Hardy V1 was quite different behind the scenes. In his initial program with the Hardys, Brock was said to be very respectable constantly thanking the team for putting him over. However, the two would once again clash later on, this time, with Brock as the face of the company. A match between the two was hyped up for two weeks only to finish with a bout. Matt was hot with his new gimmick so he suggested a competitive match while Lesnar was having none of it wanting to squash Hardy in the encounter. Matt was very critical about how big Brock’s head got once he started to muster up lots of success in the company.

Love: CM Punk

Hard to imagine Lesnar reaching out and texting somebody offering his help, but that’s exactly what happened when the news broke out of CM Punk leaving the WWE for a career in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. According to Punk, Brock went out of his way to offer his help; “I’ll answer all the stupid questions you got” said Brock to Punk. According to the former WWE star, Lesnar is quite the gentleman when he wants to be, a side not all of the WWE locker room got to see. Because of Brock’s help and consideration for Punk, we have no doubts that two share a fair amount of respect for one another.

Punk’s UFC debut didn’t go over as smoothly as Brock’s but he hasn’t given up just yet. Punk is still training for MMA although Dana White believes his chances of returning to the octagon are quite slim. What do you guys think, are Punk’s chances of returning better inside of the squared circle or inside of the octagon?

Ripped: Kurt Angle

Although Kurt had been gone from the WWE for more than a decade, it feels like he never left following his long awaited return. He gave the WWE Universe another tremendous moment at the Hall of Fame ceremony and the WWE followed that up with naming Angle as the GM of Raw. The decision has re-energized the WWE Universe along with giving Angle a new lease on life.

Since returning, Kurt has taken part of several interviews, and one of them, happened to be on Talk Is Jericho. During the podcast interview, Kurt recalled his encounter with Brock and he was quite blunt assessing Brock’s amateur wrestling skills calling him a “terrible wrestler”. Back in the day, the two got into an amateur wrestling match with Kurt winning the bout one fall to zero. According to Angle, Brock only had one move, which he would counter time and time again. Angle claims Brock wasn’t experienced enough although he did claim that if he was, he would have lost the encounter easily given Lesnar’s scary size.

Love: Randy Orton

Judging by the brutality of their Summerslam encounter, you’d think these guys hated each other’s guts, but it was just the story of two veterans putting on a great story in the middle of the ring, which was ultimately deemed insanely brutal, so much so that veteran Chris Jericho, lashed out backstage but we’ll have more on that a little later.

Graduating together from the OVW master class, the two have been linked together throughout their entire careers. With so much pressure being deemed as the futures of the company back in the early 2000s, the two grew to respect one another and that has continued throughout the years. Quite remarkable to see that the two are still standing on top of the WWE mountain nowadays, despite being in their late 30s; Orton’s the current WWE Champion over on SmackDown Live, while Brock is the new Universal Champion over on Raw.

Ripped: Jim Cornette

If you’ve listened to Jim Cornette rant about the wrestling business since leaving the WWE, you know that he doesn’t shy away from holding any punches. One wrestler he was very critical about was Brock ripping him on various occasions.

The bad blood between the two went way back to their OVW days when Cornette was a trainer and Brock was just starting. Jim was instantly rubbed the wrong way looking at Brock’s lack of knowledge for the business and just doing it for the money. Things would however completely spiral later on during a dark match that featured a spot that saw Lesnar press slam Cornette’s wife. The issue here was than Jim’s wife had a piercing taken care of in her nether regions so she requested that Brock let up on the slam. Brock ended up going the opposite route and it created a mess backstage with Cornette telling Lesnar he was not going to fight him, but “shoot him”. Brock apologized for his actions but it didn’t help his cause with Cornette who’s been quite critical of Lesnar throughout the years.

Love: Stone Cold Steve Austin

Although lots of fans believed this was the opposite, Austin made the story of him and Brock clear after much speculation. Austin walked out of the WWE back in the early 2000s apparently not wanting to do the job against Brock. There was more to the story however, Austin saw lots of money in Lesnar but didn’t want to lose against the beast out of the blue without any buildup or during a match on a TV telecast for that matter. It angered Austin, and he wanted to put Brock over but not in that matter. The two laughed about the story on the Steve Austin Podcast with Brock stating he understood Austin’s reasoning while Steve made it clear the intent was to make Brock look like a million bucks.

Aside from that, the two have a lot in common, including their love for haunting and farming. They even confirmed to texting one another from time to time and discussing non wrestling related things. Now that’s friendship.

Ripped: Ken Shamrock

Ken’s comments for Brock were quite mixed with some good and some bad when discussing Lesnar’s MMA career. Shamrock claims he wasn’t surprised that Lesnar made the jump given his amateur background but Ken was critical with other components, particularly Brock’s ability to adapt.

According to Ken, it’s all about adapting once you’re on top and the competition starts getting better. Ken claims Brock failed to do so. Although Shamrock did blame the UFC for rushing Brock in too quickly and not giving him enough time to settle in and “marinate” inside of the octagon. Ken claims had that been done, Lesnar could have been one of the greatest ever.

Ken ended his assessment claiming Lesnar was mentally weak, which caused his downwards spiral in the sport. Shamrock dismissed Lesnar’s illness of diverticulitis claiming that wasn’t the root of his struggles.

Love: The Rock

One of the strangest bromances in WWE history has to go to this one that features The Rock and Brock Lesnar. The two live drastically different lives, one of them lives a quiet life out of Saskatchewan, Canada, residing on a farm. While the other guy, lives in the spotlight of the Hollywood scene becoming one of the most popular actors in the world. Their paths crossed with the WWE and they instantly hit it off. Despite their success in other fields, the two have remained close to this day.

In an interview with UFC Magazine, The Rock made it be known that he and Brock were great friend for years. Rock even showed up at one of Lesnar's UFC fights to demonstrate his support for the big guy. The UFC cameras got a glimpse of an emotional hug between the two after Brock’s win. It’s an unusual bromance that continues to stand today.

Ripped: Chris Jericho

Being in the business after all these years, many backstage have a huge amount of respect for Chris Jericho and all that he’s accomplished in the wrestling business. One guy however who didn’t seem to give a damn was Brock Lesnar, as the two got into a heated exchange following Brock’s Summerslam match against Orton.

The match was ultra-violent and Jericho was none too pleased backstage feeling that Lesnar was taking liberties with his good friend Randy. To make matters worse, Jericho knew Orton’s family was out there and being a family man himself, Y2J knew how hard it must have been for his wife and kids to watch Orton take such a beating. Jericho had a few words for Brock after the match and it led to a verbal exchange between the two. Orton commented on the ordeal claiming he appreciated Jericho’s concern for him. Thankfully for Chris, the exchange did not turn into something violent cause that would not have been pretty.

Love: Paul Heyman

Without a doubt, without Paul Heyman there is no Brock Lesnar. Since the very beginning, Heyman has added to Lesnar’s allure and nowadays, Heyman is strictly employed by the company as a talent speaking for Brock. Lesnar made it a vocal point to keep Paul by his side after all his years of service.

The two are not only a power team on-screen, but away from the camera, it’s really quite the same. When discussing a match with an opponent, both Brock and Paul give their outputs to Vince and the opponent on the night. The two constantly work as a duo and Heyman always looks out for Brock’s interest as it took a lot of work to create Brock’s brand over the last couple of years. When it’s finally all said and done for Lesnar, look for Heyman to induct him into the Hall of Fame. Without a doubt, there isn’t a human in the WWE that loves Lesnar more than Paul.

Ripped: Dean Ambrose

The usually very quiet and low key Dean Ambrose was one of the first new era wrestlers to speak ill of Brock. For Dean, it was a chance of a lifetime to take on Brock at the biggest WrestleMania in history, however, the outcome was nothing to write home about and the experience was quite forgettable.

Dean let out all the juicy details during the Stone Cold Podcast. Ambrose made a claim similar to Roman that the match was put together at the last minute and that all of his requests were basically shut down by Brock and Paul. Ambrose was infuriated with the preparation and the match was basically all put together on the spot in front of the audience. The match was insanely short with little to remember aside from Dean losing the bout. It’s a shame that on such a platform the match failed to deliver. Good for Dean however, for having the courage to say what really went on behind the scenes at WrestleMania 32.

Love: Sable

On the surface, this was one of the more unlikely relationships given their age gaps. Lesnar is about to enter his 40s while Sable is almost a decade ahead of Lesnar, set to turn 50. Despite the age difference the two bonded during Sable’s WWE return on SmackDown and it led to the two dating and later getting married.

The two are still living a happy life together, this time, out of the spotlight and on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Sable was also quite the loner back in her day with the WWE, so she likely didn’t have a problem moving to such an area. She’s been spotted with Brock on various occasions recently, including Brock’s cameo at a Jets game and during Brock’s UFC return. The two still seem to be quite happy, along with raising their two kids, Turk and Duke. It remains to be seen what the future holds for the couple and when and if, Sable will get inducted into the WWE’s Hall of Fame.

Sources: YouTube