Dave Meltzer has revealed remarkable behind-the-scenes details about a little-known moment in wrestling history when WWE nearly promoted a legitimate shoot fight between Brock Lesnar and Heavyweight Boxing Champion Lennox Lewis.
Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer explained that the idea emerged during Lesnar’s first WWE run in the early 2000s, around 2002 or 2003. At the time, Lesnar was WWE Champion, but Vince McMahon was still searching for a way to elevate him to the level of WWE’s biggest historical draws.
“Vince was trying to figure out, ‘What can I do to get Brock to the Steve Austin level?’” Meltzer said. “That’s what I want my top guy to be, and he’s not there.”
McMahon believed Lesnar’s intimidating physical presence and legitimate athletic background could be fully validated by placing him in a real fight—one that would erase any lingering doubts about professional wrestling’s authenticity.
“He was trying to figure out how can we get him there? He’s such a badass. Look at what he looks like,” Meltzer added.
At the time, McMahon held a strong belief that professional wrestlers would dominate boxers in a real fight scenario.
“Basically, Vince’s thought was, in a shoot fight, Brock is gonna kill the guy,” Meltzer explained. “Back in those days, the wrestling people felt like a wrestler always beats a boxer. Takes him down, beats him up.”
While McMahon’s motivation was to create a megastar, Lennox Lewis approached the situation from a very different angle. According to Meltzer, Lewis viewed the idea as an easy payday and believed facing a pro wrestler posed little real risk.
“Lennox Lewis was looking for what he thought was an easy payday, so he contacted WWE,” Meltzer said. “It was just like, ‘How about we do a match? I’ll take on one of your pro wrestlers.’ He wanted to shoot—easy payday in a real fight against these fake pro wrestlers.”
To ensure legitimacy and public credibility, McMahon wanted the event sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in Las Vegas. Meltzer noted that McMahon personally reached out to determine what would be required to make the fights legal.
“Vince did personally contact Vegas asking, ‘What do I need to do to get this approved?’” Meltzer recalled.
The commission, led at the time by Mark Ratner—who would later work for UFC—agreed under strict conditions.
“He told Vince, ‘We will approve this… but it has to be real, and every match on the show has to be real,’” Meltzer said. “You cannot do a mixed show. You can’t do five pro wrestling matches and two shoots.”
As a result, WWE began planning a double main event consisting entirely of shoot fights. Alongside Lesnar vs. Lewis, the second bout would have featured Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle against former heavyweight boxing champion Michael Moorer.
“He wanted Kurt Angle and Michael Moorer for the same reason,” Meltzer explained. “Make these fans think, ‘Okay, you may think wrestling is fake, but Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar—these are real-life badasses.’”
However, the entire plan unraveled once Lewis’s camp took a closer look at Lesnar’s credentials. After discovering Lesnar was a legitimate NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion, Lewis’s team quickly grew uneasy.
“Lennox Lewis studies this guy, Brock Lesnar, who he’d never heard of, and all of a sudden his camp goes, ‘We need to change the rules of this thing,’” Meltzer said.
Lewis’s representatives began demanding rule changes that would significantly neutralize Lesnar’s wrestling advantage, including bans on takedowns below the waist and strict time limits on ground fighting with automatic stand-ups.
“At that point, it just fell completely apart,” Meltzer said. “Because Lennox Lewis found out it wasn’t going to be such an easy payday.”
The proposed event was quietly scrapped and never publicly acknowledged by WWE. Meltzer noted that while he reported on the story in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at the time, it remained largely unknown to fans.
Years later, Meltzer attempted to ask Lesnar directly about the failed bout during a phone interview—an inquiry that ended the conversation abruptly.
“I was on the phone with him… and I said, ‘Oh yeah, but what about the Lennox Lewis thing?’” Meltzer recalled. “He just goes, ‘Dave, the conversation is over.’ And he hung up.”
The story stands as a fascinating “what-if” moment in wrestling history—one that highlights Vince McMahon’s willingness to blur reality and spectacle, and Brock Lesnar’s long-standing reputation as a legitimate force far beyond the wrestling ring.
