Brock Lesnar is getting a new kind of gold in Minnesota. The University of Minnesota’s M Club, one of the country’s oldest and largest varsity letterwinner organizations, named Lesnar to its 2026 Hall of Fame class alongside nine other former Golden Gophers.
Lesnar, a Webster, South Dakota native, transferred to Minnesota from Bismarck Junior College in the fall of 1998 and became a dominant heavyweight for the Gophers. He finished his two seasons in Minneapolis with a 55-3 record and 23 pins, capping his run with the 2000 NCAA heavyweight championship after finishing as national runner-up in 1999. He was a two-time All-American and two-time Big Ten champion, and his career winning percentage is still tied for the best in program history.
The induction ceremony is set for Friday, Oct. 2, at Huntington Bank Stadium. Lesnar and the rest of the class will be recognized throughout the weekend, including at the Gophers’ home football game against Michigan on Oct. 3.
The news comes days after an emotional night for Lesnar in his adopted home state. He dropped a Hell in a Cell match to Oba Femi in the main event of SummerSlam Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, then grabbed a microphone afterward to tell the crowd that Femi represents the future of WWE.
Lesnar’s amateur wrestling pedigree became the foundation for a career that carried him to WWE in 2000, where he became a seven-time WWE Champion and the youngest titleholder in company history, before also capturing UFC heavyweight gold.
