Brock Lesnar played football and wrestled, finishing third in the state championships as a senior, for Webster High School in Webster, South Dakota.

He wrestled at Bismarck State College and won the 1998 National Junior College Athletic Association championship as a sophomore after finishing fifth as a freshman.

Lesnar transferred to the University of Minnesota and won a pair of Big Ten Conference titles and the 2000 NCAA Division I championship after a runner-up finish in 1999. In the finals he lost to Stephen Neal, a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He finished his college career with an overall record of 106-5, including a 55-3 record and 23 pins at Minnesota.