7 WWE Champions you didn't know wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)

#2 Brock Lesnar

Lesnar, seen here with a young Shinsuke Nakamura, competed in New Japan after his NFL career floundered.

When Brock Lesnar chose to leave the WWE in early 2004, everyone was shocked.

Despite leaving for a career in the NFL, Brock never made it as a football star, and would eventually return to wrestling, joining New Japan.

In his very first match for the promotion, Lesnar captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in October 2005, becoming the latest in just a small group of non-Japanese stars to win the title then.

Holding it for 280 days, Lesnar would be stripped of the gold due to backstage issues the following year.

Returning to the promotion in 2007, Lesnar would face an old foe in Kurt Angle, which the Olympian would win.

Lesnar's final wrestling match, the Beast would join UFC shortly after before returning to the WWE in April 2012 on the RAW after WrestleMania 28.